This second attempt at warping was far more successful - quicker and right first time! Warping correctly gave a little over a metre of continuous warp to work with. I made individual looped heddles made from short lengths of knotted hemp (the warp was also hemp) which took a while but these will be re-usable and it was easier to maintain the tension on the warps than it was when wrapping a single thread around the heddle dowels.
For this piece I worked with a colour range of pinks, purples and greys using wools and a number of more unusual materials, plastic bubble wrap, straws, plastic, fabric and wadding.
Thoughts:
It was fun to work with a variety of materials, however, more attention is required when tensioning the weft. As I left some of the warp open, I would have to consider whether it would be necessary to fix the wefts in place in some way to prevent the wefts sliding out of place.
The bubble wrap was particularly interesting and refracted the light well. This could be used successfully to add light, reflections or sparkle. Being translucent, of course, care would need to be taken with the colour of the warp. (Is there a translucent fibre that would be strong enough as a warp or are all translucent threads too stretchy?).
The straws were fun but I can't see an immediate use for these as to me they looked too much like, well, straws.
Action points
Warping is a long process and I could have tried a smaller sample on cardboard (as in the earlier exercise) to see how these materials interacted before I committed myself. This could have been a time-consuming mistake in a larger piece.
I think I should also consider whether using unusual materials such as straws really works and not include them just because they are unusual. Having the confidence to go back and re-work or remove parts of a design that doesn't work is something I should be seeking to develop. Again, more sampling would have helped as maybe a different style of weave above and between the straws might have made the design work better.
