Where Did April Go?

 

Terry's bunny family

It's May!.  Where did April go?  Easter is just a memory and all of the chocolate has disappeared!

The bunny family have abandoned their egg distribution business.  They gone back to looking cute while eating the plants in the garden. 

The smallest is waiting for her new spring wardrobe which Terry promises to finish soon.  

The rest of us have been busy learning and being creative as illustrated by the show and tell at our April meeting.

Below are a few of the designs that resulted from the Make Mine a Combo course.  We looked at design principles and colour theory then designed and wove a piece to illustrate what we had learned.  Most of the designs were based on different stripe arrangements. 

balanced monochromatic colour scheme

The photo to the right illustrates a monochromatic colour scheme with equal proportions of the 4 greens.  There is a subtle twill pattern that gives the look of texture in spite of the smooth yarns.  The pattern shows up on the dark stripe making it more prominent than the paler stripes.

complementary colour scheme

The stripes in the orange and blue piece look symmetrical at first glance but they are not.  The designer had fun using a point twill threading and treadling to make large and small diamonds that add a new dimension to the piece.  The diamonds appear then disappear depending on the weft colours.

asymmetric design

The final piece in the series is clearly asymmetric.  The warp stripes are based on a mathematical formula.  The series of dark stripes on the right is echoed on the left.

The warp is a split complementary colour scheme while the weft is a single colour.  The weave structure is summer and winter.  The colours are the opposite on the back of the cloth.

We have also been busy with wet felting using a resist to create a hollow form.  That form can be transformed in many ways.  Darrell Giraldeau taught us how to turn it into a very cozy tea cozie.  She also showed the more advanced how to use the same basic technique to make a felted purse complete with a felted wool strap.

felter's felting

This one-day workshop took place in the guild studio.  It involved a lot of towels, plastic wrap and soapy water

purse in progress

 

felted tea cozy

In May we are making baskets and working on studio projects.  The studio projects include rosepath runners and overshot coasters.  The blanket pictured below just came off our large Fanny loom which is waiting for a new project and the knitting group is working on a mini-afghan.  

stripped blanket with over-dyed wool

Colour Isn't Everything

spaced warp scarf

The "little black dress" was once a staple in a modern woman's wardrobe.  Devoid of colour it was the cloth, the styling and tailoring that made it a stand out as a sophisticated classic.

So what happens when we reduce the role of colour in our weaving and instead concentrate on black, white and neutral shades of grey or beige. Without a riot of colours we have to work with structure, pattern and texture.

A combination of black and white can make for a dramatic piece.  The high contrast between black and white accentuates any pattern as shown in the following two pieces.

mat with asymmetric stripes

alternating twill stripes 

 Both weavers have put patterned bands against a black background which makes them stand out.  The one on the left is asymmetrical and the one on the right shows movement in the form of narrow stripes.  Twill lines have been carefully placed to show up on the light stripes.

Neutrals may not be dramatic but they can be quietly sophisticated. The two cowls shown below have textural interest due to combining yarns with different properties.  The yarns are very fine and loosely woven so the pieces are light and drape well.  The result are two very classy and versatile accessories.

   

distored cloth cowl

cowl in fine threads

pleated scarf in black and white

This piece has a surprise.  The twill pleats give a dark side and a light side.  But when the scarf is stretched both colours show up as alternating dark and light stripes.  The pleating is based on a carefully balanced 3/1 vs 1/3 twill.  Materials, sett  and beat plus the width of the stripes will determine how dramatic the pleating is.

wall hanging

And for the final piece we have a wall hanging in black, grey and white.  This piece makes the most of textured wool yarn that has been spun loosely so that the nature of the fibres is visible.  It was woven on a warp attached to a wooden frame that acts as both the loom and the final frame for the piece.  The luxurious textures invite you to touch it.  Large round white beads provide a contrast to the organic nature of the fibres.

White, black and neutrals can be a challenge but our weavers certainly rose to the challenge with these pieces.

Too Early for Spring Cleaning

cram & dent exercise

 We've past that depressing period of ever shortening days.   I suspect there is a primitive anxiety buried deep inside us that is relieved when the days gradually become brighter and longer and we know the world will not end and that spring will come.

As that anxiety fades it tends to be replaced by the urge to do something to throw off the darkness and prepare for renewal.  But it is way too early for spring cleaning even here on the wet coast.

So, if the coming of spring is in your heart think of how you can express it in your work.  Put away the dark colours and finish off those "cozy" projects (see Marilynn's mohair and more scarf) and let's literally "lighten up".

mohair-alpaca and more

Check out Sharon's collage of scarves done in lighter colours.  They are light and airy like a spring breeze.  She has used a cram and dent technique.  The simple technique of altering the sett across the warp adds an element of texture to what would other wise be just another plain weave piece.

colour study towels

Cat's head basket

 For some folks looking forward includes learning a new technique.  So our intrepid basket makers added the "cat's head" basket and the garlic basket to their skill set.  Wondering what the "cat's head" refers to?  Well check out the points on the bottom of the basket.  They are shaped like a cat's ears.

garlic basket in progress

Maybe you missed the basket workshop and are looking for something else that is new.  Well, our beginning spinner class is full but there is a waiting list and the longer the list, the more likely it is that we can persuade our spinning guru to hold another class.

Or, if your interest is in weaving check out our "Make Mine a Combo" workshop with Linda Wilson in March.  It will give you a new perspective on how colour and design elements can work together to produce unique pieces.  Check out the side bar under "workshops".

Make Mine a Como

Designing with Stripes and Colour

inspiration and outcome

There are many on-line or in-print sources with detailed instructions on how to weave a specific item .  They are a great place to start whether you follow the instructions exactly or modify them to fit your needs.  These recipes allow you to work on weaving technique and build up an experience without the barrier of having to develop a design from scratch.  When you are new to a craft it is also reassuring when the finished piece matches the illustration in the source material.

basic design tool

But one of the most satisfying things about being an artisan is being able to take an illusive idea and turn it into a concrete form.  For that to happen you need to learn how to design,  And so was born, our beginner workshop "The Boucle Tea Towel".  In this workshop, participants learned how to go from paper and coloured pencils to a finished tea towel in cotton boucle.  Along the way they learned about sett, balancing a design to fit a specific width and how to make a striped warp.

tea towel with colour wrapping sample

The students were given the challenge to design, plan in detail and weave a stripped tea towel in cotton boucle.  Students learned to produce a colour wrap using the actual yarns to mimic the stripes in the tea towel.  An example is shown in the picture above.  The wrap does not illustrate how the weft alters colours but it is a quick way to pick a sequence that will be pleasing.

Once you've got the pattern of stripes worked out you need to do some arithmatic to determine how to fit the size and number of stripes into the correct width for the tea towel.  And finally there is "balance".  Sometimes you need to add or subtract part of a pattern on one side so the piece is balanced when viewed as a whole.

two towels one warp

Once that striped warp is on the loom you have still more design decisions to make about the weft.  The photo at the right illustrates two strikingly different out comes with the same asymmetrical stripe pattern in the warp.  The top towel has narrow weft stripes as a border at each end and a pale weft which makes the yellow stripes pop.  The darker weft colour and multiple wide weft stripes breaks up the yellow warp stripes producing a very dramatic piece.  

clasped weft tea towel

The blue and green tea towel was done using a clasped weft technique.  In this technique weft colours do not cross the entire piece.  Two shuttles with different weft yarns are used.  The yarns are linked together so both colours appear in the same shed.  The movement of the colours almost obscures the warp stripes.

composite of tea towels

Designing with Stripes

stripes on tree trunk

Stripes are a common pattern we can see in the natural environment.  They occur as layers of strata on a cliff face, ripples in sand, rows of vegetation in a field, tree trunks in a forest etc etc.  Stripes are also one of the easiest patterns to reproduce in almost any medium using a minimum of technology.  They can be simple lines etched into clay on a primitive pot or bands of flamboyant colours in fabric.

Stripes designs can appear simple but even something as random as the stripes on the tree trunk in the photo have design elements that make you look twice.

Below are some examples of playing with stripe designs.

4 towels 1 warp

Linda had fun playing with a long warp with yellow and red stripes on a blue background.  Then using the same yellow and red yarns, she added bands of stripes at the top and bottom, divided the cloth with red weft stripes and went crazy with a repeating sequence of red and yellow stripes to give a plaid effect.  The stripes are balanced and symmetrical.

sylvia's stash pillow

Sylvia's striped pillow is made from her stash of yarns.  She picked a group of yarns on the red/blue spectrum.  The repeating stripe in fushcia gives continuity while the darker colours vary across the piece.  The look is informal.

stash buster scarf

The scarf is another stash busting project using solid stripes of different colours and textures.  Note the use of the narrow black stripe between different yarns that helps to transition from one stripe to another.  The black edge stripes help to balance the design.

stash buster tea towel

The blue striped tea towel is another stash busting project.  This has a random pattern of narrow stripes.  The warp was made in sections using a group of 4 threads two of which were always blue.  The colour of other two threads varied.  The 4 threads were then threaded through the heddles randomly to create a random pattern of mini stripes some as small as 2 threads.  The mini-stripes combine to make larger compound stripes. The blue threads provide continuity.across the warp.  The overall pattern is asymmetrical.

striped border

There are many mathematical formula's that you can use to create a series of stripes.

The next example is a planned pattern based on the Fibonnacci series.  This naturally occuring numerical relationship produces a pleasing border for a tea towel.  It has a more formal appearance than the previous works..

exponential curve

The red towel is also based on a mathematical relationship, this time it is based on an exponential curve.  The warp is made from two colours with different colour values.  The dominant colour gradually changes from the red to white and back again.  Creating the warp is the most difficult part of this project.  It requires you to follow a chart showing the number of white/red threads in each stripe.

 

M's&O's scarf

The final piece is based on a painted warp woven with two weft threads.  The finer weft thread weaves a pattern in M's and O's while the thicker weft thread weaves tabby.  When washed the tabby threads create a curved line with regular spacing across the scarf giving a rippled effect.  At a distance it appears as subtle stripes.  A bold colour change was used to give large accent stripes at the ends of the scarf.  This piece has stripes on two levels.

M's&O's weft stripes

So, next time you see a pleasing striped design you might find there is more to it than shows at first glance.

  

Family Day at Qualicum Beach

We are out and about these days so if you see our booth drop by, try your hand at weaving or just chat.  This photo is from our booth at the Qualicum Beach Family Day event.  You'll find us at the Qualicum Beach Museum for Children's Day and at the Lighthouse Fall Fair among other events.
 

Weaving Workshops for the Fall

 

Our workshop committee has been busy!  

If you are a weaver interested in understanding how colour interactions can change the look of your work then you will be interested in the following.  This workshop allows you to work on your own loom in your own space.

COLOUR MAGIC On-Line

This is an On-Line course in 5 sessions.  The sessions take place Wednesdays from September 29 to October 27 via Zoom (time of day to be decided). The Instructor is Linda Wilson.     

This workshop will explore how a warp in two colours can be woven in a variety of ways to produce different effects.  Participants will weave a sampler/tea towel on their own looms using 4/8 cotton yarn.  A detailed draft will be provided. This workshop is suitable for beginner weavers.

Cost:  members $40, non-members $60.

If you ever thought you would like to try your hand at weaving you will be interested in the following.  No equipment or materials are necessary just a pair of hands and a curious mind.

        BEGINNER 1 WEAVING: An Introduction to Hand Weaving

This is an in person course and will take place in the guild studio in Qualicum Beach.  The sessions are scheduled as follows

October 2, 9:30 to 12:30, October 16, 9:30 to 12:30 and Oct 17, 9:30 to 4:30   The instructor is Sandra Schulz.

Participants will learn how to weave on a 4 shaft loom.  The course will cover, the weaving vocabulary (warp/weft etc), how to select materials, design and weave a project and how to "finish" newly woven cloth.  Students will create a sampler using materials provided by the instructor then with guidance from the instructor they will design and weave their own set of mug rugs.  Looms, weaving tools and materials for the sampler will be provided.  

For safety reasons and to ensure good one on one instruction this class is limited to 5 people.  Participants will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid 19 

Cost: members $160, non-members $210

Materials fee is $15 paid to the instructor

 

 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER FOR THESE WORKSHOPS CONTACT 

GILLIAN BEST AT   gbest@shaw.ca   

Playing with dyes

spring growth on shrub

An interest in dyeing is a natural extension for anyone who works with yarn or fibre.  If you know how to dye you can develop complex colour patterns, match an existing yarn, or create that illusive shade of mauve (green, yellow etc) that captures a natural scene.  

painted warp

Dyeing involves a significant investment in materials, takes time to set up and it can be messy.  On the other hand much of it can be done outdoors in good weather.  Also the costs and work can be shared when it is a group effort.  It is a perfect activity for a guild.  Always looking for a chance to have fun and be creative, the Qualicum Weavers and Spinners have been enjoying small group "dye days".  We tried our hand at Eco-dyeing.

Kathy's eco dyed scarves

  

  Eco-dyeing, refers to a procedure for using vegetation, leaves, fruit, or flowers in their whole form to dye cloth.  The cloth, silk scarf blanks in this case, must be premordanted with alum and cream of tartar and dryed.  The dye materials are placed on the silk which is then rolled up and tied to hold the dye materails in place.  The prepared bundle is "cooked" in a mixture of salted water with metal objects added to create "rust" marks.  Rusty nails, or old rusted implements (anything that contains iron) will do as well as copper items.  A crock pot is ideal for dyeing one or two scarves.

Unwrapping the silk bundles after curing is a suprise, like a Christmas cracker.  The result is a semi-random pattern with muted colours, and if iron was involved orange/black highlights.  

 While silk scarves are a favourite base for this type of dyeing, Susan decided to test it out on wool.  She used nasturtium flowers and leaves for one and ferns for the second piece.  She plans to use the wool for rug hooking. 

Susan's wool samples

Jackie's silk scarf

Jackie added a pair of old garden clippers to her crock pot to get this mix of peach, browns and grays.