Assessment Monday 20th February

Throughout the last four weeks I have faced a number of technical difficulties and limitations.
I have been based in the weave area, and been using a more advanced loom than I was used to before. As it was a new machine it took a lot longer to get used to the technicalities and methods of production. Not only did I find it difficult to grasp the technology, I had chosen a soft cotton yarn to use in my warp. THIS WAS A HUGE MISTAKE. The soft cotton yarn was INTOLLERABLE. I have spent soul destroying hours upon hours fixing snapped ends and trying to re-thread up the loom. I will go as far as saying I have spent more time in the past four weeks trying to FIX the warp rather than MAKING anything. By the time everything  is fine again, SNAP SNAP SNAP and more ends have broken. Needless to say I have been quite frustrated in the weave room. If I were to repeat the workshop I would definitely NOT use a soft cotton in my warp, but something a lot stronger that can withstand the tension of a loom.

Despite these annoyances I have been working independantly on producing some more hand processes samples to translate my ideas. I knew that by the time it came to cutting off my warp, there would not be as many samples. I have been looking at dyeing my fabrics with tea, working with shibori and experimenting with manipulating the surface of a fabric. I have found these exercises both more productive and enjoyable.

I feel that I have put in a lot of effort with the weave workshop that has not payed off due the regular problems I have been faced with. I did not feel that it was easy to translate my drawings into a weave sample, I felt restricted. If I could have had another week or two I feel that I would have a stronger collection of samples. Despite this I feel that I have some strong samples from weave that possess some of the same qualities of my earlier drawings.

If I could repeat the last four weeks I would not have used the weave room. I would have furthered my knowledge of print and created some more visual work. However I have discovered that my patience and persistance can be  s t r e t c h e d  when tested and I am proud that I persevered and pushed myself to carry on working with the restrictive loom.