Winter Workshop: Day Six

Today has been all about the weaving!

I started by trying each of the yarns in turn in plan weave (each of the warp thread alternating up, down, up down, etc.), to see how they interacted with the warp threads, to better match the shell's exterior and interior:

 

Note the inspiration pictures pinned up - this is a must, according to my tutor. I must continually reference my visual research for each swatch, although obviously, the visual research I reference may change slightly for each of the 8 swatches, e.g. be a paint study, a collage, a scanned image as it is here, etc.. Better get my cork board back on the wall above my work table when I get back home!

Then I started playing with different shaft patterns. First, hopsack, in the green, natural and dark pink chenille, where little block patterns are made:

The green is 2/2 hopsack, where the warp pattern is two up, two down, and I passed the weft through twice before changing the shed (swapping the ups and downs). The cream and the chenille are both in 4/4 hopsack, where the warp threads are lifted 4 up and 4 down, and the weft passed through 4 times before swapping them over.

Then onto rib patterns. First I tried some green bouclé in a vertical rib (warp alternating one up, one down, but the weft passing 4 times) , then a horizontal rib in the cream and natural, (warp lifts 4 up, 4 down, but the weft is passed through just once).
 

Towards the end of the day, I began to work on my first swatch, which is simply the pattern of the warp threads woven across them as weft. The green is a transition area where I'll cut and finish the swatch for presentation.

Tomorrow is more weaving in the morning, then group crit, where we look at each other's work and comment on it, followed by individual tutorials, then home. I've loved it, but it's been intense, and I'll be glad to get back to my own bed!