Growing Teletubbies

I first tried to weave the samples with the same colours and the extra weft, it was better but not good enough. I suppose that the basic colours were no good. I used what i had at home... Never a good starting point! Me, as a teacher encouredge my students to go for the colour they want and not use only what happens to be on your shelfs. Buy or if it not for sale, dye your own colours. So i ordered a more bluer purple and a browner red.

I'm quite happy with the result now.

There is little contrast but this is also in the original photo and is part of the special atmosphere. I'm also pleased with the sparkel in his eye! Fasinating to see your design grow on the loom! (TC1) The weaving software (Arahweave) is also a dream to work with, this would be almost impossible to in photoshop although you only 
need a bitmap to controle the loom.

cutting the warp from the loom...

This is always a great moment, the end of a warp, the cutting...

surprise, surprise, how shall it look? This is what came off the loom:foto's

'reflections', my new work

Encouraged by the many possitive reactions on my previous work on fb, I imediatly have started a next project. The inspiration comes from a series of photo's from glasstills in our bathroom. I picked this photo:

I used Arahpaint, a open source software (!) running on Linux to adjust the photo to a more abstract design, result

You can see that it is a detail, enlarged en redused in colours...

This image, I brought in to Arahweave and assigned weave structures to. In total there are 18 different colours in the image, this means 12 different weave structures in jacquard weaving.

Again I will do the shadings with 3 colours: black, gray and green.

Finished weaving!

Today I finished the multi-coloured weaving on the TC1. I'm leaving it on the loom.
Here is a picture.

and a close-up.

Work in progress

I used Arahpaint in the design process and Arahweave to do the
Jacquardconvertion.







This how it looks now, on the loom...

New work on the TC1

Inspired by the Lisio visit, I couldn't wait to get my own Jacquard working again. Warping, designing, making of a coloured drawing, assigning weavestructures...

I want to find out what can be done by using a white warp and three basic colours as weft, like in the time of the pointiists, early twenty century.

This is a test for the colourblending...

The samples at the Jacquard loom in Lisio

You can see the results of the projects on picasaweb together with some photo's of the fondation. My own work can be seen here:



As  you can see are the colours different from the sample, this is because I changed weft rotation.

Silk Fabric

What's on the looms?

I'm not really a production weaver. Once I have prepared the loom for weaving and woven a few inches it can stand still for a long time. The reason why most of my looms are occupied is that I don't like the sight of an empty loom. I only finish a piece and cut the fabric when I want to put on another. As long as I haven't decided what 's next, a piece stays on the loom, finished or not. These are finished warps:

This weave is on the 'tjoekenbak' it is a ornamented plainweave in thin cotton yarn taken double in warp and weft.


This is a woven picture of my son skating, made on the TC1 with th Arahweave software. It is a silk warp and weft.
This work in progress:






A plain double weave treated in blocks.
This work is 'the female' or spring. I made another in more brownish colors 'the male' or autumn .It is made on the replica with 8 shafts using cotoline.
Another work not finished is on the dobby loom. It is a network drafting twill with linnen / cotolinen warp and fine wool weft. I planning to dye it after it gets off the loom so that only the wool is dyed. Now it looks like this:






I'm not sure what color I will use...

The last loom is occupied with a 8 end straight treading in three blocks. But I'm getting bored after 1 meter weaving with fine cotton. I think I'm going to cut and retread it.








Note: The colors of the weavings seem duller then they are but they are muted.

Getting started...

At first I want to invite you to the exhibition PATTERNS/ Textile: a meeting between Art and Science. 'Het Gele Huis', St. Bavostraat 2, Wilrijk, Belgium from 20 June until 28 June.
Here is the weaving I submitted for the exhibition.




It is a replica of a Pre-Columbian weaving, using cotton in warp and weft. I handdyed the ground warp and weft with indigo. The additional warp and weft are in thinner, undyed cotton.

The intriguing part of the motive is that the same pattern shows at both sides. It was made on a six shaft loom, using selection rods to get the pattern.