Intentions - Three

For a first week on a floor loom, I don't think this week has been too bad. There has been a lot of ups and downs (emphasis on the downs) however, it has allowed me to learn from where I was going wrong and I've bettered my understanding on how I can create the designs I've imagined. I've spent a lot of time working with graph paper to help me visualise my designs, before translating them onto Scotweave and then re-working into them once I've tested them on the loom. 
The first pattern I tried (shown below) displays a mirrored image of the 'yak' symbol. I don't know whether it was because it was my first attempt at creating my own designs or because I gave myself a complex idea to work with (or a bit of both?), but it took me a lot longer than I expected it to. This put me back a few days, as I found real difficulty with the edges of my weave, due to incorrect shafts being lifted and stitches being missed. It became very frustrating but I feel that now I have overcame this dilemma, my work will improve and continue in the direction I have been striving for all along. 

At this point, I was also starting to feel that my work wasn't presenting that rich quality from the colour, which I have been studying and following throughout my project, so I decided to take a step back and create some more yarn wrappings. 

By incorporating the flashes of orange and teal, I think it adds another dynamic to my work and strengthens the power and ethnicity behind it. 

I'm feeling much happier and more confident now, compared to the start of the week and even though I haven't produced as many samples as I was hoping for this week, I've been able to learn, develop and finalise what it is that I want within my collection. I started with patterns that were already drawn out for me, however I found the size of the deigns to be too small or the balance between warp and weft wasn't equal, and therefore my weaves weren't motif-like, bold or striking enough. Although it took me a while to experiment with all of these ideas and decide what it was that I wanted, I'm proud of myself for taking the time to do it as it's helped me get to where I want to be. 

This week, I also discovered an artist called Lucienne Day. Her block-style of drawing relates back to some of my previous pieces, so it has enabled me to work some of those ideas back into my current work. 

 

I love her use of the plain strips of colour too, so I have taken inspiration from this when creating my sketches (shown above). I think this is a good way of incorporating the flashes of colour in my palette, without my work being too busy or overwhelming.