Pages

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Eggplant and Olives

Well, I've been chipping away at these projects and showing you snippets....but the time has come for the big finish.



To be truthful I would much prefer to show you an entire project from start to finish in one post but I must multi-task in the studio .... and then there's that real life stuff to deal with too.
Is it wrong to envy weavers in eastern parts who have snow days still?  They can weave away guilt free!  I look out the window and the weeds smirk at me and the lawn is growing two inches a day.
Enough of my whining...

So last time I wrote, the first two scarves "Eggplant to Olive" tencel were off the loom and a new colour set under way. As part of the multi-tasking, I would take a break and work on fringe twisting.


I usually put on some snappy music to accompany the twister workout. It moves along nicely and soon, with many breaks for tossing a ball for Calli,  they were finally done. I rummaged through the bead stash and found I had nothing suitable to match the eggplant / burgundy. (There's that mysterious hole in the stash again.) I had various greens and even olive tones so I worked on the olive scarf first.


Then, time to tackle the eggplant version...


The centre colour is an old gold shade and so I decided to play off of that colour and I have a good selection of gold tone beads to choose from. I settled on gold stars and multi toned gold seed beads and kept it simple. The eggplant weft seems to suck the green out of the olive warp and tone it right down. That's because they are opposites on the colour wheel (well close enough).

Not long after that, I had a friend Lindi over and she was looking at the finished scarves that had yet to go into the laundry tub for hand washing. Now she's familiar with tencel when its all soft and drapey and so it came as a big surprise when she felt the 'loom state' cloth. Its stiff, bumpy and quite unappealing. I told her the washing and pressing is what really completes the project. Especially the pressing part! I hard press the cloth like no other owner of the scarf would ever do. I bear down with a steam iron and flatten the cloth. It sets the threads into place and from then on, just normal hand wash and a light press will be all it needs.

If you buy commercial made fabric its full of sizing and smells funny. You wash before wearing it or using it for sewing.  We do the same with our handwovens because they are not ready for use until you do.



In these two pictures above, I've tried to capture the cloth before and after washing/ pressing. The difference is noticeable!  See what I mean about the eggplant sucking the green from the olive?





So that's Eggplant and now meet its alter ego, Olive:





I really enjoyed weaving these  and looking forward to showing you the next set when they are done.  I'm half way through the second scarf , but with a trip away coming up soon, there will be a debut of an older project next time...

I'll leave you with a new studio acquisition (after all my sales!) My first Bluster Bay end delivery shuttle and some African wenge wood shuttles:



Its made from curly walnut and I can't wait to give it a try on the next new project! 

12 comments:

DebbieB said...

Susan, your work is always stunning. These scarves are magnificent! I love your design and of course the special touch you give with the beads.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely demo and the difference wet finishing and a hard press can make to handwovens, well done! Lovely scarf, like the little star charm you added among the beads.

Linda said...

I have been lurking around your blog but these scarves are so beautiful I just had to comment! I am inspired by your use of beads and will be using some in my projects in the future! Beautiful new tools too.
Linda blogs at Spinning First

Unknown said...

Lovely pictures of colourful scarves ! Love the little beaded accent too. I'll be interested to hear what you think of the Bluster Bay shuttle compared to the Schacht end feeds we have.

Birgitta said...

It's a lovely scarves. Very beutiful.
Birgitta

barbara said...

Hi Susan,
I am so pleased that I only put one snow shovel away, we are expecting "weather" starting later this evening. Only problem with snow storms, I pace and can settle to weave .... though I do want to get one more tea towel done tomorrow morning and that warp will be finished.

Your scarves are beautiful, love the colors and the added touch to the finishing. Yes, great example of the "before" and "after" washing and hard pressing.

Take care and all the best.
Weaverly yours .....

Elderberry-Rob said...

I love the aubergine version - what beautiful cloth. Although you felt the teal sample on your last post didn't work well with the design, I rather liked the colour combination. I like it when colours almost react against each other, a bit like oil and water! Betty

heather said...

down here south of seattle our lawns and weeds are growing a mile a min as well. but darn,its raining ;) guess i will weave until it clears up...next week.beautiful scarves with elegant detail :)

Lynnette said...

Great post Susan....your colours choices are spectacular and of course the scarves are stunners...
Cheers

Donna said...

Wonderful reading & viewing, Susan...I really appreciate seeing the comparison between weft colors. And, I love the beautiful finish to your work -- crowning it, so to speak.

Judy said...

Susan, I think you will *love* your Bluster Bay EFS! I have its twin and I'm smitten. So beautiful, smooth, and well balanced! I already mentioned on Ravelry...I *love* your scarves! As for eggplant/purple beads, it's not surprising you have a hole in your stash. Purple is a difficult color in class and there aren't many good purples that aren't a surface finish. We beadmakers rue the dearth of good purples from which to make art glass beads, too!
--TorchSinger

Miranne said...

Gorgeous scarves - and a very interesting blog. I will come back and spend more time here :o)
Thank you for sharing.