This summer my mum visited us and she showed me braid weaving techniques.
A former dressmaker, mother is 73 years old and she grew up in an era where resources
were very limited and making things was second nature. She told me that she
used to weave braids to decorate collars and sleeves. She thought that
nowadays ‘making’ is seen as a waste of time because one can get anything so
easily, so cheap. She brought a family treasure to show us, a Celtic knot woven
with yarns made with horse hair! It used to decorate my grandfather’s rosary,
made for him by her girlfriend in late 1920s. I think it is exquisite.
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| Celtic Knot Weave belonging my granddad 1920s |
After a quick
visit to George Weil (www.georgeweil.com) for weaving essentials,
I set up a picture frame and had my first go in weaving a thin strip. I found
the picture frame frustrating so I set up the beginners weaving loom (25cm
x25cm). But this loom is too small and difficult to warp longer yarns. So my
lovely husband made a longer frame for me.
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| Frames I worked with |
Exercise 1- Paper weaving: I tried to
make different patterned papers work together to create another pattern in
woven form.
Exercise 2- Yarns, Plaits,
Braids: Starting with plaits and braids we made with mum, the possibilities are
limitless. One can braid flat, round thick or thin. I worked with contrasting
colors, which showed the structure better and helped me to remember the
sequences. I used my cheap Ebay buy embroidery treads to produce shiny yarns.
Exercise 3- Shape, light
and Space: For first Sample, I made frame using a twig and weaved an oval
structure. I used paper yarn, newspaper, shopping bag, wool, and hairy wool.
Here I am looking into how different materials look and feel together, effects
of lose and tight weaving. It is an irregular shape to weave and the are gaps
between yarns are inevitable. I tried to use it as an effect.
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| Saadet Payne Sample1 |
Second Sample is a square shape. Planning to use warp as a design
element, I warped a shiny soft yarn on the loom against natural, and hard
materials on the weft (paper yarn, dried leaves, twigs, wool and copper wire),
creating vertical and horizontal lines. I tried to create contrasting
qualities: soft against hard, shiny against matte, filled space against gaps. The
softness of the warp yarn provided enough flexibility to weave with such
delicate materials like dried leaves and hard materials like copper and twig.
But the beating and stretching damages the warp yarn. Because of the materials,
the piece is woven loosely and the structure is delicate but intact. I enjoyed
the visual and textural contrasts, earthly colours and the subtle light bouncing
of it.
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| Saadet Payne Sample 2 |
Exercise 4- Open and Dense
Areas: For this sample I am using less variety (yellow and blue/grey wool
yarn, fluffy grey yarn, silvery metal wire). My objective is to create solid
and open areas. I warped leaving gaps (9 warps, 6 gap, 3 warps, 3gap, 6 warp).
I am aiming to manage the integrity of the structure having big gaps in the
middle. Some parts needed to be woven tightly (yellow and blue yarn parts) some
parts loosely (yarn and silver wire bits). Despite the fact that the wire makes
uneven lines and looks unstable it helped the structure. I also liked the
horizontal lines by the unwoven yarn in the middle. Fluffy yarn also helps with
texture and visual contrast as well.
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| Saadet Payne Sample 3 |
Project 9: Woven
Structures:
Basic Tapestry Techniques
and Experimenting with Different Materials:
Previous exercises I have been experimenting with variety of material
but in tapestry the warp must not show. Therefore I intend to use more applicable materials.
For first trial, I am still using basic weaving technique. I keep the
same color hue but changed the materials looking to create texture by using
yarns of different properties. (Soft-hard; smooth-rough; thin-thick;
natural-manmade etc.) Thick yarn shows the warp, but creates bumpy texture;
structure of the weave becomes more obvious. Thin yarns create fluid structure
(like fabric as we know it). Synthetic thick fibers (or fabric pieces) bounce
back when you press or beat them down. Plastic yarn can be rough too but reflects
light. For tapestry thick and synthetic yarns requires Soumak knot.
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| Saadet Payne Sample 4 |
For second sample I am using tapestry techniques (basic, soumak, rya)
with more variety of yarn (bubble wrap –painted it to keep in the color scheme,
organza, plastic, indian silk yarn spun from recycled silk). I applied soumak
in different directions :
- Weaving soumak from left to
right – and then back again right to left creates a fish tail pattern
- Weaving soumak from left to right – and basic weave back from right to
left and then soumak from left to right, creates wrapped around effect more
like a knitted.
- Plastic and hard yarns produces more rigid structure with gaps
between.
Rya knots effects change with material too. But it covers the pervious
lines so you need to build up rows before it. I also tried to weave a triangle shape
within this piece.
It is very tempting to weave tight, especially changing from one
material to the next. But this results in narrowing your selvedge, i.e. wider
at the bottom; narrower at the top!
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| Saadet Payne Sample 5 |
Last sample I am exercising all the techniques again plus attempting to weave
waves in the tapestry. My source image has loads of waves.
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| Saadet Payne Sample 6 |
Developing Design Ideas
into Weaving:
I am going to follow the approach that suggests using a sketch or an
image as a guide while weaving.
As my visual source, I chose an aerial photography by Daniel Beltra of
an oil spillage in Gulf in 2010 (www.danielbeltra.com). I am attracted to the
colors in this photograph. Deep dark blue sea rejecting the oil making a
surface with definitive lines against soft smudged cloudy areas. I started
matching colors with paint and yarn. I simplified the image in my sketch. My
sketch doesn’t look promising but attempting to weave those waves makes me
nervous already. I aim to capture the explosion of color, and construct
interesting textures.
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| Saadet Payne - Color matching with paint and yarns |
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| Saadet Payne - Sketch for Tapestry Sample |
I started with deep teal color and weaved it with curved wefts and
soumak knot . I used multi colored yarns like the Indian silk yarn whose
variety of colors (blues, greens, purples brownish reds) is great for areas
where colors merge into each other.
I used bright oranges against deep purples and dark teal to give
definition to curves and lines.I used shimmering yarns as well as copper wire
to represent the shine of oil.
I chose a thick wool yarn, and fluffed it, used it for rya knot or woven
with it, to resemble cloudy areas.I employed soumak knot a lot. It helps to
build curves, enhances the texture and weave quicker. I used rya to add burst
of color in small amounts. The curves are giving me some difficulty, I had to
improvise and did not followed sketch accurately. I managed to control the
width a bit better this time, weaving the edges loosely.
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| Saadet Payne Final Sample |
The final result is very different from the photographs and the sketch. It
is an interpretation of its source but the weaving technique dictated the end
result. I love tangible quality of the piece. Weaving calls for all senses not
just visual. Unlike paint, when yarn is concerned, you
need to consider the sense of touch: how will it ‘feel’ and as much as how
will it ‘look’. For me, maybe for the first time, working with the sense of
‘touch’ took the center stage. You can see in the pieces I produced that I was
taken by it. Yarns are so very seductive. I tried my best to keep a balance but
it can be hard at times.
Learning to construct the cloth from scratch is great fun. I had a good
go to techniques, and using different materials, colors and trying to create
interesting surface texture. Weaving involves a lot of design decisions and
multiple elements to consider starting from the shape of your frame, colors and
properties of your yarn, knots you make, how dense or lose you weave, light,
shine, thickness, etc. Weaving is a slow process and requires skill and control.
But with most things regarding textiles, acquiring the skill is only the
beginning.
I always talk about how inexperienced I am
in textiles. Being a newcomer used to make me nervous, but now I began to enjoy
the learning experience much more and feel liberated by my amateurishness.
Every new method I learn and every new medium I try motivates me. Weaving was a
joyous discovery as well.
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