I used the mood boards as a basis to collect together a range of materials that to me were expressions of autumn, either in terms of colour, texture, or both. This included slubby natural and synthetic yarns, handspun, hand-dyed yarn and fibres, twine, hessian fabric, fabric ribbon remnants, leftover "pipes" from the Steampunk book cover in project 7.
For this piece I chose to work intuitively in interpreting the mood boards, selecting materials in a way that felt satisfying and interesting. I began with plain weave using a variegated mohair boucle for damp undergrowth, added a raw silk in bright orange as autumnal falling leaves mulching into the soil, then returned to the brown boucle. I cut short lengths of hemp yarn and randomly added these to the weave using Ghiordes Knots to create a feeling of dry twigs. I've left these long and looped but may cut them at some point later once I've had the chance to let the piece settle.
I used a range of textured yarns, ribbon and hand-dyed yarn to create a deep pile of fallen autumn leaves, ripe for kicking up while out walking on a crisp autumn day!
I incorporated two "branches" of fabric-wrapped straws (left over from the Steampunk cover). Handspun boucle yarn and a hand-dyed tussah silk were used to create leaves and I left open warp around them to give the impression that the leaves were still falling from the tree. To stabilise the warps I completed the piece with bands of orange silk and brown mohair.
I cut the piece off the warp and tied the warp (hemp yarn) in knotted pairs.
Thoughts:
This piece looked promising when on the loom but when taken off, it quickly became clear that the open warps were far too flimsy and the weaving has lost all structure which is a shame as I like the shapes, textures and tonal qualities. The "pipes" haven't really worked at all, being too rigid and difficult to anchor in place.
Actions:
I think it would be worth revisiting this piece, taking into account the issues encountered above, using a different warp or lighter materials. On reflection this piece has the feeling of an immoveable force meeting an irresistible object. I was simply too stubborn to recognise what wasn't working and failed completely to predict what would happen when the piece came off the loom. Clearly this is an important learning exercise and as a novice weaver, I have much to learn!
(Note to self: Would it be possible to rescue the piece by mounting onto fabric, possibly a dyed pre-felt, stitching into it to add strength? Or re-stretching and stiffening the warp or even re-mounting on a pin-board and filling in the gaps?)
