A Sunny Day

New on the Loom

Hello friends!

As most of you know, I double-majored in metals and textiles at VCU. I've been focusing on my jewelry work lately, but now that the loom and I have been reunited, I thought I'd start designing another series of scarves.

I use what's called a pick up double weave technique. I draw my cartoon onto a piece of graph paper cut to the size of the scarf. Each row on the paper equals one warp string (for those non-weavers, the warps are the verticals.)

Double weave means simultaneously weaving two layers of fabric at once. There are a ton of practical applications for double weave, but I really only use it for pattern and plushness. My technique is called pick-up because I lift up the colors to make the pattern. I weave one color at a time, picking up the white to weave the gray, picking up the gray to weave the white... and so on and so on and so on, making a piece of fabric that is the color opposite on one side from the other. In the picture above you can see my pick-up stick (my friend Matt Williams made that one for me!) which I use to count out and grab the warps indicated on my graph paper cartoon.

As I finish a row for each layer, I mark it off on the cartoon with a pencil so I don't get confused and make the same row twice. This pattern has been particularly friendly and fun to weave. When it comes off the loom, I want it to look like a length of tile that is cracking.

Things I Heart II

Things I love on Etsy, architecture edition:

Buildings ) Pocketbook Slash Checkbook Holder

by QuietDoing

That is some sweet urban diagonal excitement right there. Plus the inside is all full of tiny pockets and places to lose receipts... Just how I like it.

Circle Map Wood Box

by theharbingerco

City block grids! I love them.

Birdumbus Visits St Basil's Cathedral

by PragyaK

Two favorite things: birds and landmark buildings. What do you think he's thinking?

brooklyn bridge card pack

by serimony

It's the negative space that makes up the focus- a lack of ink that successfully portrays a monument! Does anyone else find that exciting?

Dear artists,

care to trade?

Love,

Caitie

Welcome to my Asheville studio, part II

The set up:

About a month ago Hugh and I did a redesign on the apartment layout, deciding that the loom had to find a new home away from the living room. So all art in the house now takes place in the second bedroom. I thought that it would be frustratingly full (you can't see in the picture, but the wall I'm standing against has industrial shelves in an L-shape, and then the cat boxes are shoved in the closet behind those, leaving about as much floor space as you can see in the picture) BUT it turns out I thrive in over crowded conditions. My dad always used to call me a nester. If I was working on something, all the tools and materials I needed would be spread evenly over an arms-length radius and then I'd leave it that way till I was done, much to my parents' unhappiness. The jewelry nook in the corner is absolutely perfect for me- everything's in arm's reach. And yes, there IS something new on the loom! Next post!

thanks for reading!