Cool Cross

I've been sharing on Facebook a piece of weaving that I've been experimenting with this week.  The technique is called Cool Cross and involves making a 3D fabric out of a flat piece of weaving.  The finished weave results in a fabric that opens out and sits at right angles to itself.

Hopefully you can see that the two halves of the cloth loop through each other across the middle.

On the loom it looks like this

It looks really complicated but effectively you are weaving to get two separate pieces with two selvedges each by going underneath the warps.  You can see this in the photo above.  When you set up the warp you can leave a couple of empty dents in the reed to delineate the sections and make life easier when you take the shuttle through.  It is very easy to snag the wrong warps.  Just as I have lifted up the left hand purply strip I can also lift the pink side, they both sit free of the fabric below.

I will get round to trying this again and have a hankering to use wintery colours to make a sparkly mobile.  You could do this on any kind of loom.

Wells Art Trail II

We pottered off to Norfolk after seeing a video clip on Facebook of the Lifeboat Horse sculpture by Rachel Long here.  The cottage we stayed in looked out over the marshes and we could see the horse from an upstairs window.

The tide only covered the feet on our last day as the tides were all very low while we were there. 

I've still not managed to see the Anthony Gormley metal sculptures in Lancashire but I'm delighted to have seen this Lifeboat Horse.  You can really feel the wight of the horse and I have been fascinated by the rendering of the head which is a beautiful shape.

The other work I really wanted to see was View From the Shipwrights by Debbie Lyddon whose work I have followed on't internet for some time.  I got rather carried away trying to capture the piece in various lights and in many states of movement, especially as the wind was trying to rip it from its masts.

You can read more about Debbie's work for the Art Trail here.  Do click on the photos in this post to see them in a larger format.  There's also an interview with Debbie Lyddon here.

Seeing Debbie's work and the way she has used spaces in the fabric has sparked off potential thoughts for weaving techniques and ways of making see-through areas in my cloth.  I've already experimented with something called cool cross which enables you to open out the fabric and create movement so there may be more to come.   (Excuse the vibrant colour in this otherwise calm post).

Watch this space (no pun intended).

The cottage we stayed in was right on the quay so we could enjoy the changing views from our bedroom window.  You can't beat Norfolk skies.

 Not exactly from our cottage but the iconic Wells view across to the Granary.

Wells Heritage Art Trail

We recently popped across to Wells Next The Sea in North Norfolk for a few days to see an art trail organised by the newly redeveloped Wells Heritage Centre.  The pieces were displayed mostly along the quay, in the heritage centre and down at the beach cafe.

Above and below are the panels of a triptych displayed at the Beach Cafe made by Kate Allsop and titled Shoreline Shifts.

I couldn't usefully photograph the whole thing but it can be viewed here.

Also at the Beach Cafe was Harbour Side by Andrew Ruffhead

Pieces of driftwood and a boat's transom are included.  I was really pleased to see this piece as we enjoyed Andrew's work in a holiday let we stayed in at Sheringham earlier in the year.

We had to look a bit harder for our next piece on the art trail as it was out of place due to the bad weather.

Jack was busy keeping us company while we had a cuppa in the Heritage Centre.

Along the East Quay we encountered The Ships by Andrew Schumann.

This is in fact a tall post with two spheres placed one above the other.  We had fun photographing the upside down view through the glass.  Sadly I didn't photograph the interpretive information.

A rather more poignant installation was found at the Harbour Office and was entitled Through These Doors by Robert Smith MBE.

Back on the East Quay we were invited into Gordon Senior's garden to view Marris Otter Barley and Sea Barley.

I hope you can see from the photos that real grain was used to render the barley.   I loved the textures.

I'll continue in a second post for my two favourite installations.

I'm a Weaver

Over the years the painting that started this blog off has morphed through mixed media to quilting, art quilting and two years ago to weaving.  Having come back to this blog after a bit of a break I realise I have a two year gap in my journey as a weaver and have shown very little of my weaving here.  I have been sharing it over on Facebook but I thought I'd try and keep a record here too.  So far most of my weaves have either been for myself or for presents for unsuspecting friends and family.  As I mentioned previously I am going to be selling weaves for my niece's charity Evie's Gift.  I have such a stock of yarns that it will be a relief to move some of the results of my weaving on and to raise funds for an important cause in the process.

So, where to start with the fruits of my labours over the last two and a half years?

I love this fabric that is made with mostly wool and silk (mostly Noro yarns).  I think it will end up being a jacket but it is still waiting for me to finish the sewing.

This lovely turquoise and blue confection was woven on a rigid heddle loom and is a cotton weave.  It doesn't know what it wants to be yet.

My lovely husband modelling this cotton length for me.  This has been made up into a short bolero style jacket.

I was inspired to try this seaside themed shawl by some work I saw online.  The yarns were mostly a blend of merino and silk so it was very soft and light.  The warp does all the work here and the weft was done with clasped weft so I could use 3 colours and place them where I wanted them.  This was given to a very dear friend.

The blue shawl above is a merino/silk mix with insertions and was made for another friend for the cost of the yarns.

I really like this shawl which again has a high silk content.

All the scarves above were made on the Saori loom and have various fibres in them.

I do like the shawl above.  It's on a cotton warp but the yarn is a merino/silk blend with the details/rectangles done in a wool from Drops.

 

I'm not sure about the shawl above.  It's not my cup of tea colour-wise and was a bit of an experiment.

This shawl was on a warp that I made at The Saori Shed in Diss and was given to another very special friend a while ago.  I do love playing with colour and inserting textures and shapes.  Saori is such a fun way to weave.

Finally I have made myself a card/jacket similar to the red one I think I shared here some time ago.

It's a boxy jacket made from straight pieces of cloth and is very comfortable to wear.  Again, it's mostly Noro wool.  Yummy!