Borders

 

Day 134: When making bands, it's good to keep in mind that an attractive border can be as essential to the overall design as the central motif. A border can also be used to add width to a piece, but care should be taken that it doesn't dominate the work (unless, of course, you intend it to do so). Border designs can be employed as spacers between patterned segments, and don't have to be identical to the outer edges. Borders are generally loom-controlled when doing pickup in the middle section, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule, either. Here, I am using white 16/2 cotton for the ground and 10/2 for both the borders and the center motifs, and am weaving this band on my Leksand loom, Jutta. The heart design is pickup on nine pattern threads, with the center section of the adjacent chains in the border echoing the main colour.

Hearts On The Bonker Loom

Day 18: Now that the October Weave-along is over and both my waffle-weave projects are complete, my thoughts returned to the Bonker Loom, otherwise known as a Swedish band loom. Mine was made by Glimakra, one of very few companies offering this type of loom for sale. Why "Bonker?" Well, the warp threads run from right to left (east-west), as opposed to being strung vertically (north-south) from the weaver's perspective. The weft-bearing shuttle is passed away or toward the weaver's body rather than back and forth. On a regular loom, a beater of some sort would pack the throws against the fell, but in the case of the Bonker Loom, the thread is "bonked" into place with a band knife (wood or metal) using the hand not employed with running the shuttle. It was a little disconcerting at first, and my early bands had rather wobbly selvedges, but muscle memory and a sense for the tension of the weft came with practice. These little hearts are one of my favourite patterns. They are worked over five doubled warps (i.e., the pattern threads) and can be flanked with any number of variations depending on the desired width. The pattern warps could also be singles of a heavier thread. The idea is to have enough bulk that they appear embossed against the plain background weave. Some one of you is bound to remark, "But they're PINK!" and you'd be close to right. The colour is actually called Very Berry, and it's a light magenta. Besides, I didn't say this band was going on anything for personal use! I may not approve of their colour preferences, but some of my friends like it.

The Hearts Of The Forest

Day 309: My heart is in the forest, and if you should doubt that, here is proof in multiple. I had stopped to photograph the guttation droplets being exuded by the fungus as it rid itself of excess moisture following a showery night, but as I viewed the scene through the lens, I noticed that it was heart-shaped. It took a while longer before the Oxalis leaves registered as trios of hearts, I suppose because I'm not one of those people who can readily see galloping horses, elephants or letters of the alphabet in clouds. Only recently as I've pursued watercolour painting have I learned to mute the analytical portion of my brain to let its artistic side express itself. It's not that I lack imagination. It's that I prefer to quantify things with the measurements and details which hopefully will lead me to a Latin name. For now, though, I will choose to interpret these hearts in the forest as a gift, a token of love from Mother Earth.