Mosaics of Ravenna

A while back Peter called me to his computer and asked what do you think of this, want to go visit.  It was a whole page of pictures of Ravenna, a city in Northern Italy and steeped in history and art.  You bet I want to visit.

At the same time I was gob-smacked.  It was just what was on my computer screen (sort of) in Fiberworks (for the uninitiated  fiberworks is weaving software) and I was threading the loom with a navy and turquoise cotton warp sett at 40 epi.  The pattern is a 4 colour double weave with blue and an apricot in the weft.  Treadled as the warp threading with weft threads pretty much the same thickness as the warp to square the pattern.  I thought I was pretty clever with that allowing for shrinkage at different rates in warp and weft.  Don't fall off your chairs, for once I did sample.

I'm really smitten with this pattern, there is so much going on.  Are they square tiles or diamond shaped?  The patterns within the tiles are fun and where the diamond tiles meet there is another circle event happening.  The straight draw border brings it all together.

And here is the reverse side with a whole lot of more fun.

The ghastly labels are not mine but this has been entered in the Bay of Plenty Area Exhibition and one must follow the rules.  Selection was last weekend so think I'm safe publishing this.

Its a bit odd photographing a table runner on the deck but someone was filling ink cartridges for a photographic printer and had an ooopsy!  Our table is not the best now.

The second runner on the same warp with the same weft colours is designed using an altered tie up similar to what Marian Stubenitsky shows in her wonderful book "Weaving with Echo and Iris".  Its still four colour double weave but I've altered one half of the tie up.

Have now tied another warp on, this time orange and white.  I just love it when the knots all line up nicely.

These are still on the loom and again, lots of little pattern areas to make me excited.  Again woven with an altered tie up on 16 shafts in 5 end advancing twill.  This time the weft threads are slightly thinner than the warp giving the warp more emphasis.

Love these echoing hearts.

Can't wait to get these mats off the loom.

Some things just keep going wrong!

I see its quite a while since I talked with you.  I have been very busy weaving, sewing and knitting but not things I can share as some are for the Festival fashion parade, some for the exhibition at Festival and others for my tutoring.

And some things have gone really really wrong!  Lets just say I wove a complete alpaca silk shawl before discovering an echo threading with 840 threads was wrong - a week designing, a week threading and weaving and not until I cut it off did I find the booboo.  Woh is me.  And what's worse the whole point of the exercise was to then expand the warp threads the full width of my loom to weave a banner for festival.  Well!  I couldn't believe so many things could go wrong, even this morning when I wove 30 rows of the pattern and discovered it was scrolling backwards.  More unweaving.  On the right track now and hoping all will be straight forward.  I mean its not complicated.

Now what do we call this - American? 4 colour double weave - two colours in warp and two in weft.
Marian Stubenitsky's 4 colour double weave has 4 colours in the warp and 2 in the weft.

Lets see if I can explain what went wrong.  Make a new drawdown by taking the threading then draw the weft exactly as drawn in.  One diagonal line through the tie up and you get this.  If reduced to its tiniest form all looks well (as I did) but enlarge it slightly (click on image to enlarge) and you will see the diagonal lines are different.  Not a mirror image of each other.

 As they should be below.

A simple way to check before weaving 2.2 metres of alpaca silk which is now in my wardrobe waiting for winter (which we are told will be late this year).

More echoes

Been to Auckland (again) to see the kids and look what we found when we returned.  

 Banksias cut down.  They were on Council reserve land, we new it would happen some time and they are to be replaced with natives.  They were on the wrong side of the track to provide shade and they will provide us with firewood for a couple of years.

 But, look at the view, extensive to say the least.

After I cut the previous wine scarf off (which was woven turned taquete by the way) I tied on another warp in beautiful fine merino specially spun for Professional Weavers Network.  Hand dyed red, blue, green and yellow.  I'm finding choosing colour the hardest thing with Marian Stubenitsky"s way of weaving 4 colour echo.  100 threads of blue clumped together were quite strong, as was the green, but spread them out between other colours and they lost intensity.  Also I like clear colour and here one always has two colours together - red and blue, blue and green, green and yellow and yellow and red - which in this case produces secondary colours - purple, orange, lime.

 Turned taquete weft, one thread red the other very fine cashmere navy.

 Below, woven double weave, one weft purple, one bottle green.  These were not good choices as they didn't show up as different.  (Look at those selvedges, Agnes!)

 And just to show off the view again ...

 There was just enough warp left to try a regular twill tie up and treadling.

 Front

Back

Now, should I put another warp on to weave this or leave it as I've already been told Tangerine Dream looks like upholstery fabric!!