Weave Block

This week I started my weave block and here are a few pictures of my samples 3 days in. Monday was spent in partners getting to grips with the looms and patterns etc. Then we got let loose to start our own samples. I was really excited with my fresh, vibrant colour chart inspired by my new pop up collection- fishing flies. What a welcome break from the rust colours of pop up 1! Overcome by colour options, I was reminded on Tuesday by RA graduate weaver Hannah that interpreting the line and qualities of my drawings was equally as important. So I well as colour choice, careful consideration should be given to pattern. At present I'm just working my way through lots of different pattern designs to see what works best in interpreting the delicate, feathery quality of the flies. I am soon learning that patterns often don't come out quite as expected and can look so different from loom to loom. So far I have discovered that using a reverse twill pattern looks effective in interpreting feathers and using two tone wool can achieve a good speckled effect seen on many of my flies. I have been trying to keep colours as close as possible to that of the flies and as you can see in some of the above pictures, the flies are nestled in the weave and are almost camouflage! Hannah commented that the colours I have used in my watercolour drawings however, are much subtler and this would give me the option of experimenting with a more muted colour palette too. At the moment I want to continue with the bold colours and carry on experimenting with different yarns to capture the flies' qualities. I like my use of wire as they do tend to be quite 'plasticky' looking and will try and incorporate more of this into future weaves. For now however, I must get some sleep as it's another full day on the looms tomorrow! Exhausting but all the same exciting!