Weaverly

Finished, But Not Cut Off

Yesterday morning I finished weaving Self-Portrait With Hydrangeas, but left it on the loom. 

Here's a detail of the face:

 

And here's a detail of some of the hydrangeas. They're almost abstract, with lots of texture.

There's just enough warp left for one more small piece, so I'll keep weaving until the bitter end, and then cut off both pieces together.  The new warp will also be dark/light for double twill, but instead of black & white I'll be using black & beige, and changing to some other weft colors, too, for a totally different palette. 

Scottish Games

I think in a past life I must have been Scottish. I love Celtic music, bagpipes, and men in kilts. 

Today was Scottish Games day at Furman University. It is rumored that over 20,000 people were in attendance, including Prince Edward. The fun started with a British car show.

 

There were brawny fellows tossing telephone poles…

…and brawny fellows in armor…

…and this stylish fellow striking an insouciant pose.

 

More kilted handsomeness.

And if you love bagpipes, here's a minute-long movie. It includes a few frames of a big man tossing a caber, too. Very impressive.

And last but not least, an actual photo of His Royal Highness. You'll have to use your imagination, as Prince Edward was looking the other way when I snapped this. He's the guy in the gray suit.

Faces Appear

The weaving is always more fun when faces appear. Two of them popped up today. Here's the first:

…and a little later another partial face:

 

Time to take a walk. I checked out my neighbor's hosta. It's really gorgeous. 

But it could be improved upon.

  
 

Aspect Ratio in the New York City Subways

A couple of days ago we were talking about aspect ratio in weaving, and I was amused to see the topic pop up in another context: the redesign of New York's subway map. A key feature of the redesign is the alteration in the aspect ratio of the shape of Manhattan. Read about it here. Be sure to scroll down to see the examples of height to width ratio.

Hydrangeas

The new piece is tentatively titled "Self Portrait With Hydrangeas." The hydrangeas are so beautiful this year that they have crept into a lot of my work. The portrait photos are from my kindergarten days.

 

 

You won't see any Hydrangea Blue in this piece, as my palette is a bit eccentric. It reminds me of the old Technicolor look of cowboy movies from the 1950's. But you will see a lot of interesting texture combinations, especially where there's heavy dithering of the image, as in this corner:

 

Just for comparison, here's a movie. Why would anyone make a movie of a hydrangea when a still photo would do just as well? It's a mystery.

New Aspect Ratio Sample

I started a new weaving today, for an invitational coming up in September. Step one is to weave a small sample to determine aspect ratio. This one measures in at exactly 120 picks per inch in double twill. Warp sett is 63.4 epi. Dividing ppi by epi, we get 1.89 for the aspect ratio, so I will multiply the total picks in the file by 1.89 to get the new file size. 

 

Lynette asked about granite weave. I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember where I first encountered it; I only know that it was in an OLD weaving book. Bhakti and I did include information on how to draft granite weaves on pages 103-106 of The Woven Pixel; check it out if you have the book (and if you don't have it, look in the sidebar for a link). 

And about that black glove—it is creepy. I walked the same route today, and the glove is still there, but it has moved about 10 feet further west. Hm-m-m.

Tuesday In My Neighborhood

 

 

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

The weaving activities this week are of the mundane, housekeeping variety: untangling a yarn order, tweaking a new jacquard file. You don't want to see that, trust me. Instead I'll share my morning cup of coffee with you. It's a feast for all the senses. Watch carefully and you will see a coffee cup magically appear halfway through the video. Listen carefully and you will hear the coffee dripping into the pot, and in the background the radio broadcast from NPR. And maybe you will even smell the coffee.

Granite Weave

This mystery scarf is one I wove during the past year, but I can't remember why. My scarves are usually samples to test some structure or other. This one appears to be a granite weave. Did you ever hear of sleepweaving? It's akin to sleepwalking. Apparently I'm afflicted with it.

No matter. Enjoy the scanned detail (at around 6x, if you click on the image).

 

A Book and Fiber Experience

CaiLun, a book artist whose work I follow is part of an exhibition at Everson Museum of Art. You can see a Flickr slide show of his amazing books here and also check out his interesting blog.