Weaverly

End of Warp Decisions

As I rewarp one loom, I'm coming to the end of the warp on a second loom. This is an unsettling place to be. Decisions. And I'm really tired of the blocks but there's still a little bit of warp left, enough for a couple of samples.

So I just took a deep breath and rearranged the blocks again, and came up with this:

The primary cloth and the secondary cloth are both plain weave. Secondary weft is gray bamboo. 

And a few more inches can be eked out. A good opportunity to empty some bobbins. Three strands of silk for one of the wefts, a sparkly metallic for another, and peach soy silk for the primary weft. If I had more warp, I could weave an entire princess costume!

But I don't, so I won't.

Lampas. Primary & secondary cloth are both twill, slanting in different directions. Layers not tied.

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A New Warp

New Lampas Warp: 3/1 ratio

In Which We Rearrange the Blocks

Family Portrait

The last five lampas samples on the TC-1 arrange themselves for a family portrait before being cut apart.

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Both Sides Now

Out of Order! Out of Order!

In Which We Break a Rule

Getting a little giddy at the end of this warp, which has been on the loom over a year, I broke one of my rules: don't use fancy yarns in a complex structure.

The primary weft is black, and the secondary wefts are lt brown bamboo and a very noisy multicolored cotton knop yarn. I am torn between seeing this as a dog's breakfast or a subtle evocation of shadows on a forest floor.

In small amounts, such as a book cover, I think it will do very well. The jury is still out.

You might like to see face and reverse—it is very surprising.

 

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Bumpy

In Which We Compare Aspect Ratio

The bumpy sample is finished. Because the weft yarns were relatively bulky, the aspect ratio of the design is elongated. This makes little difference to me when I use geometric designs--it only becomes important when recognizable real world images are used. So I just barrel along. First, here is the elongated sample:

Then I began another sample, same file, with yarns of smaller grist. Here you can see difference in aspect ratio. The gray sample is more compressed vertically:

The second secondary weft is metallic in the new sample - it shows as little sparkly donuts, or fireflies if you will. I found it difficult to photograph; I wanted you to see the sparkly effect, but it doesn't show up well here.

Time to call in the big guns. Thanks, Bruce, for the following photo, with all the sparkly goodness:

These days I feel like shouting, "Your 24-hour lampas station, all lampas, all the time." But I do get outdoors once in a while. I present for your enjoyment the dappled shadows outside my studio door. Any resemblance to lampas is purely coincidental.

And then of course there is always an escape to Ampersand House, which in this season is adorned with roses and gardenia. Good to take a break and do some reading here.

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A Bigger Piece

Compare and Contrast

3 Wefts

Bumpy

I wove enough of the first jacquard lampas sample for a book cover, and then repeated the file, but with new wefts, for another book cover. Primary weft is navy blue 20/2 cotton, and secondary wefts are blue cotton bouclé and orange bamboo. 

I normally don't use fancy yarns for complex weaves, but in this case it seemed to work. The important thing is to have enough visual contrast between the various pattern areas.

The primary cloth is still 5-end warp satin. The primary weft is barely visible, which makes the primary cloth appear to have very long floats. But they are all well tied down. Click to enlarge.

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Sidetrack

A Bigger Piece

Adding Another Weft

Sidetrack

Still on the lampas track, but going sideways. I wanted a change from the dobby loom, so went to the TC-1 and planned a lampas book cover in a 2/1 structure. That is, two warp ends of primary cloth to one of secondary. The warp is all black 20/2 cotton at 60 epi; the two warps will be differentiated only by their structure, not their color or grist. In other words, use your imagination.

First, a few weft color samples.

I finally settled on that strange yellowish green bamboo (determined to make it work this time) as the first secondary weft. For the second secondary weft (are you with me?), I tried an olive green bamboo. But it didn't stand out enough, so I switched to bright orange. You can see the change at the bottom of the following picture, where the little donuts morph from olive green to orange:

The primary structure is 5-end warp satin (black warp, blue weft), and the secondary structure is 2/1 twill. Click to enlarge.

The design was derived from some iPad doodles with help of the iOrnament app. This is a great program for designing on the go. When I come up with a good design, I just email it to myself, and later work on it on my desktop computer.

Another Element

New Lampas Warp: 3/1 ratio

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Alice Austen House

Having returned from NY, I can now correct that pesky trait of Typepad that insists on rotating certain images to landscape mode in spite of the fact that they were taken in portrait mode. So now you can see the lovely wall hanging of Olga de Amaral in its proper orientation here. 

But what I really want to tell you about is the real reason for the trip. First the backstory:

Way back in 1968 when we lived on Staten Island, I was wheeling the kiddies in a stroller for our morning walk, and while exploring a weedy overgrown path happened upon a dilapidated cottage on the waterfront. A young woman emerged from the cottage and asked if we wanted to see Alice Austen's old house! Alice Austen was an important American photographer of the mid 19th to early 20th centuries, and she had lived and worked in this very house. We subsequently became friendly with the couple who lived in the house during our time on S.I., and Bruce photographed it on many occasions. The house itself was a dilapidated ruin, barely habitable, but the site overlooking the narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn was and still is breathtakingly beautiful. It is near the Verrazano Bridge, and all vessels that enter New York Harbor pass this spot.

Fortunately the house was rescued and rehabilitated, is now a National Landmark, and is operated as a museum by the Friends of Alice Austen House Inc. The Alice Austen House is now celebrating its 30th anniversary with a special photography exhibition, and I am happy to say that four of Bruce's early photographs are included in the exhibition. We made this special trip to see the house, which is greatly changed since our time in the neighborhood!

Here are a couple of my snapshots of the house as it looks today, in all its Victorian gingerbread glory and lovely garden:

 

If you are in New York for a few days (or if you live there, lucky you) you would do well to put aside a day to visit the Alice Austen House. Take the ferry to Staten Island, and a short bus ride will get you there. The house is complete with many of its original Victorian furnishings, you can go upstairs and see Alice's darkroom, and on the sunporch are volumes filled with her many photographs for perusal at your leisure. Best of all, you can picnic on the front lawn and watch the grand panorama of all the vessels entering and leaving New York Harbor.

Five stars! * * * * *

Note added May 24: Bruce has some more pictures of the house & grounds on his blog. Take a look.

Twill Is Where You Find It

A glimpse from the taxi window, heading for the airport. I ❤️ NY.

Take the R Train

Wheels

Fastest way to get around in NY (above ground, anyway).