Study for Meditation Mat

Study for Meditation Mat
Handspun Tapestry Weaving

Saturday 1 August 2015

Badlands: Continuous Strand Tapestry Weaving

I finished weaving my Badlands sample last night. I'm pretty pleased with it at the moment. The colours are lovely and the spontaneous design worked out nicely. I can see things I wish I'd done differently and areas which could use improvement, but that's always the case, is it not?

The interesting thing about this small tapestry (approximately 7 inches x 5 inches on loom) is that it is woven with a continuous strand of yarn from a single ball. When I speak of "continuous strand weaving," I don't mean to say that the yarn was never broken, as I needle weave using short strands of yarn. Continuous strand weaving - I haven't found a better term, yet - means that I weave with the yarn using the colours as they present themselves, either from the outside end of the ball or the inside of the yarn package. I align the colours in the order they come and I don't remove any colours which may be problematic. If I were to unpick this weaving and rejoin all the ends, I would have a ball of (very knotty) yarn whose colours would be the same as the original skein.

Just to remind you: I wove using the outside end of the ball to start, then worked with yarns from both ends of the package, transitioning into weaving with the yarn from the inside of the ball:




I've searched for information on other weavers who use their yarns in this fashion. Although there are many sites and works on weaving with hand spun and dyed yarns, including a few which demonstrate judicious placement of the colours, I haven't yet found a source in which a tapestry weaver worked using a continuous strand. I'm sure there must be others who have tried this and I'd love to hear from them/you.

The question which arises from this study is, "How will this technique work in a larger piece?" I have a frame loom warped with cotton which has been waiting for a project for a while now. Perhaps I've found one for it.

Namaste.

6 comments:

  1. Thank you! So, are you tapestry weaving, yet?

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    1. No...lol...However, I do have some spun yarn that would make a lovely weaving. Still holding off on the weaving. I did try some rainbow dying, though! It was surprising! Must try that again!

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    2. Try it. You'll like it! Good to hear you tackled the rainbow dyeing.

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  2. This is really interesting and sounds like fun! I don't know of anyone who does this, but I don't see why not!

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  3. Thanks, Rebecca. It is fun and a great way to study colour, I think.

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