Woven Threads Project

Since my last blog I have finished the piece incorporating ribbons I was working on on the loom. This warp is almost finished now, I will try to get at least one more sample idea from it though. I have begun to plan the next warp, it will be about 2 inches wide, about the width of the Coventry ribbons from the early 1800s that I have been looking at. I plan to use white silk for the warp so that I can vary the colours through the weft yarns. I have been thinking about trying to weave purl edges, as was very popular from 1813 to 1815. The original technique apparently involved using horsehair to edge the warp, I thought I would use a different yarn for the selvedge, that I could remove after weaving to make the scalloped edge effect.

I ordered more yarns, more silks of different colours for the wefts, and some white silk for my next warp. I've also ordered an umbrella swift, which is a device to organise yarns into hanks. I also condidered buying a finer dent reed, so that I can weave more ends per inch, which might be neccessary to weave the fine silks into something like a ribbon. But I've decided to see how I get on for now.

In my sketchbook I've been trying to organise my ideas, especially to develop a clearer idea about which items from the historical collections I want to display with my work at the exhibition. I've also been trying out different colour combinations of yarns, based on the photographs of the items from the collections, to use for designs on the next warp.