Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Summer & Winter: Experimenting with Multicolor Warp

Even though I've been busy spinning the Bowmont fleece, I've been busy with my weaving too. I'm still experimenting with summer and winter, this time with a multicolor warp.

Multicolored summer & winter warp.I have to say that these are not colors I would have chosen to use if I were designing from color theory formulae or color combinations from inspirational photographs. These colors are the result of designing strictly from my stash. I've picked up a lot of mill ends and leftovers from other weavers. Consequently my stash consists of a hodge-podge of colors and yarns of various fiber contents. On the one hand, as a weaver who feels that a lot of her experiments are flops, this is a good thing as this way I don't fret over wasting yarn if I have a few failures. On the other hand, it limits what I can do, as my odds and ends don't always seem to go together.

My method of choosing color combinations is to pull out all my yarns which are of the same size and fiber content. These are set out somewhere; on shelves, a table, or even the floor, where I can look at them, stare at them, contemplate them. I arrange and rearrange cones of yarn in various color combinations until something finally "works." Sometimes it takes days before I finally decide that I either like what I'm seeing or I don't. I can't explain it.

So, using the above combination of 8/2s navy, lime green and brown cottons, here are the first two in a series of about six.......

One weft color combination.This one is using the green for the tabby weft and navy blue for the pattern weft.

Another weft color combination.And this one is using brown for the tabby weft and navy for the pattern. The colors, I'm afraid, aren't completely accurate. They aren't even consistent with one another, I think because they were photographed at different times of day. These are in the same Fibonacci sequence that I've been using for my other dishtowels and polychrome rugs.

As I sit and weave, another mix of yarns sits on the desk where I can watch it. I weave and think, and weave and plan. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

8 comments:

Kathy said...

Leigh, what wonderful serendipity you'll get out of trying all these colors! I have a quilting friend who takes the most awful colors - to me, at least - and puts them all together and they work! She does the most beautiful, brilliant, and artistic quilts with colors I would just pass by.
I can ahrdly wait to see what happens!
(I got a new tension box for my Wolf loom plus the books you were using for the dishtowels. I can't wait to try them out...I also hear a Lee's Surrender with white linen and fine handspun calling my name)

Marie said...

You colors look good on my screen. You certainly fly through different ideas. I must take a page out of your book. I seem to have gotten stuck with color and plain weave. Maybe after this warp is off the loom I can come back and refer to your summer/winter play. I wanna play too!

Renee Nefe said...

Rascal told me that you wanted a pink Mustang. hee hee that's so funny.

I wanted a Midnight Purple Mustang convertable with a pure white unicorn painted on the hood. Course I never had that kind of money. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

What a lovely way indeed!

Charleen said...

I love the sample with the green tabby. Is there any special trick to using the Fibonacci sequence? Do you just pick a starting number based on the type of warp you have and go from there?

Sharon said...

I love how the light colors recede and the bright colors pop. I think I'd like to try that myself. They look like they'd be nice sofa pillows.

Anonymous said...

I think it's great to 'think outside the box' colourwise and experiment. Sure, it's risking potential failure, but oh, when that unexpected-in-your-face-no-doubt-about-it success happens because we were willing to try something different and risk something avant garde....what a great feeling! I like the colour combo....

Holly said...

WOW, Leigh, That is an amazing colour combo. Yummy! Well done.