Friday 29 February 2008

Designing for the warp


Fiona showed us her sketchbook design process which included experimenting with blocks of solid colour and spontaneous scribbles. I was inspired by the immediacy, simplicity and contrast in her designs.

She suggested using a cartoon (a paper design taped onto the frame behind the warps) as a weaving guideline (rather than a rule), which I have been doing here. I’ve gone off at a tangent which is okay in this particular sample. The cartoon has become a springboard for ideas.

Weaving an established design closely is something I need to work on. It is another reminder at this stage to keep things simple. I could make future cartoon designs simpler and more dynamic by using bolder lines and shapes but then weaving them more subtly. Additionally, a cartoon on coloured paper would stand out against the white warps.

I’m wrapping around a single warp with a single fibre- it feels like colouring in. I can make spots much more apparent by floating weft behind them for several passes before covering their warps again - they jut out more. I plan to develop this idea by having exposed warp wrapped in UV white, with plain weave behind it in a second attempt at a labyrinth design.

Next projects
  • Refining horizontals, verticals and spotting, using white plus one other colour
  • Weaving a circle (which I haven’t done before)

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