An Analogous Sampler

Here is the same sampler as I did yesterday but in a dark olive green and the same medium avocado green as the last one. The colors in the photo are close but not true.

As expected the analogous colors merge into one another in a pleasant way.

Now I am off to select a beetle to design where I can try to incorporate these concepts.

A Split Harmony Sampler

Here is a small sampler I did in taquete with three colors of sewing thread. I wanted to see how many shades of purple and green I could come up with by varying the colors coming to the surface in each spot.

I was inspired by the woven tapestry on page 163 of the Fiber and Color book by Lambert. It was a piece done in red and green illustrating small areas of color producing optical mixing and larger areas creating color shifts by simultaneous contrast.

My piece is less than 4.5 inches by 3 inches but was quite complex to weave. There are sixteen permutations I came up with. I wove a solid purple on the edges and a solid green in the middle so I could more easily compare the permutations with the solid color.

This should be useful in improving my textile designs. In some ways the results are obvious...but this sampler is a visual reminder of the variety of shades of a color one can make by varying the quantity of a hue next to another. Plus, with the 'key' it will allow me to easily import the appropriate shade into my designs.

The results are so interesting I am going to do the same thing over in analogous colors of the same values to see the blending of more similar colors.

Chapter Four

I am running a bit behind schedule but thankfully chapter four is finally woven...

Chapter synopsis:

Our hero goes to her Westside Weavers meeting which is being held this month at her friend's house. As in most Guild meetings, there is much talk of fiber and other ordinary as well as curious things. She is most surprised to hear that her friend's house was burglarized and a number of items stolen. The entire Westside Weaving group tours the 'crime scene'.

Later that evening our hero discusses her growing suspicions with her husband over a romantic dinner.

Now onto the words...

A Stag Beetle

Here's my latest beetle. It's taken awhile to get it done due to all my other projects at the moment. This is a Cyclommatus beetle; one of the varieties of the stag beetle.

I experimented with this one to see the various effects I could achieve with the copper and 'black' I was using. You can see the effects at the edges of the beetle and in the larger portions of black.

Each pixel of color in weaving is composed of two passes of the shuttle with the given color; a round trip so to speak from one side of the loom to the other and back home again. The colors that rise to the surface are the ones you see; I hide the others underneath.

I was able to achieve a darker copper by allowing both the black and the copper to rise to the surface in the same spot.

I was able to achieve a subtle shimmer of copper in the black; like a shadow of copper by allowing the copper to rise to the surface along with the black on only one pass across of the loom. On the way back only the black rose to the surface.

I was able to achieve a mottled black by alternating solid black withe black and copper.

I am considering doing a little sampler so I can see in a more controlled way the impact of the various effects.

Chapter 3

Having finished weaving chapter 3, I have completed the weaving of Act 1 of my mystery story.

In this chapter we learn many curious details about the dead person found by the hero as well as a variety of robberies and thefts occurring through out Santa Monica. The curiosity of the hero grows as she is more and more certain that something isn't quite right. She feels a sense of dread as she commits to finding out what.


Now I am off to write it all down.

My Purple is Blue

I am playing around with the concept of simultaneous contrast with taquete in order to select the 'right' colors for a piece I have designed.

I haven't put any photos up since I have found it near impossible to photograph the color purple with either of my cameras regardless of the adjustments I make to the camera and light. It always comes out blue. Best I can do so far is to adjust the blues in photoshop but overall the colors are still no where close to true. I need to play around some more with the software and the cameras.

This is the best photo of the actual unwoven colors. I had them shaded from any direct light. They all shifted in color when woven.

Here is my sample woven with a purple background with a beetle in two near complements; adjusted in photoshop.

The hues, values and chromas do not look like they do in person. They have been impacted by the light, the camera, photoshop as well as the principle of simultaneous contrast.

Best to study the concept with the actual weavings in hand.


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Chapter 2

Chapter two of my mystery is written and woven. This chapter provides details on the suspicious circumstances surrounding the dead body which our hero found on the way to the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

Chapter One

Just completed chapter one of my mystery story in words and weft.

Chapter One takes place at a party. It's the 25th anniversary of Max and Irma. Max is a successful businessman. Irma is our hero's best friend and fellow weaver. The guest list is a who's who on the Westside of Los Angeles.

Here's what chapter one looks like in bamboo.

Ten Feet Off the Loom

Here are the ten feet of my labors over the past couple of months on my sixteen harness loom. Fourteen beetles and a dozen bookmarks for note cards.

I decided to cut the warp and take a look. I was starting to get worried that I was getting a bit crazy with my color selections. I had taken a more methodical approach to color selection as to hue, chroma and value and wasn't sure how they would come out. This more methodical approach was moving further and further from the anatomically correct colors of the beetles. However, I like the end results; more vibrant colors and more stunning designs. I will definitely continue along this path.

These are off to the finishing table and the remaining five yards of warp will be reset and be ready for more beetles as well as some experiments with simultaneous contrast.

Prologue

I have finished my first draft of the prologue for my mystery story. I am planning twelve chapters along with a prologue and epilogue. The heroine, a Westside divorce attorney has a loom in her office where she weaves undulating twills to clear her mind and solve issues on her complex cases.

Yesterday I finished weaving the prologue. Characters are depicted with weft color while a variety of undulating twills depict actions and atmosphere. In the prologue the characters are doing everyday things until a murder interrupts the peaceful atmosphere.

Here's what it looks like in both color and gray scale....and now onto chapter 1.

Characters

Here are the characters in the mystery story I am 'writing'. Perhaps I will call it the case of the undulating twill.

The sleuth is represented by the lemon grass green on the left with the sleuth's sidekick in olive green. The villains are in the various purples. Friends, helpers and innocents are in the the other colors.



ps. The colors in the photo are close except for the reds on top.

One More Beetle Finished

Here is the latest beetle I finished...but I must admit I need a break from beetles so I am focusing a bit on my writing in words and weft project.

My Mind Wanders

I spent the morning finishing up a woven beetle and before, during or perhaps after quite a bit of 'evaew-ing' I came up with two good ideas for the pieces for the Convergence 2010 exhibits.

It's tough for me to weave and have my mind wander...when it does I spend a great deal of time un-weaving. I can't listen to books on tape - even music makes my mind wander. Occasionally like this morning it is tough to concentrate on the pattern at hand.

Ah well, this morning it was worth it...two great ideas for two new pieces.

Heliocopris

I finished another beetle today, it's a heliocopris from Thailand.

Actually, this time I wove both a male and a female beetle on the same piece. The male is bigger and has horns. You can see the male starting to be wound around the front beam in the photo. I couldn't get a good shot from the top of the loom due to the significant [perhaps excessive?] amount of metallic yarn and the various lights in my studio.

The bright blue piece in the front is one of my experiments with optical illusions in fiber. You are seeing the backside of a distorted checkerboard pattern. I am seeing what kind of optical illusions can transfer successfully from paper to fiber. Between each beetle I do a little experiment in optical illusions. I am making them the size of the opening in the framed greeting cards so I can later use them for that purpose.

Alternating between these two completely different projects keeps my creative juices flowing.

Progress Shots

Not much blogging...but lots of progress on the table looms...a new warp, a half a beetle and a full beetle.

Many more yards to go...

Progress Shot #1

Progress shot of the upside down tomato plant...

It looked like this on March 28th...

Continuing Education

I find it quite amazing I can listen to a continuing education web cast on financial planning while taking an occasional note plus weave. This four harness twill stuff is amazing! I can entirely focus on something else while weaving this simple twill pattern. I guess it's like people knitting while they watch TV.

Here's a bit over 2 yards completed, wet finished and drying outside. Looks and feels yummy. Plan to put more warp on...I have a hours and hours of continuing education to complete this year. I figure by the time I have my hours, I should have enough material to piece together a jacket...or something.

On Vacation

I forgot how delightful it is to weave something that does not require thought.



I picked up an eight harness table loom yesterday from a weaver who had passed away. I had warped the loom for her several years ago in a four harness twill. The entire warp, of unknown length, had not been touched. I decided to weave off the warp. The warp colors were pleasant and I had a variegated weft yarn that worked wonderfully with the stripes in the warp.

I could have just cut off the warp but I am so happy I didn't. It truly is delightful to simply weave. No thought required. No looking at grids to figure out what harnesses to raise. No worrying about color changes. No sticky spools or bobbins. Simply thick variegated yarn on a stick shuttle and a four combination pattern requiring no memorization. I can go more than a foot before refilling my shuttle.

It's fascinating I can actually think about other stuff while I weave and not make mistakes. When my mind wanders while doing taquete I always make mistakes. If my mind wanders when I weave tapestry, I generally stop weaving. I could actually listen to a book on tape weaving this way.

Wow, what a different weaving lifestyle. Kinda like being on vacation from work.

Words and Weft

There is always great excitement at the discovery of a novel concept.

Remember this scarf?

Right after writing that blog entry I went and warped my loom with seven yards...yes seven yards of bamboo with a basic twill set up. My idea was to weave fabric to make a jacket for a wedding I was going to. I wove one inch of tabby and one inch of an undulating twill then stopped. I have not touched that loom in over a year except to move it to three different positions in our living room. Needless to say, the wedding came and went. I just could not imagine myself weaving seven yards of undulating twill. Or at least I think it was seven yards...I have yet to find my notes on this project.

Now I have an idea to accomplish many things.

1. Actually weave the warp on the loom instead of cutting it off.
2. Create something for our guild challenge on upcycling which is due in early October
3. Create another something to submit for the yardage exhibit in Convergence next year...I have always wanted to submit more than one piece.
4. Keep me inspired to both weave the yardage and write my first draft of my mystery story
5. And much later have completed both a novel and a jacket.

Yes, I am quite excited to be figuring out how to structure both a weaving and a mystery to tell the same story.

So cool, one story but two mediums with two different results. The same story in words and weft.

Bugs and Time

For those of you who like bugs ...Mike Libby is simply fantastic.