I'm going after Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy!

With the current theme i'm working from, i'm looking at "finishing techniques" meaning all sorts of things that can be done after a piece of fabric is woven. Something I thought could be really interesting for several reaons was freezing (hence the batman quote in the title of this post) and I can only say some was a great success!

I used a weave sample with various textures and levels, a flat fancy twill combined with a plain weave with rug tufting techniques to make the surface very textured. I submerged part within the water and left the other part out of the water and avoided it getting wet.

Grey, grey, grey

Still working on the "grey" project for university, it's actually turning out to be not so bad. The lack of colour and a real concept are really helping me to develop my technical skills as I'm not distracted by anything else. I've been working on 16 shaft patterns that I've never used before and have also been using the book "The handbook of weaves" by  G. H. Oelsner (if any of you are aspiring weavers, check it out!) its bloody fantastic.

Theres a fully section on "fancy twills" which just blew me away.

Here's some of my work using those patterns.

16 shafts and large scale

exploring various 16 shaft honeycomb looms and "fancy twills" from a book from 1915!! amazing how 'contemporary' this work is to say the pattern is almost 100 years old ey?

I love learning new things, I just can't help it. I'm one of those people who wants to do everything and I want to do it now! I want to be able to create tiny embroidery cotton loom woven samples whilst making 10 yarn thick 3D loom structures whilst doing fine tapestries and bending wire into bizzare sculptures to coat in upcycled strips of fabric.

I just can't help myself.

I can't wait to get these patterns going with some colour. I'll soon be learning pockets and double cloths too which I really am excited for. I think weave is something that is really taken for granted. I know a large majority of fabrics are created using huge pieces of machinery now but what about all those fabrics that are hand woven? Each shaft lifted individually and each weft yarn pushed through by hand. I love weaving and go into a world of my own everytime I'm infront of a loom and can't imagine doing anything else. 

The concept of being able to bring patterns from 1915 into contemporary artwork just astounds me.

16 shaft loom #1

I've recently started working on a 16 shaft loom rather than an 8 shaft and my current project is all about grey!! We've been set restrictons of working with one colour and working souly on finish, technique and style. Not colour, not context. Just pure skill! I'm loving every single second ofi t.

I've recently started to specialise in "hand constructed textiles" and as you will know, a lot of my work is very sculptural so I'm going to start working on some large 16 shaft patterns that will hopefully go 3D once removed from the loom.