365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Monday, September 25, 2023
Shadow Weave
Day 347: One of my favourite YouTube weavers hosts "weave-along" sessions in April and October. I couldn't participate in April because I had a project on the loom, but this time, she caught me just as I'd reeled off the summer-and-winter coverlet. The loom was empty, and I had not yet decided on a new project when she announced that the October Weave-Along would feature shadow weave. Shadow weave is not a technique, but rather an exercise in "colour and weave," i.e., using colour within a given weave structure to create a design rather than using only the weave structure. It is a relatively new style of weaving, developed and introduced to new weavers by Mary Meigs Atwater in 1942. It is related to "log cabin," but carries the same principle further to create more complex designs. Warp threads are hung in a repeat of one dark, one light, and weaving is done with two shuttles, again one dark and one light, always alternating. The design is governed by the threading, i.e, which heddles/shafts hold the threads. It is fun and fast to weave, with a rhythm which is almost like a dance. I'm nearly done with the first of three towels in green and yellow.
Labels:
colour and weave,
October Weave-Along,
shadow weave
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