Turned Weft Ikat

I had always referred to my ikat technique as Easy Ikat, but it is really Turned Weft Ikat. I like the sound of that. The yarn is dyed as if I were going to use it as weft ikat, but then I use it as the warp instead. Here I am at the very beginning the 3rd panel of the Big Commission. Whereas, sometimes I have to add the pink strings, sometimes I don't. Each warp end is placed one at a time to create as controlled a pattern as I would like.
Sometimes the pink strings are necessary depending on the circumference of the skein. But what about all of that yarn you are wasting, you might ask?
My answer is: Make Art! I don't have a good picture of the finished piece framed and on the wall, but it is made up of 225 two inch square pieces of black archival matte board wrapped in left over ikat yarn. Most of the yarn is silk, but some is bamboo. I am working on a new piece made entirely of the yarn left over from the Big Commission. I will show it after I get a little more of it done.

Questions?

Big Commission--Chapter 3

When the end is in sight, it is always exciting!
If you can't figure out what the pink strings are doing and why they are there, you'll just have to ask. I don't mind explaining if necessary.
I'll have some better pictures, but I wanted to give you an idea of the direction the blanket is taking. Although these are only 2 of 7 panels, these 2 panels make up 40% of the blanket's area.
The second panel is the one on the right.

Updates from Grace and Gary

The Grace Report: I'm weaving along on the Big Commission Panel #2. I expect to weave it off this weekend. I have some ideas for Panel #3. Notice my new shuttle. In case you haven't read the history, this is a bamboo ikat warp with an un-knitted cashmere sweater weft. The blanket will be 90"x100" and woven in 7 panels. I am attempting to weave this blanket without a net. The net in this case would be a clear plan or at least a sketch of some sort.

The Gary Report: One of the things I love about ikat is it's so much fun to weave. Design appear as if by magic.
I get to experience the magic THREE times. The first time is when I am winding the warp back onto the warp beam. The second time is when I am weaving, and the third time is when I first cut it off the loom. Well FOUR times! The fourth is when I wrap the finished piece around myself. When I was weaving sticks and weeds, the fourth part wasn't magical at all.
It is always comforting to be able to create order from chaos so easily.

Three Elements of Weaving--Texture, Structure, Color

THE MOIRAI: CLOTHO; LACHESIS; AND ATHROPOS

The original title of this piece is "Bonnie Boldly Faces the Millennium"
The cloth is the horoscope weaving cast for 1/1/2001 12:01 AM Seattle, WA. The faces are all casts of my face. The center face is about 10 years old. The two side faces are at least 20 years old. It might be time for a new face.

When I first began to journey along the path of weaving, it was confusing. Weaving is so vast. There are so many twists and turns. Where is the next step? What do I want to weave versus what do I have to weave? Do I really want to weave? What is my level of commitment? Do I want to be known as a Weaver? What do I have to give up in order to weave? What is my weaving worth? Do I want to risk burning out the love of weaving by doing it for money? How do I support myself and still have the time or energy to weave?

In my first 10 years of weaving, I was so engrossed I never stopped to ask myself any questions. It was during the next 10 years that I began to ask myself these questions. (over and over as I wove) After 20 years, I realized the questions were moot. I was committed; but now I had to figure out how to make a living at it without compromising. (something I continue to work on:))

At 30 years, I looked back at weaving to realize I had been on a path all along. When I first started weaving, I was fascinated with the idea of weaving circles. To create round shapes from straight lines seemed like the thing to do. From weaving countless variations on color wheel gamps to translating horoscopes into bands of colored stripes, I had continued to work with circles. Instead of turning straight lines into circles, I turned circles into straight lines. And everything I turned into color. The human eye can detect 8 million color variations, and I wanted to weave them all.

At 40 years, I started thinking about weaving in a different light. Yes, weaving is the most wonderful and healing thing to do, but how can I justify playing on my fancy loom while the world is falling apart? How can I continue churn out "stuff" when there is much too much stuff in this part of the world? How do I give back? How do I emphasize the importance of creation amid an atmosphere of destruction? How do I contribute in giving weaving to the next generation?

I will mark 50 years of weaving in 2010. Perhaps I will have the answers to these questions by then. It is only by asking the questions can I hope to solve "The Problem"

Tension Equals Even

Ames just asked me about keeping tension while I wind the warp back on the warp beam. Before I drop the warp to the floor, I grab hold of about 3" of warp ends on the outside edge of both sides (one group in each hand) and lean back using my body weight to regulate the amount of tension placed on the warp. I drop the outside groups, pick up the two next groups, and lean back again. I continue this until I tug on each group of warp ends. When I drop the warp to the ground, the ends are pretty even. All I have to do is gently wind the warp around the beam until there is no slack and then carefully insert a piece of paper between the warp and the beam. I will continue to add paper to protect each layer of warp as I wind back.
Here I am at the front of the loom. Now I grab 3" groups of warp starting on the left side and working my way to the right, crank the warp back 1/2 turn, return to the front of the loom, grab 3" groups of warp starting on the right side and working my way to the left.
Crank, crank, crank
Pull, pull, pull
Crank, crank crank
Pull, pull, pull

This method is great for putting on short warps (3-5 yd)
There is something very meditative about dividing and pulling sections of warp.

Designing in the Raddle

Perhaps there are hundreds, even thousands of weavers out there who design their cloth directly in the raddle, the first step in warping the loom from back to front. I have never met anyone who approaches textile design in this manner, and I don't know exactly how I came upon this method. In this particular piece, I wound the warp in 26 narrow chains (without knowing in what order I would be lining up the chains). Winding the warp onto the warp beam becomes a thrilling process--like opening a present.
Wow! It's going to look really Guatemalan. I had no idea.

The above picture shows one of my little weaving quirks--dropping the warp to the ground. By putting the warp through a raddle first, I can fan out the warp to get a preview. If I don't like the color placement or if I want to add a section or two, it is not very difficult to make those changes--nothing to unwind and nothing to unthread

But What Have You Woven Lately?

I finally wove off the piece that was on Gary. A funny thing happened on the way to the washing machine. As often happens, my weavings decide to pose for a glamor shot. I'll have another after laundering. This piece is a meditation shawl commission, Woven Words, bambu 12 warp and variegated 1300 rayon chenille weft.
Meanwhile, what is happening on Grace? Here is panel #2 of the Bamboo/Cashmere blanket about half woven. The way I am thinking now, there will be a total of 7 panels: three 20" panels and four 10" panels. Of course, this plan could change after I make a 10" test panel. One of the challenges of this particular blanket is I have decided to make this a spontaneous design---no writing anything down. I became inspired by these weavers from Borneo who create amazing complex ikat cloth. They write nothing down. The designs come to them in a dream. I saw a display of the cloth along with music and a moving lecture.

Here's a taste of what is about to happen on Gary. I'll have some closeups that will give you some insight on my designing process. The warp chains are coming right from the warping board to the loom. You can see the warping board lurking in the background. I know it's hard to see what is going on, but all will be revealed. I still have 3 or 4 more little chains to wind. There will be 17 chains altogether.
I end my post this evening with another more orderly detail of the bamboo/chenille shawl.

It felt really good to spend the day in the studio.