Today’s focus
– Finish the weaving project.
– Decide whether to cut off the loom or carry on to the next piece.
I had about 10 inches to weave before I would be ready to hem stitch the end of the piece and potentially take it off the loom.
I was interested in the rate at which I was weaving. Obviously I have been slower at times when learning my way, but now the weaving is beginning to flow better, and I am clearer about the areas I need to keep checking, which in turn avoids mistakes and subsequent corrections.
I timed a 2″ section with my phone timer and made sure to keep an uninterrupted flow of weaving. It took just over 15 minutes to weave a 2″ section, so I can say that I am weaving at a rate of roughly 8″/hr.
After weaving was complete, I was able to finish the edge with the hem stitch, the same as at the start of the piece. This is a series of lock stitches that secures the weft from unravelling. As this is a knot every 4 warp threads, this takes a considerable amount of time.
Once finished I decided I wanted to remove the piece from the loom, so leaving 2″ from the hem stitch, I cut the warp threads to release the piece from the loom. I then did the same at the front bar, got rid of the loom waste from the knots and held the piece up.
Things I love about the piece:
– the weight and drape of the cloth. It handles really well and feels nice.
– the ‘circle’ motif looks good in the madder ink.
– the ink saturation looks good at this point too. I am mindful of lessons learnt with the screen printing as to how to proceed with the aftercare of the piece.
– the weave in general has turned out well, despite some errors along the way. These are visible but characterful.
Things I don’t like about the piece:
– the extra paint marks around the circle are distracting and not well executed. They also make the painted area feel clunky.
– Is the weave too gappy and are the errors, in fact, ugly?
To address some of the undesirable factors I will first leave the piece to sit for a while and allow thoughts to settle.
Some ideas so far include:
– embroidering onto the piece to help blend and develop the madder marks further.
– curating the piece as a 3D draped object, rather than a flat hanging.
– see how the piece looks after steam setting. Will the madder soften? Will the weave tighten? I want to try and avoid colours running!
– treat this piece as a test run and focus on the next piece on the loom.
There is still a considerable length of warp on the loom, which I intend to weave and see if I can improve my process and ideas further. After this I should have time to do some other weaving projects on the loom, and I can make these smaller and narrower so as to try out a few different techniques and ideas. I may need to look at different, possibly thicker, threads to see how these behave too.