Ikat Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Ikat

Practice, practice everywhere

Student doing some weaving on the Mirrix loom #weaving #tapestry #mirrixlooms

A photo posted by Sherri Woodard Coffey (@sherriwcoffey) on Sep 22, 2015 at 3:20pm PDT

So, trying something different here–embedding code from Instagram. Didn’t even know one could do that! Lately, I’ve been digging out all my itty bitty looms to experiment with. I have several and can no longer find directions. Thank goodness for the internet! Plus, I have been practicing on my Mirrix. And I need to practice, practice, practice! I’m just not as good on it as I am on the big loom. That is going to change, but it’s really hard to keep on practicing when I don’t like the way it looks.

Prairie Rain

Speaking of Mirrix, they are in the finalists for the Martha Stewart Made in America awards. There are lots of finalists to view and vote for. Evidently, you get six votes, so scroll through them and vote. Among the finalists are several weavers and other fiber folks. One of them is

One of the things on my list for this week is some ikat experimentation. I need a mathematician! It seems that I should be able to work out a ratio between the cartoon and the ikat that I tie with the actual woven piece. So far that is escaping me. And, since I’ve got some big projects in mind, I would like to get this down. On the piece that I just got through weaving (similar to the above Prairie Rain), I doubled the size of the cartoon, thinking that since I was tying in 1/2 inch segments, that would be appropriate. Wrong! I ended up with lots of tied and dyed yarn left over. The cartoon ended up about 108 inches. Since I was measuring my weaving, I stopped at 60 inches, after using approximately 66-70 inches of the cartoon amount. The experimentation will involve measuring the yarn in 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch segments and seeing how much is woven with each group. I am really hoping to get good information from this. Not all motifs have a place to just stop like the most recent piece. Some have to continue to finish the image. Plus, I also don’t want the motif to be squished. More practice. Sigh…

Nothing much

Walkway into BRIT. I love shadows!

It seems that there’s not much getting done around here, but when I look back, I realize that’s not true. September 12 was Fall Gallery Night, so there was work to be done there. Fort Worth Weavers Guild had their biennial show at CAC, so that had to be hung. The Fort Worth Art Collective had a pop-up at BRIT, so work had to be delivered and then picked up at the end of gallery night. Plus, there’s weaving to be done, and somehow, real life gets in there too.

American Beautyberry-Callicarpa americana

The grounds at BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) are covered in native plants. Above is American Beautyberry. It’s so pretty this time of year. So, as I walked in, not only were the shadows from the walkway beautiful, but so were the plants. The grasses are in full seed-head mode. Too bad it’s hard to get good pictures of them with a phone. But the shadows–look at the ones on the pillars of the entrance, which I didn’t even notice until I saw the picture I had taken. The ones on the walkway were sufficient for my eyes. BRIT is located near the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, so as I was leaving, I had to take a picture of the plants at their entrance. I have no idea what they are, but I suspect some kind of lily. Is this the year I finally join one of the many garden clubs that meet there? Plus, I’ve been mulling over how to hang a couple of pieces that are horizontal. My first plan didn’t work. More on that later too.

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

48 inches woven

So here’s where I start for the day. I’ve been trying to get 10 inches woven per day. Sounds like a puny goal, doesn’t it? Even though this ikat weaves much faster than tapestry, it’s not like just throwing a shuttle back and forth. Each of the design motifs has to match up before beating. With ikat, a new motif pops up, and it has to begin in a place that will maintain selvedges. Sometimes, sections have to be rewoven just to maintain those selvedges. At first, as I was weaving, I kept notes on the measurements and compared them with the cartoon measurements, hoping to find some sort of formula to use in planning future projects. Maybe a mathematician could do it, but so far I can’t. My next project, to finish off this warp, will be purely experimental ikat. More about that later. And speaking of warp, I’ve got some ideas about warping going around in my head. I need to take some pictures and get opinions from you. Will it work or not? That’s for later too. Right now, I need to finish what’s on the loom.

What’s going on in your world. Weaving? Personal projects?

A studio notebook

Ikat Notes Studio

Notes on measuring ikat

Something new for me, a studio notebook. While measuring ikat on the board, I weighed each ball of yarn before and after. Then I wrote down the section number and how much yarn was used, hoping I would have a pretty accurate way of knowing how much dye to use. On the right is the weight of each section. I then plug this information into my spreadsheet to get all the dye formulas I need. The left side has notes made while doing the measuring part. You can even see my note from a phone call about a new crown! Exciting stuff, this! This method is working well for the dyeing, so far. At least I think so.

Smoke in progress. By the way, the top picture is more color accurate. The color is charcoal, not black.

I am now weaving, the fastest part of this process. I normally take some notes when I start, but usually on a notecard.

notecard

I record the date started, how I began (as in twining, knots, etc), so that I can end in the same way. Sometimes tapestry takes so long, I forget what I did in the beginning. Even though it’s not visible in the picture (the pen I used is almost out of ink), I also recorded the width in the reed, the width of the woven cloth with and without the temple. I’m really trying to get a handle on the ikat part, so as soon as one of the design motifs is done, I am going to record the size of the woven one to compare to the cartoon one. So, while I am writing all of this on my notecard, (duh!) it occurred to me that I should be using the same notebook with the measuring notes.

Any hints you could share about your record keeping? Do you keep a record of weaving notes? Or other project notes? What’s your method?

Sequence of events

Ikat tied and laid out in order

The last batch of yarn is ready to be rinsed and untied. It takes me about an hour and a half to untie a section. I use my seam ripper to slit the tape under the knot, then unwrap the ikat tape. This needs to get finished or I need to find a neater way of doing things. The towel is there because I usually do this while the yarn is still damp, hoping to not have so much compression of the yarn. Not sure it works.

Ikat leavings

Yarns in dyepot

Untied

Balled up and ready to go. And, no, these yarns are not different colors.

Today’s task–start weaving, adjust the warp width multiple times until I find the “perfect” width, then weave another header and start weaving. And then there’s the bit about a visit to the dentist and a chipped tooth.

Taking the day off

Today is declared to be a day off–after cleaning the studio. All of those bits of ikat tape are driving me nuts. If I would wear shoes, I probably wouldn’t find them all over the house, but …

Though, I say it’s a day off, it really isn’t, but it will be spent doing things other than tying ikat, which, by the way, is done for this project. I laid all the sections out in order to take the picture above and discovered that I had not done one section. You can see the cartoon on the left. Back to the ikat table and NOW I’m done. As for those other things, the list is a mile long, but maybe a visit to the book store will be added and crossed off first.

Spice of the month club

For Mother’s Day, my daughter gave me a subscription to the Spice of the Month Club. After rolling my eyes at this, my sisters and I thought this would make a fun once-a-month dinner for us to have at our mother’s house. We decided that five-ish on a Sunday would be good for all of us. I will cook the recipes that come with the spices, and everyone else would bring something to go with the month’s theme. We’ve done this once now and declared it good. As you can see from the picture above, last month’s theme was Jamaica. I’m not a huge fan of jerk, but this was used on fish, and surprisingly, everyone enjoyed it, especially with the mango salsa. This month I get to cook ribs for the first time in my life, and make ice cream in the ice cream maker I bought on sale and never used. The theme is Memphis spice. Spice ice cream, anyone?

Addendum: I have removed all links because I was receiving several emails per week about these links from the company. Sometimes more than once daily. Evidently they were broken, but the information contained here can no longer be found anyway.

There is a problem with this whole thing, however. These recipes can never be duplicated. You can’t buy the spices individually or even the grouping for the month. I asked.

The next dinner will have a Baltimore spice theme and include shrimp. Yum!

Ikat trimmings and other art

Ikat Trimmings, Sherri Coffey 😉

A different view of what I’ve been doing. These bits of ikat tape that are trimmed after tying are just thrown on the floor, and since I work barefoot, they have a tendency to get tracked all over the house. Yes, it would be better to drop them in a trash container, but they float to other locations in that process, so why bother?

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Below are some more photos from the Friday night art receptions at the Community Arts Center. There is some wonderful art displayed at the center. Things that catch my eye are usually whimsical, pieces that I admire the skill involved, unusual materials. or just plain appeal to me for whatever reason. And of course, I could not take pictures of everything!

Large metal sculpture: Sylvester by Stephan Potter

Stephen Potter

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The Menthol Mood by Nancy Lamb

Nancy Lamb

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Geo, watercolor, Megan Bise

Megan Bise

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Shape Shifting by Rebecca Low

Rebecca Low

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I wish my photo could capture the color better in Linear Meditation, below. Within the circles are bits of blue around the inside edges. There’s a much better picture on her website.

Linear Meditation, acrylic, graphite powder hand-applied, oil lines, Jan Ayers Friedman

Jan Ayers Friedman

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Resurgence, oak and aluminum, Joe Hyun

Joe Hyun-I can’t find a web presence for this artist. CAC website on TAC exhibition

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The picture below is watercolor, a medium that I wish I could use. I am amazed at the tiny lines in the piece that are created with watercolor.

Gryi 514, watercolor, Karen Ferrer

Karen Ferrer and info here

So, what do you think about this week’s art selection? Is there a favorite? Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine. 😉

How does it happen?

Ikat progress-repeat 10 times

How does it happen that some weeks are full of appointments and activities with no time left for work? That’s this week. In between having to leave for the various whatevers, you can see what I’m doing above. AND, may I say, I am so happy I kept fairly good notes when I wove this previous version of this design. This time around I am trying to actually track time and the amount of yarn used in each section. Why? I am tracking time to get a better estimate of how much time it takes to finish a project. As for the yarn–that’s a dye issue. Since I dye based on the weight of yarn, I am going to start with that number and estimate how much is covered with ikat tape, so that I can get the desired color. At least that’s the plan.

Last Friday were the artist receptions, including the TAC Juried Exhibit. I took lots of pictures. The picture below is from a gallery with the room full of these sculptures. Quite impressive! Nearly all are sold, except for the biggest ones. From Stacy Elko’s website: “They are constructed with flexible cane, handmade paper sealed to the cane and embellished with North African henna iconography.” See more on her website.

Fish Bomb Boat #19 From 7-Stacy Elko

Tuning Fork #20 Heather Pregger

Heather Pregger has a whole series of art quilts based on the tuning fork. I like seeing a series like this and how for you can take a simple shape and fly away with it.

Big Yellow Apple, Martha Bean, oil on canvas, 48″ x 48″

You need to read Martha Bean’s artist statement. Seven lines, clean and simple, like her art. She also has pictures of other art, plus more apples here.

Tick, Tock, the Game is Locked by Janet Morrow. Cast sugar

Janet Morrow’s piece is very unusual and dominates the space. Tick Tock, the Game is Locked… Yes, you read correctly–constructed of cast sugar.

There are more pictures, but they’ll have to wait. More tasks, appointments, events await. But just out of curiosity, of the ones posted here, which do you like best?

It’s happened again

Weaving in progress

The ikat weaving is going amazingly fast, (maybe because I’m enjoying the trashy novel I’m listening to) although it may not be exactly as planned. The motifs are not always aligning in the expected places, but I just adjust and keep on weaving. The problem is my logic and math skills, or lack thereof.

I weave at 24 ppi, which means that there are 12 wraps around the selvedge threads.

Selvedge

Twelve wraps around a peg on the ikat board makes a really big bundle, and it’s hard to wrap that bundle to get a good, clean edge on the design motif. So I decided to wrap in 1/2 inch increments. For some reason, I had it in my head that my cartoon would need to be stretched by 2 in order to get the motifs the correct size in the weaving. So wrong! For the first time, I have been measuring the motif in the weaving and writing the size on the cartoon, along with measuring the design motif on the cartoon also. The most that those measurements have is a discrepancy of 1/2 inch–the weaving being larger. Keep in mind that this is a cartoon stretched two times its original size. Does this mean that if I had used the desired finished size in the cartoon and still wrapped the yarn for ikat in 1/2 groups, the weaving would be exactly that size? My head is spinning, and I guess the only solution is to try it. In the meantime, I have enough wrapped sections to weave another piece. Do I really want to weave the same thing again?

Cartoon

From this to….this

Dyeing was to begin, and it did, but not without a snafu first. The yarn was in the dye pots, burners turned on, and I went back inside and set the timer. When I went out again, the burners were off and the propane tank empty. I attached a new tank (which I know was full because it was so heavy) and nothing happened. A bit of flame, then nothing. So, off to the propane place to refill the first tank. By then it was too late in the day, so everything was started again the next morning. I untied the first sections so that I can weave even it the other sections are not dyed yet. My big fear now is that the sections are going to be in different dye baths. Even if everything is done carefully, each dye bath will vary somewhat in color.

Stretched yarn has been tied with the design. The cartoon is visible beneath the stretched yarn.

Ikat-tied yarn pile

Dyed

Ties removed

Hanging to dry. From here, the sections are wound into balls and then put on a rug shuttle. The labels will remain until the section is ready to be woven.

Learning lessons

So, 10 boards just like this one have been stretched between the boards and the pattern has been tied.

Label, label, label!

Ikat-tied yarn pile. The picture of the pile of yarn doesn’t show how high the pile is.

My method for a design that has been stretched to 128 inches is to cut it into sections. I label each one with the title of the piece, top and bottom, and the number of the section. As I worked on this particular design, I decided that I needed to also label the width of each design element and the centers. You can see all the labels if you click on the picture.

After stretching and tying the yarn, I also label the top and bottom (ask me how I learned to do that!). So I thought at least.

When I dye, I weigh each skein and then use a formula for how much dye and additives to use. That’s harder for me to do with ikat, since there are sections that are tied off and there is no need for dye there. I had first thought I would use a 4% solution to get an intense color, but I’ve decided to go with 3% to compensate for the tied off parts. So, I separated that pile into the individual sections and weighed each one.

Forgot to add the labels before taking off the board.

That’s when I discovered that one section had no labels for the top and bottom of that section. I put all of the the cartoon pieces on the floor, along with its matching yarn section until I found the correct one.

The yarns are all weighed, the spreadsheet is ready … Dyeing begins soon!