Saturday, January 11, 2014

'Fabrications: The Art of Fiber' at the I-Square Gallery, January 13-February 6


Featuring works by 17 artists from the Weavers' Guild of Rochester -- including me. The I-Square Gallery is at 693 Titus Avenue in Irondequoit (just a few businesses east of the House of Guitars) and the exhibit is free and open to the public. Most of the items on display will be for sale, including these:

Hand-dyed top in silk/rayon velvet

Vest in hand-dyed silk/rayon velvet with silk dupioni back panel

Cotton tunic with shibori dyeing in walnut

Kimono in shibori-dyed Habotai silk

The hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. till 2 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. till 2 p.m. Email me at dkovn@hotmail.com or Zanne Brunner at zannebrunner@gmail.com for more information.

An opening reception takes place on Friday, January 17, from 7 till 9 p.m. And a postscript: There will be trunk sales! More information to come.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Collapse Weave: I Finally Realized the Error of My Ways

And I really like it!

The photo above shows some collapse-weave fabric, just taken off the loom and washed, that clearly has two distinct textures. If you look closely, the top 1/3 of the piece is slightly more dense and darker in color, with an emphasis on the dark stripes. The section at the bottom 2/3 of the photo features the blue/green stripes and is slightly looser and broader.

Why? It took me a while to figure this out. Simply put, I changed the weft -- and thought that there would be little difference in the outcome. The warp is hand-painted 60/2 silk and the weft is a super-fine overtwist wool. The difference: the weft used at the top of the photo was a 2-ply overtwist wool from Habu. The weft at the bottom of the photo was a Z-twist wool from the Handweaver's Studio and Gallery in London. BIG difference between the two and I intend to exploit this when I make the garment.

Here are a few more views:

 The fabric when it's dry
 Closeup of the same
And here's the back

And so I learned, from a process of trial and error (emphasis on error), that yarns of the same color, fiber, and grist can behave very differently, depending on whether they're plied, singles, Z twist, or S twist. As a spinner, I know this. As a weaver, it took me a while to know this!

Here's one more view of the fabric, still drying. I like to call it "Colorado Creek Bed," remembering the gorgeous scenery in Colorado, where we just spent our Christmas holiday with my daughter and her fiance.


We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties. Please Stand By.*

*Warning: This post is just partly about fiber. Remember those test patterns on your old black and white TV? They were typically accompanied...