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.