March

01.03.25

 

The start of another month - can’t do fibre weaving at the moment due to cataracts so more exploration with shredded paper yarn. 

• Fun to do - hand painted paper put into shredder.

• Thinking about how I want to do this for a bigger project - do I want to stick with the neutral colours, hand dyed with tea or coffee.

• Do I want to represent the gaps in the conversation? Make holes in the weave?

• Are the strips the right size? All about 0.5 cm in width.

02.03.25

 

And a variation on a theme. I really like the rough serrated edges of the shredded paper. It adds something to the weave that cutting doesn’t  - as well as being able to give me uniform widths. 

• Spring has been in the air for the last few days - and these weaves have a sense of lightness. 

• This twill structure is more interesting than the plain weave - so how complex do I want to get with this? Maybe do some more painted sheets, and play with structures for a few days - I am enjoying the colour play as a change.

03.03.25

 

And another one of these paper weaves. 

• I have used papers dyed with a variety of teas and coffee strengths but they have come out very similar in tone and colour. 

• There is more variation in the actual weave than comes out in the photos.

• Thinking about whether or not I want to do one of these for the exhibition as a big piece - I should probably start on something quite soon. 

• Am I learning anything from these? Are any of these weaves offering me anything related to storytelling? I don’t know the answers to any of that yet.

04.03.25

 

Wanderings around the paths on a trip to The Lost Gardens of Heligan. A lovely day out with lots of inspiration from my fellow 365’ers.

• I do like these paper weaves - they feel very simple as if I could take them somewhere different like I have seen other weavers do, but I am not sure what stops me. Maybe just the size that I have restricted myself too, am I just lazy? Do I just want to finish things quickly and get on to the next one?

05.03.25

 

And today a weave in a soft pale pink for my granddaughter who arrived yesterday. Something light and delicate in colour, although the yarn isn’t as soft as I would put around her. 

It’s been an emotional roller coaster!

 

• I am enjoying the lacy effect of this weave - it adds to the delicacy - so thinking about this for the christening robe project. 

• I have been planning to do weaves with overshot to echo the dress itself, but maybe this is also another option - I need to try it out on the fine silk warp that I have on my loom.

06.03.25

 

And another one in this soft pale pink yarn. Trying to get some delicate structures that give the weave some flexibility and softness. 

 

• Didn’t consciously realise the connection when I started weaving this and have only just realised it as I am writing this up, but of course this structure is called Danish medallions - my newest grandaughter is born in Copenhagen. I love seeing examples of  the unconscious, or the serendipitous appears in my life - it gives a bit of lightness to my spirits!

07.03.25

 

Not sure what to say about this weave - very loose, the paper yarn starts to twist in its own way when it is not held tightly by the structure. It reminds me of a pencil doodle. 

 

I quite like the freedom of the weave - fairly quick to do - a bit like a 10 minute drawing.

08.03.25

 

And as a contrast, some really thick hessian. Becomes very textural with lots of loose hairs. Again, not much to say about this one - but I’m still fulfilling my challenge!

09.03.25

 

Clearing up the workroom - tidying and throwing stuff away - what to do with all of these warp ends.

 

• Had a bit of fun weaving these thick chunks of yarn together - cashmere mix so lovely and soft. 

• Hard to keep the ends tied together to stitch to the black backing.

• Not really inspiring me with very much, but just a bit of fun to do.

• But then interesting to look back at old weaves, and remind myself of things that I have done in the past.

10.03.25

 

And another of the really soft weaves. Done on the frame loom with a very wide sett warp.

 

It is what it is…..

11.03.25

 

Bringing some colour into the world again. Found this lovely fancy yarn so wanted to combine it with another colour. Although this red is in the fancy yarn I don’t like how it dominates the weave. It seems to drain the colours and isn’t pleasing. Try again with a different contrast yarn.

12.03.25

 

Much more pleasing colour combination. In this one the green of the fancy yarn is echoed in the flat weave, and the red acts as a contrast. Although there is a similar amount of green weave as there was in the previous weave, somehow the balance is much better.

13.03.25

 

Back on the loom - in my happy place. Paper warp with tight and loose denting. Similar to the previous warp that I had on here, but no spaces.

 

• The simplicity of this weave works for me - superficially it is viewed as white with four red stripes  but as you look more closely at it the spacing in the weave becomes more obvious. 

• The selvedges have their own character as they loop around the final warp thread in a way that I enjoy - the really emphasise the continuity of the weft yarn, which is broken from time to time by the red stripe - which starts and stops.

14.03.25

 

• Enjoying this weave - I like the pulled black yarn which gives the effect of the writing. 

• I am not sure that the spaced/crammed warp adds much to the weave. 

• The softer cotton yarn that I have used as a weft in this one makes it more ‘textile’ than when I use paper on paper. 

• Might experiment more with this for a final piece. Keeping the paper warp, but using different wefts.

15.03.25

 

Is this a cheat for my daily weaves? My son and his partner wanted a blanket for their new baby - the colours are their choice so not my normal colours, but I have had this weave structure (false damask) on my to-do list for a while. Woven in a wool/silk mix, which is lovely and soft when it is wet finished.

 

• A couple of dye attempts needed to get the colours right (no surprise there), and a couple of threading attempts to get the structure and placement of the squares right.

• The ‘white’ is actually a very pale soft pink which is pretty and softens the harshness of the red. 

• Although I enjoyed this weave and making the fabric - not sure how much I want to do like this. It is very simple when I start weaving, which is relaxing.

• I must plan/design more accurately before I put a warp on the loom!!

16.03.25

 

And a little scrap rough weave using all the ends of the twisted fringe.

 

• My warp was very loose, so it was hard to get the ends to set in, but it is a bit of fun with all the shaggy ends.

17.03.25

 

Playing with using a cotton yarn as the weft in the paper warp. 

 

• In spite of liking the rigidity of the paper warp the cotton adds a softness that I also like. 

• Maybe I need to think more about the finished effect of the pieces that I want to portray. Not be quite so blinkered with using my paper yarn. 

• I do like the simplicity of the plain weave!

18.03.25

 

Some foraged bits of bamboo collected at Tremenhere Gardens today. 

• I cut them very sharp to contrast with the ragged pointy natural ends - an echo of the sculptures contrasting with the natural elements of the gardens? 

• The leaves have a very papery touch which works well with the paper warp.

• I like the effect here of the differently threaded warps. I think they add to the randomness of the natural weft.

19.03.25

 

And another piece of the text. 

 

• Each individual recording dyed in different kinds of tea or coffee, or different strengths of dilution. 

• This works well as it keeps the tones of the work the same.

• I also painted the warp with some tea so it doesn’t stand out so much and blends in better. 

• I like this one, with all of it’s subtleties.

20.03.25

 

Feeling exhausted - so another ‘just a weave’ using yarn donated by a friend - enjoying the soft irregularites of the weave. 

• Paintedthe warp blue to tone in with the colours as I didn’t want the contrast with the original white warp but there is something about the blue that makes it too much. I might have been better if I hadn’t tried to match it, but either made it much darker or even used the coral colour - but none of this yarn left now, so I can’t try a different version.

• I do like the effects of these ‘fancy’ yarns, but don’t enjoy weaving with acrylic or polyester - I wonder how I can get these with pure wool, cotton, linen? Maybe I will have to learn to spin after all?

21.03.25

 

Immediately I did this, I realised that this is one of  my favourite pieces.

Why? I really like the dirty, messiness of it. I love the way that the weave takes on a life of its own when it gets wet. It didn’t react the way that I expected it too - I was hoping to get an effect that would resemble the tree that I saw in Heligan and that the ends of the warp of the weave would curl but instead they twisted around themselves in a fringe effect. 

I need to go back to  the entangled threads work that I did and look at how  those yarns twisted. And equally I love the colours - it reminds me of the rusted yarns that I have used before - there is something very natural and earthy about this, that certainly connects with the research about the tree roots.

22.03.25

 

Out in Copenhagen to see my newest granddaughter (and my son and his partner of course!) and I have just bought a couple of yarns with me so that I can keep doing my weaving every day.

 

• A pleasing contrast between the rough hairiness of the hessian and the soft gentleness of the wool.

• An echo of watching my son - with his sometimes gruff and prickly exterior who has become a real softy with his daughter. An emotional time.

23.03.25

 

Mainly hessian - with just a little bit of soft wool cradled in the corner.

24.03.25

 

And the reverse - soft wool with a little bit of hessian.

25.03.25

 

Good colour combination in this one - a gentle walk to the sluice gates - sitting on a dry, grassy hillside watching the world go by.

26.03.25

 

Echoes of yesterday - playing with the gaps and the weave.

27.03.25

 

And back to the loom….

 

Exploring further work with the overshot using very fine yarn. I doubled the length and width of the floats but they are still very hard to see. The silk is so fine - how can I retain this softness but still find a way of weaving an ‘embroidered’ pattern into the cloth?

28.03.25

 

And printing onto the same silk warp - it makes the marks much clearer and seems more like writing. 

 

Beginning to find that my brain is becoming a bit frazzled - maybe I have too many projects on the go at once. I dip in and out of them but I’m not sure that I am giving any of them enough concentrated attention. Balance and more balance.

29.03.25

 

So little time today - a quick weave using a thick black yarn and a doubled creamy white yarn.

 

• Again staying with the simple, natural colours is really working for me. But how ‘rustic’ am I really?

• Two sides of how I enjoy working - I am definitely not a neat worker - but I enjoy some of these really chunky weaves as well as the finer ones.

• The messiness of the weave/gaps also always works well for me.

30.03.25

 

Simplicity of the cream on cream with a twill/plain weave contrast providing the texture.

31.03.25

 

And finally March is done - 3 months in total. Often this month it has been a real struggle - why am I doing this challenge? But somehow I don’t want to change it - I want to push on. So am I going to struggle for the rest of the year? Or will there come a breakthrough point where I start enjoying it again? Just keep on going.