Glam shots

I’ve sent in two applications for shows this year. I’m only applying to three this year — between weaving lots of baby wraps and having my house on the market, it seems like about all I can handle, since those 3 applications represent 5 shows. In fact, I worry about producing enough work for these shows – but I have that same worry every year and it always works out. So just one more application to go.

I got something like 48 images from the professional photographer of the four pieces I took to him; I had to narrow it down to manageable — and affordable — six.

I had brought him two props this year: Dolly and a metal stand I call Rod Man. (Prior years he just draped them all over a bar.) Rod Man was a last minute afterthought on my part – I figured Dolly would be the best. He draped Rod Man with a camera drap to eliminate some of the distraction of the stand itself – a good call on his part.

For jurying, I wanted all the backgrounds to be the same so there was no distraction to the eye. But for 2 of the pieces I really didn’t like the way they looked on Dolly, so I chose all 4 from Rod Man for the jury. You’re seeing 2 of each since they’re my favs

We’ll see how the juries respond.

February 26th, 2015 | 

Color me surprised

Yesterday I finished weaving the second piano, hemmed & wet finished the 2 pianos & the cityscape.

I expected I’d prefer the pianos, that’s why I wove 2 of them and 1 cityscape. But no. When I see them side by side I prefer the cityscape. Just goes to show you, what appeals on the loom isn’t always what appeals off the loom.

I’m sure some people will really like the pianos, especially if I get into one of the shows at Chautauqua Institute, so I’m not worried.

If I do the pianos again I’ll actually follow all the calculations I did ahead of time — this time I went by my eye, what looked good at the loom. The final result looks fine, but has 3 extra octaves. It’s not a big deal, I’m sure, but it’s not an accurate piano keyboard. Hey, it’s art, right?

So tell me — which appeals to you: the cityscape or the piano?

February 15th, 2015 | 

Tickling the keys

Y S-B jumped on the opportunity to buy the wrap with the royal, chambray, & navy weft. So I got both wraps hemmed, washed, dried, pressed, & labelled. Today I mailed out Y’s wrap to Germany and HF’s wrap to New Zealand.

Mailing things out of the U.S. costs SOOO much more than mailing within the States.

Before I start the next baby wrap warp I went back to the rayon chenille warp I have on my counterbalance loom. Instead of weaving another cityscape, I decided to weave a piano scarf. I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years.

I’d love to tell you that this was my idea, but it wasn’t. The talented weavers over at Dust Bunnies Under My Loom did it way back in 2011. It took me a few years to have time to figure out the weaving technique, and then I did my cityscape scarves. They were my own design, & I’ve never seen anything like them. But I couldn’t get that piano out of my mind. And since I’m not lookin for this to be a juried piece, I’m not overly concerned that I borrowed (ok, stole) the idea. I did have to figure out all the measurements and layout myself, but still....not my original idea.

I’ll have to decide if I’ll do another cityscape or a piano for the third scarf on this warp.

February 13th, 2015 | 

Pick one

I gave each of the three red-gradient shawls their hard press today, knowing in advance that this would be where I would decide which was best for a hands-on jury.

I think the gold silk weft is my favorite from a distance of 1-3′.

Closer than that I think the beat looks a bit uneven. Worse, in the photo you can see a treadling error. So it’s out. Next up for me is the silver silk weft. I like the contrast with the reds and the beat is nice and even.

Unfortunately there’s some kind of imperfection. I can’t figure out what caused it, but it’s really obvious up close. So it’s out, too.

That leaves the navy rayon weft.

Although I don’t think it’s the most photogenic, it has an even beat and no imperfections. That’s the one I’ll submit for hands-on jurying.

Thought you might like to see how different the two sides of this weaving look...this happens to be the gold weft.

Tobie asked for the draft of this pattern. Here’s a bit of it.

I thought I could upload and link to a wif file, but apparently I can’t. So if you want the full wif download, email me (peg dot cherre at gmail dot com) and I’ll send it to you.

February 3rd, 2015 |