P2P2: The Big Reveal

Here are my P2P2 photos from Esmae, who lives in Australia. 

I did 2 P2P2 projects...the first one I was naturally drawn to by the colors and the blue and white transferware in the photo (I love blue and white china).  I used some hand dyed red boucle from Just Our Yarns and boucle from Weaving Works in Seattle.  I really love how it turned out.

Here's a close up:

But this project was pretty "safe" colorwise.  So I decided to do one more P2P2 project that would move me out of my comfort color zone (and use up some stash cottons that had been gifted to me).  Orange is not a color I like.  Back in my marketing manager days, my team knew if they showed me any creative with orange in it, it was likely not to get approved.  :-)

I divided the photo selected into three components -- using waffle weave on the two ends to imitate the little circles and bumberette in the center, 'cause I just love to weave it.  These are kitchen towels.

Here are the componets:

Here's the close up:



Thanks to Meg for taking the time to organize this challenge and to keep us moving toward our big reveals!  And thanks to Esmae for the wonderful photos.

And now the sewing...

Finished with section 2 and 3 of the P2P2 project this morning.  Left is the middle part (section 2) of the art work.  I used nearly all the orange I had left for the weft and the pattern was Bumberet.   This kitchen towel has odd dimensions because it followed waffle weave towels with have a lot of take up to created the little waffles.  Off the loom it is nearly square.

For the top part of the art work, I used waffle weave again, with lots of orange, yellows and a little blue for the weft.  (Shown on the right).

So here they are before washing -- and remember, as Laura Fry says "the magic is in the water."

This is all I'm going to show of these towels before the "reveal" in Sept.  I'm thinking of doing one more P2P2 color study, if time allows -- or maybe even later in the fall.

Another P2P2 Weaving Project...

After I finished my first P2P2 project I realized that it was very much like a scarf I wove a few years ago...so I hadn't stepped out of my comfort zone.  Now I'm working on second project, based on the photo on the left.  Note it has a lot of orange.  I'm not a fan of orange...no orange clothing, no orange in my home.  Not an orange person.  Actually I must be an orange purist -- I think orange should be left in nature (flowers, fruit and sunsets).  And I only have one cone of a muted orange cotton that was given to me with a whole much of other cones.

First I looked at the texture of the fabric at the photo.  All the little circles remind me of waffle weave.  So I warped my loom for 3 dish towels  and divided the photo into thirds and rotated the bottom third. Now the dots rather line up as warp threads and the reds, blues and other colors can be weft threads.  I didn't include an orange in the warp.  When I do the middle towel I want to use what orange cotton that I do have.  And I haven't decided if the middle towel will be a waffle weave or something else.  Here you will find photos of the warp and what I have woven so far.  More to come. 

P2P2 on the Loom...

The warp and the weft are both rayon boucle...maybe the red/pink/orange weft was too much?  50 inches done, 20 to go.

Finished...Glacier Bay Scarf (5/2 and 8/2 tencel) and Cashmere lap blanket. (Cashmere 8-ply Lhasa from Lisa Souza, colorway Mother-of-Pearl.)



Flowers and Glaciers

The Pics to Picks photo that I have selected for my inspiration has blue and white china (which I love) and flowers much like those in DH's garden...so here is the photo.

I played with it just a little in Photoshop and really like the tiled effect.  Then I used an online web design color tool to help me see all the colors.  The tiling seem to lighten the colors a little.  So I used the same color tool with the original photo.  You can see the differences below.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, I finished weaving a laprug using a cashmere weft (hand dyed yarn from Lisa Souza) and started a tencel scarf using the colors in the glaciers at Mendendall Glacier and at Glacier Bay. Here are a couple of photos from our Alaska cruise that I used in my color selection for the scarf:

You can see more photos from our cruise here.

Pics 2 Picks -- Second Pic

Esame’s second pic has opened a whole new area for me -- Aboriginal artists from South Australia. Take a look at the photo I have linked here on the right. The large orangey-blue painting between the two women is the one that started me down this path. Esmae sent me an exhibit sheet from the Desert Mob 2006 guide that shows the center portion of the painting. (Desert Mob is an annual art event held in Alice Springs.) From there I followed a Google path leading to paintings with really fabulous use of color. 


I found a really great PDF about an exhibit entitled, Desert Country and from there explored the work of various artists. I’ve listed some of the links I followed below. Tunbridge Gallery
Marshall Arts -- this link is really good because it lists the geographic areas and the artists -- describing what the area is know for.

I could look at these paintings all day -- but I had better save it for later and go wind a warp!

Pics 2 Picks...First Pic

Esmae's packet of photos arrive (from Australia)...a very diverse and thought provoking group of photos.  The first one, linked here, is from an exhibit of the works of Shumei Kobayashi, entitled  "Weaving The Future".  From the other photos on the Facebook page of the Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne, his work is really amazing.  If you are on Facebook, take a look at the gallery's page -- they have 28 photos from the current exhibit.  Then Google "Shumei Kobayashi" and look at his other work.  You will be blown away by how fabulous it is.  Thanks to Esmae for introducing me to the work of his awesome artist!

Stay tuned for more pics and for details of the weaving conference I just returned home from.