Sketchbook Musings

Away from the studio, trying to get focused on a day of sketching and planning up here on the farm, but to no avail. I'm being totally un-disciplined, shall I tidy the yellow room/library which screams chaos so as to allow myself a small work-space for fore mentioned creative doodles and musings, shall I snatch an hour in the garden, or will I warp up the loom in the kitchen? No. I shall post some pics from my sketch book and then skype Max. Sorry for this little self indulgence folks. 

MAX

E.P.I. EXPLAINED

Ends per inch or e.p.i. are used to indicate the number of warps (vertical threads) that the tapestry weaving is woven onto for every inch you measure across the completed work.
For example the rug you can see being woven on the loom here is set at approximately 5 e.p.i. This means that for every inch across the entire horizontal row of the warp threads there are 5 vertical threads. This is referred to as a low warp.

It also means that creating vertical lines in this particular rug design should be avoided as much as possible. The low number of e.p.i. will always dictate the limitations of the end design.

TEXTURE & SURFACE

I have always preferred to use a selection of yarns in the weavings I produce, and for me the mixing of these different wools, cottons and rayons in particular give the weaving a less flattened and more interesting appearance. When trying to present 2-dimensional fibre art as fine art, I like to enhance the texture of the surface, especially as my weavings tend to be pictorial and the images in them easily identifiable.

The use of texture range is important in the weaving if the veiwer is likely to critique it in the same context as a 2-dimensional painting, As much as that, having all those cones of scrappy odds & ends feeds the magpie in me, and gives an excuse for all the space-wasters in my studio storage area to exist.