Weaving Archives - Page 5 of 11 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Weaving

I love this stuff!

For some reason, I’ve ended up with a pile of green yarns that I don’t like very much, so I decided to overdye them with turquoise. The image above left is the original colors and below that is the dye result. As you can see, there’s not a huge difference in the final colors, but the olive one on the right turned out to have a lot of depth to it. I have more of these same colors, which I will overdye with blue.

I’ve also been dyeing yarns for the next project, that is if there is ever a new project. I’m thinking the small piece on the loom may never end. There’s just something about having 50 butterflies going that seems to slow things down. Because of various life circumstances, my weaving time has slipped, so I’m working really hard to get back that discipline. My goal for the week is 18 hours of loom time. At the rate the current piece is going, it may take 2-3 weeks to finish. It’s size is only increasing by 1/2 inch per day.

I love seeing the yarns coming out of the depots! Wonderful colors. More pics later.

A teeny glossary

My last post was short, included a big picture and lots of weaving words to go along with the “lots of color.” With that in mind, here’s a bit of terminology. This only applies to my weaving, not the big world of weaving in general. We all have our own methods. It would be great if anyone wants to jump in here and add to the discussion.

By the way, that colorful picture of all my butterflies? It’s worse now. I just seem to keep adding them.

Warp-The threads that are on the loom. In this case, they are white and will not be seen in the finished weaving.

Weft-The yarn that is being woven. It goes horizontally across the warp and will cover the warp completely. It is what is weaving the design.

Weft butterflies-Butterfly is the name given to the organization of the weft because of the shape. Weavers may also organize their wefts on bobbins. Here’s a video about making butterflies. Rebecca Mezoff also has one here. I tried to embed them, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards today.

Sett-The refers to the spacing of the warp threads. In this case, 6 epi means 6 ends per inch.

Reed-A device that keeps the warp threads in their place. It is as wide as the woven piece or wider, made of two top and bottom horizontal bars in which metal dividers are inserted. The reed being used has 6 dents (spaces) per inch.

Sley the reed-old terminology, before 1050, from Middle or Old English, for inserting each warp thread into the spaces of the reed. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sley

Color-lots and lots of color

This morning I walked to my loom and noticed how great all the brightly colored weft butterflies looked. Well, the picture just doesn’t capture that deliciousness. This is an experiment while I get the rest of the yarns dyed for the next project. I also changed the sett, which means that I have now re-sleyed the reed about a jillion times. 6 epi for now. So, what do you think this will be? 60 inches wide, and I’m thinking 5-8 inches high. Lots of bright colors.

Testing, testing

Now that I’ve put a new warp on the loom at a different sett, I’m testing weft yarns. You can see the testing above. I put string labels on the different bits so that I could remember what the yarns are later. Starting from the right is my regular Crown Colony from Henry’s Attic, far right is 2 strands used together, then 1 strand next to it on the left. I’m testing some Wilde Yarn double roving, Harrisville singles, my own mohair, some cottons, Mobelatta, and and another that I don’t remember what it’s called. After I finish with these samples, I am going to go ahead and start weaving–after I make a couple of warp adjustments.

Warp cut off, new one in progress

I did it. Cut off the linen warp. I liked the heft it gave to finished pieces, but did not like working with it. I am warping an 12/6 Swedish cotton at 8 epi. That should let me do more of the designs I have in mind. We’ll see. Of course I’ve already made a huge mistake in the warping process. I only did 8 ends instead of the 16 ends necessary for a 2-inch section. Remediation is needed.

ZigZag I, hand-dyed with natural dyes, wool yarns, tapestry, 51″ x 31″ Private collection ©Sherri Coffey

Looking through some old files and came across this piece. Still like it, but you have to look closely to see all the colors.

And, I came across this on Facebook. It’s from this Growing Bolder page with all kinds of cute pictures and sayings. Mostly I just ignore those things. I also liked Kim Bruce‘s photo share of the t-shirt-wearing lady. The shirt says “Old is the new black.”

Artist profile

Carolyn Edlund of Artsy Shark and Arts Business Institute interviewed me for an ABI artist profile. She is a lovely person and made this a completely comfortable process. After our conversation, she sent me a list of questions, and I wrote my answers. Our conversation made me think of a few things, so I’m glad I took notes. Since I am not the best writer in the world, I did ask friends to read my answers and make sure they made sense and/or make suggestions. I LOVE that she included such large images with the article.

Changes, flux, etc

Wari, private collection

Do you ever feel like everything is in flux? That’s where I’ve been for weeks, or maybe months. I seem to flutter back and forth between doing the weft ikat and tapestry, between wider sett and closer sett, between linen, cotton or wool warp. Why can’t I settle down to one thing?

Although I like the heft of the linen warp, but I don’t like working with it. If I stick with 4 epi, I will go back to wool, which also has problems. The Swedish cotton sitting on my shelf is 12/9 and 12/6.

Because of some ideas rolling around in my head, I am thinking of cutting off the linen and putting on a new warp of cotton. Kind of silly, but … Now to decide which sett to use.

By the way, the British dictionary definition of flux: continuous change; instability. Yep, that’s me. I don’t even want to think about the medical definition on the same page.

Do you ever go through these indecisive times? How do you solve it?

Working like mad…mostly

The weaving of four pieces simultaneously is over. It seemed like it continued. And continued. They’re cut off, but as usual with these small pieces, they didn’t quite turn out like planned, but that’s my fault. I wanted them to be square-ish, but they’re not. I will make them that way.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Kimbell for a program called Precious Adornments: Figurines in the Ancient Andes. Since I love the ancient cultures of this region, it was a must do. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is the description of the program:

This talk will focus on small-scale humanlike figurines from early pre-Inca cultures along the western coast and highland Andes of modern-day Peru. These anthropomorphic figurines—created in clay, wood, stone, bone, or shell—range in size from miniature pendants to doll-like effigies. Some of these precious objects were worn, and some were adorned with textiles, shell inlay, or precious stones, thus reflecting differences in their function, value, and meaning.

Wari magnet

I wish there were pictures, but there aren’t, so I’ll have to resort to one I’ve posted earlier. this is a picture of a magnet that I bought during the Wari exhibition. Hard to believe he’s only 4 inches high. He’s inlaid with shell and stone. A better picture is here.

I plan to get to Peru within the next year or two. Just as soon as my knee is better. And since I’m on the subject of Peru, did you hear about what Greenpeace did? This was so totally unbelievable to me. They put huge letters along side the Nasca hummingbird. No one, not even presidents, are allowed to walk along the Nasca lines, yet these idiots went in there and laid out these huge letters trying to draw attention to the environment. Yes, the environment needs attention, but this? The Nasca lines are a World Heritage Site. Geez! Okay, rant over.

Actually, not a lot of art is being done at the moment. I always have a hard time balancing all the personal stuff/chores, the weaving, and the art biz stuff. It seems I do one or the other. I always plan out my week on Sundays, but it never works. Even though all my appointments are in my phone and online, I still keep a paper calendar book for my everyday planning. So, I get out my phone, look to see what’s on the calendar for the week, plug those in on paper, and work around that to get my to-do list in place. Someone mentioned they use a color coded spreadsheet, so I decided to try that on my usual calendar. Using colored pencils, I lightly colored in blocks. It looks good, but will it work? Who knows. And even if it does, how long will that last.

Four at a time

Four at a time. Remember the fairy tale about whoever killing X number of flies (or something) at once? Above are four weather pieces on the loom. I haven’t really decided the best way to handle weaving four pieces at once, although in order to use the beater, I probably need to stay in the same place on each, as in number of picks. Only the hems have been woven so far, but already there are problems with the linen warp. I pulled the loose ones and retied the knots on the front apron, which made the hems uneven, so that still has to be straightened out. Seriously thinking of going back to wool warp!

The design has been marked. This is the one second to the right.

The design has been marked. This is the one on the far left.

The plan for the rest of the month is to clear up the clutter in my office. As a treat to myself and for my sanity, I am going to weave a couple of hours per day

By the way, I’ve got a strange problem with my iCloud photos. When I click on the picture on my computer, a different picture opens up. For instance, I clicked on the one image on the left, and here’s what opened up. Weird! ©Sherri Coffey-ZigZag

Moving along

Some pictures today… I’ve noticed that the pictures are going up on Facebook and not here. Plus, frankly, there’s just not a lot to write about. It’s cold, and I’m already tired of cold weather. On cold days, my time goes like this:

To the studio
Start a fire
Weave
Haul in more wood
Stoke the fire
Weave
Repeat as needed

The weaving–I’m weaving two small pieces on the big loom. They are in the neighborhood of 16 inches wide, and the intent is for them to be more or less square. I was having fun weaving one of the pieces and got to the place where the warp needed to be advanced. That means it’s time to work on the other piece. With both of these I am doing something different, at least for me.

Detail

When I posted the above pictures, I asked if anyone could tell what it is. The next pic is below. Yep, here it is in all its glory. You may notice a lot of big slits. I don’t do slits. In theory, I know how to sew them together, but since I don’t do slits, well, you can see where this is going. And that “hair?” That’s what is in the detail above. That’s going to be everywhere, like Little Orphan Annie. Except more colorful.

Source

And this may be the last picture seen of this project, depending on how those slits go. No matter, at least a something that’s been in my sketchbook for a really long time will have been attempted.