Unconditional : Great Competition of Weavers IBC Atlanta

Unconditional is woven as a networked twill on a parallel threading.  This means that two colors, here a wine red and a variegated greens and blues, alternate (abababab) across the entirety of the warp.  The wine red symbolizes a mother’s love: its constancy through the changes which life brings, its unconditional nature.  It is hand dyed in tones of the same color, bringing in a monochrome element to the design and speaking to the way that a mother’s love is enacted differently for an infant, a toddler, a child, a teen, an adult as her child grows and yet the essence of it remains the same. The variegated warp contains four shades of blue and four shades of green.  It moves in an ombre from mostly blues on one selvedge to mostly greens on the other selvedge.  This symbolizes the way that our children change and grow, perhaps multiplying in number, while rooted in the constancy of a mother’s love.  The draft itself resembles leaves, evoking the tree in the competition image itself a symbol of Mother Earth and the essence of abundant fertility that mothers embody.  

This year, for the first time ever, Loom to Wrap  hosted the Great Competition of Weavers live in person at IBC Atlanta.  There were three components to the judging: online voting, in-person voting, and live judging!  The panel of three judges was comprised of a well-respected baby wrap weaver, a long time experienced babywearer and handwovens enthusiast, and a Master weaver from the Atlanta guild.  They judged the pieces based on an impartial rubric.  

The above image was the official inspiration image for the competition.  I drew thematic inspiration from the sweet line drawing and pulled a few colors from the logo image.  Additionally, we had to include either a monochromatic and/or an ombre element in the design.

It was amazing - and slightly nerve wracking - to have my work seen and touched (and wrapped with!) by so many people!  And so cool to see the diversity and craftsmanship of handwovens having a moment in the spotlight at IBC!  The feedback overall from the guild's Master weaver was that she was really impressed with the artistry and craftsmanship that our little corner of the world has to offer.  

Two pieces, one of which went to the competition and one which I am keeping were woven in a black lyocell weft with the full leaves pattern.  The black weft really brings out the jewel tones I was going for with the dye job. The treadling sequence was a 204 repeat, which means that my feet made 204 different steps before the pattern of leaves repeated itself.  

On one piece there are four visible disruptions in the pattern, left unmended in honor of the way that moments of great happiness or great tragedy, whether personal or national or global, leave an indelible mark in our lives yet do not change our lives’ dynamics of growth and love.

One sister piece was woven with a smoke grey mulberry silk weft that made for one of the most luxurious feeling piece of fabric I think I've ever touched.  I love the way the light grey makes it appear almost pastel, yet still vibrant, from a distance.

The final sister piece was woven with a hand dyed long staple Egyptian Cotton weft.  I pulled out one of the greens and one of the blues from the warp along with the wine red and added in an eggplant purple.  For this final piece I changed up the treadling and found a fancy diamonds weave where the colors seem to nest inside one another: blue green diamonds inside wine red diamonds and wine red diamonds inside blue green diamonds. 

This all EC piece is so soft, stretchy, cushy, and an absolute delight to wrap with.  I think it was my personal favorite of them all, which is funny since I was not at all sure that the bright colors in the weft would work! 

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Draft credit to Eva Stoessl (https://evasweaving.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/8-shaft-woven-scarves-parallel-threading-networked-treadling/)

Dyeing a sunset Sky

This is a sneak peek of what is going onto the loom next.  I've absolutely fallen head over heels in love with dyeing yarn.  The results are not always quite what you imagined they would be, but so far in my experience, they're always delightful.  

So much of weaving is a meticulous craft.  There's lots of math involved.  Attention to detail.  Consistency.  

But dyeing?  It is like painting.  I get to place the colors as I will, in real time, as inspiration strikes. 

It is still slow art, plant fibers have to batch for 24 hours and you don't really see the colors they will end up as until they've been rinsed and dried.  This particular set of skeins had me a little terrified, being already colors outside my comfort zone and then also appearing much brighter and darker before rinsing and when wet.  But they're growing on me!  I can't wait to see how they'll weave up! 

Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams is the most recent warp to come off of the loom here at 14 Mile Farm.  Its woven in a "crackle" weave by Ralf Griswold. The warp is 8/2 cotton from Maurice Brassard.  

This wrap was inspired by the fireweed that blooms in the Alaskan summer.  

Fireweed covers the landscape here in interior Alaska in the summers.  It is a very resilient plant, the first to return to area after a forest fire, hence the name.  Each flower on the stalk fluffs out like a dandelion in late summer and is blown on the wind to reseed the land for the next year.  

It grows on roadsides, in meadows and fields, and covers the hill in our front yard.

The warp moves through spring to summer greens, with magenta and fuschia followed by the grey blues of a late summer sky, and natty pinstriping to evoke the the fluff of the fireweed going to seed.

Here we see the cloth building up on the cloth beam.  It is one of my favorite and most satisfying sights as a weaver.  You can see the weft change from the magenta to the greens.

This piece is woven with a magenta Tencel, and will be staying here with us.  The combination of the grippiness of the crackle weave with the glide provided by the tencel makes for divine wrapping qualities.

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A cowl in grey Tencel.  Tencel in a crackle weave is one of my new favorite things.  I love the play between the shine of the tencel and the matte unmercerized cotton.  So soft!

This piece was woven with a hand-dyed variegated Tencel weft in shades of green and will be flying to a new home.

I love the way that the variegated greens are evocative of the oh-so-green summer landscape that fireweed blooms against.  This weft came together even better than I had hoped.

Bands of magenta tencel in the tails of the variegated piece to highlight the bright color of the flowering fireweed.

The variegated weft was a joy to weave, always changing.  I see more hand-dyed yarns in the future here at 14 Mile Farm!