Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Big & Little Brother Blankets: Design Ideas

While waiting to get more yarn, my mind began to explore design possibilities. My first idea was using the variegated yarn for stripes, matching the yarn colorways so that by starting with the same color on multiple skeins and pulling them out to wind onto my warping board together, I could have roughly matching stripes. The solid green would separate these. This would work for the warp, but the weft would have to be one skein at a time so that each weft thread would be a different color. Not good or bad, but I'm trying to figure out if I could keep the weft stripe colors together like in the warp to create a more block-like look. I might could do it if I used multiple shuttles, but eek. 

Another idea I'm entertaining is shadow weave, alternating the colorful variegated yarn with the solid green. Interesting patterns can be created, although the color changes would be unpredictable. 

Then I'm thinking about log cabin; similar to shadow weave but creating a specific pattern looking like woven ribbons. What I learned from previous experiments is that the overall effect of using variegated yarn for log cabin depends on the frequency of the color changes. 

I did find the store shelves restocked with the colors I needed, so no problem there. Now I just need to settle on what I'm going to do with them. I probably ought to do some samples! Since time is not on my side (so to speak) in the summer harvest and canning season, I may have to decide these will be Christmas presents, rather than for the late July family birthday bash. No sense rushing myself and then not being happy with the results.
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Sunday, January 26, 2025

Nature's Color Palettes: Thoughts & Observations

Continued from Nature's Color Palettes: A Few More

I'm still taking photos to play with for color palettes.

Moss

Moss color palette

By using Gimp photo editor's zoom, I was able to find "hidden" colors, like the orangey browns in the moss. 

Quartz

Quartz color palette

Fungi

Fungi color palette

Interestingly, the fungi color palette is very similar to the natural colors of Shetland sheep fleece.

Handspun Shetland in whites, silvers, grays, fawns, moorits, and blacks.

It also reminded me of one of the samples I wove for my Crackle sampler with natural, medium brown, and dark gray yarns.

Crackle sample #18 - Snyder's Shadow Blocks

Maybe that's why the color combination was so appealing to me.

Then the Shetland samples reminded me of the colors of the natural cotton samples I got at a charkha spinning workshop. 

Palette of natural cotton colors

Observations:
  • My winter season color palettes are primarily browns, grays, blues, and greens
  • The greens are mostly warm greens.
  • Also, I'm realizing how much my eye blends and assumes what colors I'm seeing. When I use the photo editor color picker, I get the color of one pixel which sometimes surprises me because my brain has interpreted the blend of colors differently. 
  • Because of that, I have to admit that these palettes are only possible because I'm using a computer. 
  • And that has me wondering about color blending in weaving, which is a complex topic.
  • Lots more to ponder and explore.
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Monday, January 20, 2025

Nature's Color Palettes: A Few More

Continued from Nature's Color Palettes: An Idea

Dawn Snow

Dawn Snow color palette

Snowy Pasture

Snowy Pasture color palette

Leyland Cypress Skyline

Leyland Cypress Skyline color palette

Holly

Holly color palette

 © Jan 2025 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Friday, January 17, 2025

Nature's Color Palettes: An Idea

The other day I went out to the barn for early morning chores. When I opened the barn doors, I looked through our bare woods and across the neighbor's field to see the sun coming up. I thought the colors were so lovely: pale pinks, peaches, purples, blues, greens, grays. I wished I'd brought my camera. 

One of a weaver's many decisions in project planning is color. Sometimes I know what I want, but often I'm pulling out dozens of yarns to see what color combination inspires me. Sometimes it takes me days and days to decide. What if I had a selection of palettes available from which to choose? Nature always inspires me, so what if I took photos around the homestead and used Gimp (my photo editor) to pull out a variety of colors to make color palettes? 

Here are my first ones, using Gimp's color picker and bucket fill tools to create the palette.

January Daybreak

January Daybreak color palette

January Sunrise

January Sunrise color palette

Winter Evergreens

Winter Evergreens color palette

Pine Cones

Pine Cones color palette

Of course, more colors could be added for each palette. But I think for weaving, quilting, or knitting, these will work well for choosing color combinations. For the yarns, I have several options. One is that it will help me choose color combinations from my stash. Another would be dyeing my own yarns. I don't feel I need to be exact in my color matching; close enough would be good enough for me. 

Being a color person, this exercise is quite fascinating to me and I've been making more to form a collection. I can see them forming seasonal categories. Not sure yet if I'll print them out, although a booklet would be helpful. But to start, I have them here on my blog.
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Sunday, October 06, 2024

On Creativity: So What?

The writing of this blog post was interrupted by Hurricane Helene. Five days without internet disrupted my train of thought, and now I'm trying to get it back again. It's important to me because I have a goal. And that goal is this: I want to be able to take my inspirations and ideas and translate them into woven cloth. Which I suppose is a way to say I want to design my own textiles.

So, what does it take to do that? I started by exploring the why and the how of creativity. And that lead to another question - so what? How does understanding why and how I create help me design a pattern on my own? To be honest, I don't know. But it seemed logical to start by understanding the science and art of my medium well enough be able to translate an idea into an achievable object. In my case, that means coming up with an idea, writing a draft, and weaving a reasonable facsimile of the image in my head. 

The science of this goal is that I must thoroughly understand the particular weave structure I want to use.
The art of this goal is whether or not I can do it. 

So far, my weaving ideas have resulted from springboarding off a particular draft. I find a draft that interests me, start weaving, and then follow ideas from there. While I enjoy this process tremendously, I'm wondering whether I can take an idea and successfully translate it on my own to a finished textile. I don't know the answer to that, but it's something I want to find out.

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Thursday, September 26, 2024

On Creativity: How Do I Create?

When I started thinking about creativity, I saw that there were two questions I wanted to explore,

As I begin to contemplate the "how" of my creativity, I see that there are two more categories to follow: the art and science of it. I'll define them first, so my reasoning can (hopefully) be followed:
  • science = the technical aspects of creativity
  • art = the inspiration of creativity

To put it another way:
  • The science of an activity involves understanding the specific rules, tools, and techniques.
  • The art of an activity involves understanding the principles behind the rules, tools, and techniques. This may be intuitive, or it may be learned.

The science of a thing can be learned by anyone who chooses to: 
  • get a teacher, book, or video
  • get the tools and supplies
  • learn the steps and techniques
  • practice, practice, practice

Eventually, one becomes familiar enough with their chosen medium to understand how it all fits together. To understand how changes in tools, materials, or techniques have the potential to change the outcome. To understand which rules can be broken and which can't. This is where the transition from technician to artist begins to take place; the illusive line between the art and science of a thing. 

Creativity itself is not one or the other. I don't think it begins at a certain level. It begins when the first tentative steps of a chosen medium are taken. If I follow a recipe and bake a loaf of bread, then I have created something. Whether I choose to follow recipes or learn to invent my own is up to me. Can one person be more creative than another? Perhaps, but in the end, I don't think it matters. Neither is right or wrong because the primary motive of a creative pastime is enjoyment.

The enjoyment of a pastime (an activity for pleasure rather than income), isn't contingent on one's level of knowledge and skill. Nor on the growth and development of these. A beginner can obtain great enjoyment from the learning process, and an experienced person can be perfectly happy to create something from a kit, whether it's a sweater or a cake. Enjoyment is subjective and is an entity of its own. 

Okay, so how does this apply to how I create? I'm asking myself this because I'm trying to get somewhere with my meanderings. I have a goal.

I can somewhat describe the creative process as I experience it. For example, I'm sitting at the loom, weaving away, and as I weave I'm studying the fabric appearing before me. The question that usually comes to mind is, "what if  . . . ?" This is what I think of as I contemplate the question of how I create.

It's not a series of steps, but there are components:
  • curiosity
  • questions
  • exploration
  • inspiration
  • intuition?
  • willing to test ideas
  • willing to make mistakes
I'm going to stop for now with that. I need to ponder how all of this will help me take the next step. 
 

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Tuesday, September 24, 2024

On Creativity: Why Do I Create?

I suppose this comes under the category of "lofty thoughts," i.e., thoughts that have no other purpose than to be thought about. I think in general, humans are creative entities, and that their creativity takes many forms. In contemplating my own relationship with creativity, I find two questions worth exploring:
  1. Why do I create?
  2. How do I create?
The question of "why" is the one I've been mulling over. To give the question context, I'm thinking of creativity as a pastime, as opposed to gainful employment (which would be a motive unto itself). Pastimes cover a broad spectrum of activities including arts and crafts (drawing, painting, knitting, woodworking, weaving, etc.), entertainments (movies, videos, television programming, spectator sports, etc.), mental activities (books, puzzles, etc.) physical activities (walking, hiking, participating in sports activities, etc.), hobbies (collecting, small scales building such as doll houses or model railroads). I choose working with my hands to create yarns and textiles. 

But why? 

Concepts that come to mind (nothing that follows is in any particular order):
  • inspiration
  • curiosity
  • intellectual stimulation
  • satisfaction
  • distraction
  • fun

Reasons that come to mind: 
  • to be creative
  • to beautify
  • to work with my hands
  • to leave my mark
  • to not be idle
  • to be constructive with my time
  • to feel productive with my time
  • to influence my home environment, i.e., to create a welcoming, pleasing atmosphere
  • to exercise my mind
  • to be thrifty
  • to not have to buy everything
  • to not be dependent on consumerism
  • to have unique items
  • to have well made quality items
  • to not have cheaply made copies of what everyone else has
  • to follow my own preferences rather than the latest consumer trend
  • to challenge myself to learn new skills and improve upon them
  • to help preserve historic knowledge and skills that are gradually being lost
  • to reduce my carbon footprint by using environmentally responsible materials and techniques
  • it's who I am

I'm sure more will come to mind and I'll add them as they do. I also want to note that there is no reason to rank or weight any of these; it's their sum total that attempt to answer the question of "why?"

Do you consider yourself a creative person? If so, why do you create? Is it important to you? What motivates you? I'm interested to know.


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Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Following Ideas

I'm guessing this process is a common one. When I weave up a sample, I find myself with a constant mental flow of "what if I . . ." Sound familiar? When my chain of hearts ended up looking more like pumpkin heads . . .


I was a little disappointed, but wasn't going to let a good sample warp go to waste. What else could I try? Something plaid-like? I already had the yellow and orange yarns on bobbins from a previous project. I also chose a bobbin with navy yarn on it that needed to be used up.


I kind of like it, although I think it would be best to repeat the colors in the warp stripes. 
I also like the circles instead of the squares for the check pattern. And I liked that they have some pattern in them. Just not one that looks like a face. 

So back to the draft. Here's the original "chain of hearts."


Here's what I got by simply playing with the treadling.


And this one, by adding weft colors.


The next step was to try it. 


I lost the pumpkin heads, but it doesn't quite look like my computer draft. Let's check the underside.


Still not seeing it. I firmed my beat for the next sample.


Better, and more interesting. Possibly usable. I'm thinking, kitchen of shirt fabric.

Observations
  • The beater on my Glimakra is heavy and I have to keep a light touch to make a balanced weave. In other words, it's easy to weave more picks (weft threads) per inch (PPI) than the warp thread count (ends per inch or EPI). The result is a more dense fabric with a squished-looking pattern.
  • The beater on my table loom is very lightweight and it takes effort on my part to get a balanced weave. It's easy to have too few PPI compared to the EPI. The result is a more open fabric with an elongated pattern.
  • Now, I'm wondering how yarn size effects how the pattern looks. Another experiment?

I'm at the end of my sample warp, so I need to get it off the loom and wet finished to see exactly how these look and behave as cloth. I'll do that today.

QUESTION: Do you design out of your head? Do you start with a ready-made draft or invent your own? Do you follow your ideas and inspirations, or work it from another angle? I'm curious!

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Friday, June 14, 2024

Chain of Hearts Sample

Draft


Particulars
  • Loom: 4-shaft table loom
  • Yarn: 10/2 cotton for warp and weft
  • Warp length: a little over a yard
  • Warp width in reed: 5.5 inches
  • Sett: 30 e.p.i.
Liftplan:

  1. 1 - 3 - 4
  2. 1 - 2 - 3
  3. 2 - 3
  4. 1- 2
  5. 1 - 4
  6. 4

Photos


First impression:  They look more like little faces than hearts, lol. 


I think this is because the bottom point of the heart is embedded in the top of the heart. Without color to distinguish one from another, they lose their heart identity. 

Observations
  • Sett is good
  • I like the color scheme
  • It's fast to weave, not having to change weft colors
  • I think it could be cute kid fabric, sort of an aliens from a flying saucer theme
  • Or, do the "faces" in orange warp and the remaining warp and weft in black for a jack o'lantern look
  • I don't want to use it for the project I had in mind.

Even so, I will still experiment for as long as I have warp!


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