Throughout the Christmas holidays I had been anxious to start this unit. Although weave is something I had been practicing in my work since I first started textiles, I knew it was going to be nothing like anything I had ever done before. I was excited to learn a new way of producing samples that would reflect the work I had been doing in my sketchbook. In the past I have always done weaving using a hand weave board and a a large darning needle to weave the weft in and out of the warp. Initially I thought it was quite a simple process of lifting the leavers which lifts the different shafts in the loom in order for you to be able to slide the shuttle across the width of the loom weaving the selected yarn in and out of the warp eventually creating a new material and pattern. The more complicated the pattern on the pattern card became, the more difficult I found it to get my head round the mechanics of the looms.
I would say I find it difficult to concentrate for very long periods of time which may be one reason for why I found weave more challenging. The concentration needed for counting the lines of the pattern you'd already done is great and I find getting distracted easily a problem for this. However, being in the right mindset, being done patiently and with care and thought into the pattern, the results can be very professional looking. Although we were primarily focusing on machine weaving, for the possibility of using what we'd learnt in the future; I was still drawn to including some hand weaving into my work to show a diverse way of working as well as being able to use a wider variety of yarns and thickness of yarns.
hand weave sample reflecting my colour palette
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