January

01.01.24

 

Woven with 5mm cut paper strips alternating with 2/60 silk. 6 picks of silk to start and finish to anchor the weave.

 

• The silk is still too slippery on the paper. It works well between the paper strips but not at the ends. 

• Is this really a conversation? It is very static and conversations are fluid, back and forth - placing the pieces of paper in the warp doesn’t give this.

• So - weave using yarn. Leaving gaps, but I want to get the fluidity and talk/response. 

• Do I need to do a clasped weave? 

• I like the fine spaced warp but the weaves are then not nearly as stable as they could be with a softer closer sett warp.

02.01.24

 

Enjoyed just starting - helpful to have the idea/yarns/warp already done for this first section. Took maybe 30 mins. Making samples for fragments of conversations.

Paper warp, cut printed fragments from tea-dyed paper.

 

• I like the mixture of sizes and shapes. 

• I realise that on the long thin ones the writing is the wrong way round. I may want to cut the strips the other way.

• The paper on paper is very slippery and doesn’t bind well. I don’t know how I would mount this.

• I can create more columns, could intersperse another yarn in between the paper fragments. 

• The threading is very simple and doesn’t allow for anything other than plain weave, so variation needs to come with the weft. 

• Is just using up existing warps good enough? When do I want to plan from scratch?

03.01.25

 

Worked in jute end of cone thread and ?cotton boucle end of cone thread. Clasped weave - thought I knew how to do this but YouTube provided the answer.

 

• Simple weave and certainly gave me the ‘backwards and forwards’, ‘to and fro’ that happens within a conversation. 

• The ‘active’ yarn in the shuttle was white, the ‘passive yarn’ on the floor was the jute. 

• There was a sense of dominance in the white - one person is often dominant in a conversation. 

• Found myself thinking how I would weave an argument - took the weave right to the edge - the loud, shouty voice would leave no space for the quieter voice. 

• When I turned the image upside down the brown immediately felt more dominant - does the eye always look/read left to right?

• What do I want to do tomorrow?

05.01.25

 

A page of a book. Woven in double clasp weft, White cotton on the outer edges, and the remnants of a twisted black/white yarn. 

 

• Making an effort to create a margin on the left hand side.

• I like the effect of the twisted thread - it allows for the spaces between the letters in a line of writing.

• I ran out of the twisted yarn - make sure I have enough for a future project! But a good use of a remnant.

• Is this too literal? But I compare it with Meredith Dale and her embroidery work. What I like about her work is the light, ephemeral nature of it, much like words and conversations - this is really dense. How can I make it light? Maybe this echo’s what I am trying to read!

• Weave with monofilament? I have both black and clear. Mono warp or weft? Need to get a small frame loom made.

06.01.25

 

Weaving with a paper yarn weft on the paper yarn warp with a paper chenille insert. 

 

• I remember how much I love weaving with the paper - I really enjoy the stiffness of the weave, the paper structure.

• I like the irregularity of the beat - I can’t get it equal - the paper yarn has a life/will of its own. Could I challenge myself to get a really even beat?

• This one is more ephemeral than yesterday - I thought I would like this more, but I am not sure. I think it was the thicker yarn of yesterday that I didn’t like so much - it was too soft. 

• Maybe try with linen?

07.01.25

 

Woven using nylon monofilament having made marks with a sharpie on the warp. Exploring the asemic writing - not very successful. 

 

• Having thought I wouldn’t like the nylon I like the sheen it gives - it doesn’t come out well in the photograph. 

• Looks a bit like spiders webs.

• Finding myself reflecting on what I am doing here - I am a bit bored with this warp. There has been no planning or real thought - I am just using up what is currently on the loom. And playing with yarns/weaves that I have already done in other formats. 

•  Have I limited myself in my format of 10 x 15 cms? It’s as if I need to get these done quickly to get on with ‘real life/work’

08.01.25

 

Woven in packing paper from deliveries. 

• There is lots of energy to this one which I am liking. 

• I love weaving in paper! Not only the paper yarn. 

• There is something about the stiffness and the 3D structure that I particularly enjoy. 

• Gaps left to indicate the pauses in conversations - I still like the ‘to and fro’ of the brown/white paper.

• I also like the muted colour palette. No desire to weave these in colours.

09.01.25

 

Woven in jute.

 

• If I am going to do this in a larger format it would be much easier to have a block threading. 

• Is it the mouths opening and talking?

• Or will it also link to the christening robe project - something about the slits feels relevant. 

• Remember these are all samples. 

• Why do I like weaving in these natural fibres so much? I don’t think it is the ‘eco’ story - there is something about them that is grounding. They are simple. The natural feel about them means that they are what they are, they are not trying to be something else which a dye would make them.

04.01.25

 

Not at home, so just doing some paper weaving quickly. I think this has potential - looking at weaves by Libby Raab who does beautiful things with paper weave.

 

• When i photograph these I like the contrast of the black background. 

• Libby does various structures in her weaves which are interesting and would add another dimension to the stories - thinking about the textiles conversations and the suggestion that I use different colours for the different members I could use different structures instead? I want to keep a similar colour base - but maybe that isn’t helpful? 

• Just noticing that everything in my studio is brown, black or white - all the colours are tucked round the corner where I can’t see them.

10.01.25

 

Similar to yesterday - imagining different colours and textures behind the open slots. Tried with a block weave threading but it made it much slower,  so no simpler to weave.. 

 

• Really enjoying how just doing one of these each day allows me the space to reflect, think about the next one, 

• The time allows me to link these weaves to other projects that I am doing - gives me time for further research etc.

• So - with this one - I could do a multiple layer set of openings - each one getting smaller as the layers go further - an echo of the deep, dark hole. I keep coming back to that weave….

11.01.25

 A different path today - doing the zine workshop. Started from my weaves of slits, making a zine with a woven pattern and slits drawn on it. Moved to a different zine cutting holes in the paper. Then back to the original zine, cutting out the slits and colouring both sides of the paper so that you could see the colour and shape of the slit in one page through the slits in other pages. Gives inspiration and ideas for further weaves - Already thinking of doing a double cloth with different colours - now might make this 4 layers on my loom to allow a big slit at the top, progressing to smaller slits. So complex to weave - can’t I just weave 4 different layers and sew them together? Why not?!

11.01.25

 

But I did do my weave for today in the end!! Couldn’t quite let it go. 

Very simple, exploring texture with a single yarn. Weaving with single, double, treble and quadruple versions of the wool yarn.

 

• Can I develop a love for wool? Don’t understand why I don’t like weaving with it, unless it is the animal connection? 

• Reflecting back on my interest in the tin mines, the clay, earth, soil - plants that emerge from this. Is there a natural affinity that I haven’t really explored? 

• Somehow the scratchiness of a linen yarn isn’t nearly as irritating as the scratchiness of a woollen yarn.

12.01.25

 

Last weaves of this warp. Continuing with the wool - the to and fro of a conversation.

 

• Suddenly becoming aware of the time that all of this is going to take in the planning. I need to thread another warp, and so need to think about what I want to achieve with the next warp.

• Looking at doing multiple layers - so weave with the other section of the warp to make either blocks of multiple layer within a single warp, or to make it all multiple layers

• I would like to weave some more books following on from the zine book - but maybe this challenge can’t always be about designs and projects.

13.01.25

 

Screen printing onto pre-existing cotton warp. Woven with 2/60 silk in 3/1 twill. 

• This structure means that more of the letters should show - but the warp is too thick and not spaced closely enough. 

• Just looks like black dots on the weave - a bit like the 0/1 of a computer programme? 

• I quite like the effect of this, but I think that I want to do something that is more recognisable as letters. This takes asemic writing to a different level.

• Which may work well - I might explore this further. 

• Can I find a way of making the letters bigger? Without  using another screen.

14.01.25

 

Using a stencil to create larger letters. 

• This works much better - the shape of the letters can be made out.

• The stencil is really messy, I need to make a screen with larger text. 

• Still liking just the black and white, although the green (which is there because it was in the remainder of the warp) is maybe also quite nice? Just lifts the weave a bit

15.01.25

 

A playful weave on a frame loom. Very quick and simple. Mixed wool yarns in what appear to be my favourite colours!

 

• This is a really easy option for completing my daily challenge.

• Very different from the weaves on my table/floor looms which feel much more like sampling. Those need to have a plan, more thought.

• If I can intersperse the ‘work’ weaves with these playful weaves I wonder what will come out of this?

• Planning a 4 layer warp using the remaining of the paper yarn on the table loom - each weave will take a long time to produce - only for days when I have plenty of time to do the work!

16.01.25

 

Got this lovely textured wool - hand spun, washed but no dye.

Exploring texture on a frame loom with different structures.

Woven in plain weave, 2/1 twill and 3/1 twill.

 

• Added some colour - but I really don’t like this. The uneveness of the weave (which I like) messes with the contrasting weft.

• The twills allow for more texture in the weave. 

• I am quite disappointed with these weaves - not sure why I don't like them.

• Wonder if I am more creative on the table/floor looms? Do I need to practice more on the frame loom?

• Still love the yarn - might weave with a similar coloured warp

17.01.25

 

First weave on my new ‘mini travel loom’ Aware of the neutrality of my previous loom weaves and wanting to bring in a bit of colour. Linen warp, Navy wool from end of cone. 

 

• This yarn is much too soft for me for this kind of work. 

• Feels like a knitted clothes option - don’t like it. 

• I do like the single colour contrast - This photo makes the navy too bright - in reality it is much darker.

• It doesn’t really make me want to explore this further. 

• But working with the small loom is fun.

18.01.25

 

• Again on the travel loom - I much prefer the colours that I have used here.

• Reflecting on how different the process of weaving on these small frame looms is from weaving on the bigger multi shaft loom. It will take a lot more weaves to feel comfortable with what I am weaving. 

• Reflecting that on the multi shaft looms I am more likely to feel as if I am sampling - and if my samples work as finished pieces then that is a bonus, whereas on the travel loom I feel as if I am making a finished piece from the start.

• It will be a useful ‘extra’ for when I can’t access my bigger looms - and maybe I will start to enjoy it more.

19.01.25

 

Back to my comfort zone of yarns and colours that I am enjoying weaving with.

 

• Not sure what this one is about. Maybe there doesn’t have to be a reason for everything. 

• This new loom will allow for really fine weaving as the

spacers are really close together, but not sure that I have the time and the patience to do this!

• Pulling the warp threads through to finish off the ends distorted the weave a lot. Not sure whether I like that.

• Took me back to weaving the tin mine series.

• The rustic, industrial sense of this still appeals.

20.01.25

 

New warp on 8 shaft loom. Threaded to be able to weave 4 layers at a time.

 

• Experimenting with two layers. Each layer is doubled - so denser than single layers will be, and I have just woven one layer with the second layer either under or over it. 

• I like the transparent effect that this offers. You can see through one layer to the other which gives an interesting effect. 

• This one is ‘tied’ at both the bottom and top of the weave, so can’t be opened up. 

• I would like to do this one so that it opens up, and then another one with more options for layers. 

• Have I moved away from ‘Fragments of Conversation’ with this weave?

21.01.25

 

Double cloth, woven with hessian (brown) and a cotton/silk yarn.

 

• Conversations that go on in my head - or in reality - one person/voice talking more than the other, talking over each other, not listening, gaps in the conversation. 

• The layers interchange - the voice on the top is the more dominant voice, this changes over a conversation. 

• I am sure that when I get this off the loom there will be lots of mistakes - threads that I have missed on both the top and bottom layers, but that is what happens in conversations - the ‘umms, buts,errs and pauses that are part of the talk. 

• Might try weaving this with the paper strips with the words on.

• I do like this effect of the paper yarns on the hessian.

22.01.25

 

Really like this one - woven in two layers with cut up paper conversations. 

 

• Gives the effect of overlapping conversations

• I could see this in multiple layers - multiple conversations overlapping each other.

• But how do I stop all the papers sliding out when I take it off the loom. Will need to glue this one I think.

• Can I do a leno on each end with the last couple of warp yarns? Assume these would need to be on a separate beam?

• And would it be more effective hanging as separate layers? Simpler to weave…

• But then I can’t interweave the layers which I haven’t done in this one but might do in others?

23.01.25

 

A quick one today – not much time!

 

• Using Kraft paper yarn with the tea dyed paper strips.

• I like the fact that the contrast is limited - wonder what it would look like with a kraft paper warp as well? 

• Plan for that tomorrow. 

• Are these paper yarns all just versions of the same thing? Is there much value in this?

• What is it telling me about storytelling and what are the links with the PhD? As I ask that question I realise that the layers are the ones that I want to explore further - the idea that conversations go back and forth. 

• Although when I think about storytelling I think about how they evolve - these weaves don’t evolve in the weaving - they may evolve from weave to weave but not in the actual weave itself.

24.01.25

 

Woven on the small frame with a craft paper warp and weft. 

 

• I like the ethereal nature of this - conversations don’t last, they come and go, although in this weave the conversation is tied down and can be read forever. 

• Do I want to neaten this up? I don’t think so - conversations are spontaneous, although we might edit what we say, mostly we don’t ‘neaten up’ our words in the moment of uttering them - we can amend or edit afterwards depending on the response of the individual.

• Are these words ‘of importance’ - or in a finished piece ‘should’ they be? Or am I just demonstrating the triviality of most of our conversations and utterances. 

• I liked that word as I wrote it - ‘utterances’. What is it about that that I enjoy? Demonstrates the spontaneity of speech.

25.01.25

 

A reminder to myself that the only commitment is to do a piece of weave every day - I don’t have to be pleased with it or like it!

 

• Sample idea for a baby blanket - definitely not this colour combination - and given that it looks better in the photo than in real life it’s a definite no-no.

• Is this an easy way to get samples for colour combinations?

• Or to do warp winds? Or fibre works. 

• Missing my paper weaves but recognising that I have got a bit stuck with them - I need a break to generate some new ideas.

26.01.25

 

Inspiration for this weave from Rilla Marshall whose weaves are much more complicated than  this simple one.

Woven on the small frame loom.  

• Starting to enjoy the immediacy of this loom, and the boundaries of the warp - I can’t vary the sett at all.

• Finally found a wool yarn for the warp that works well. 

• The crossover weave threads are interesting - where the supplementary warp is tied down.

• Also like the weave on the weave - alters the vertical/horizontal lines.

• Found myself wondering why I would weave this - I could just sew in the crossed strands afterwards - but maybe that is true of a lot of what I weave - I seem to often opt for a complicated challenging way of weaving rather than taking simpler steps that no-one else might challenge. 

• Does this link with the threads of a story - keeping the same thread going?

27.01.25

 

Starting to explore the idea of overshot weaving - or maybe brocade weaving - ultimately to do this white on white, and much finer. 

 

• The big floats are good on an art piece but won’t work on a textile piece. 

• Need to plan my warp if I want to get a centralised design. 

• I like the calmness of the white on white - talk with Laura Thomas this morning about the palette I am using for these weaves - if I don’t have to think too much about the colour then I can focus on the structure.

28.01.25

 

This has been quite a gentle process working on the small loom in the evenings. Small bits of weave, not too much choice with yarns and limited structures.

 

• I like the chequered effect of the background which is echoed or reinforced by the larger overshot pattern. 

• I don’t like the white bits of weave at the beginning and at the end. I want to keep it even simpler and just focussed on the design.

• I feel as if I could play with just these two yarns and the simplicity for a while.

• Is this what the challenge is about? To stay with one thing until I have exhausted it? Or just need to take a break and then maybe return to it? I seem to have lost the need to work with the paper yarn at the moment.

29.01.25

 

A stormy day outside - inspired by the weather and the work of one of the MA students at Falmouth who works a lot with roving. 

 

• Fun to do - however looking at it and working with this weave  I realise that at the moment I still want to work with fine yarns, making more translucent and delicate pieces. 

• I need to start threading up other looms, work out what I want to do with these. 

• Am I better at sampling than creating finished pieces? I wonder if I have done it once then I don’t want to do it again in a bigger piece?

30.01.25

 

Tired this evening - not much inspiration. Threading 1000 ends for a new project - no wonder I lost the energy for this weave!

 

But..I am allowed to do a standard weave from time to time. Still enjoying the monochromatic aesthetic. However I am realising that I want to get back on my bigger looms again with more shafts and more options to weave.

31.01.25

 

Not strictly a weave - but I am allowing myself some leeway to celebrate the end of the first month!

 

• I love the shape and the shadows formed by these warp ends - the weaves to anchor some of the paper weaves that I did at the beginning of January - when cut off they all curl beautifully and make this lovely little ball. 

• I like the independence of the paper weave - how unpredictably the yarn behaves when it’s not under tension.

• However this does highlight the problem I have with storing/displaying all the work that I have been doing.