None of the colours in this are totally accurate, but they give the feeling. The skein of 20/2 silk is 'Haida' in the BMFA Raven clan. The base/background is two colours of purple that I like together. The blue (top) and apricot (bottom) were part of the original order. They go well together, but the blue is bright enough that I think it kills the purple. An occasional very thin stripe might be alright as an accent, and would shift the overall tone of the colour combination to 'cold'. Does that temperature reference make sense? It's how I think of it.
I ordered rust and teal. There was no green that I liked from the screenshots; lime would work (goes with everything), but isn't what I want for this. The teal proved less green than I'd hoped - it's almost indigo - but still. Interesting.
What do you think?
Also: in my head, working with this combination of wool yarn and silk yarn, the silk should be warp. I don't know why I think that way, but my gut feeling is it's something to do with lengths of silk draping better as warp than as weft. Is there anything to this? As it stands, the combination of colours means wool warp (for stripes) and silk weft. In twill. Diagonal lines FTW, as blopeep might say.
Finally, I did comment that the bright blue and apricot work well together. Neutral rust is happy here too.
I have a feeling I've lost my 'h'.
H-less is a smart woman! As you were putting up the pictures, I kept saying to myself, "NO!! The blue and the yellow *need* to be there!" And, what you showed in your last picture is what I'd thought would be simply perfect.
ReplyDeleteNow, that said, what's your plan for the BMFA? Looking at the skein, it seems that it could be wonderful for false-Ikat stripes, alternating with the accent stripes of the blue/yellow/rust.
Also, since I'm totally smitten with the "random striping" of two colors, that might be another way to incorporate the yellow/rust. Regardless, using the blue as the transition between the accent stripes, whether it be the BMFA or the yellow/rust would be simply stunning.
Go forth and warp! (Or, actually, do a "color wrap" and see what you think)
ah, but I want purple. That last is a lovely set of colours, very clean and natural, but not something I'd wear. My colours are dark and slightly murky (but not Steff).
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion for the silk interests me. I would like to subscribe to your whatever. I was thinking warp-dominant twill with the silk as weft, so the changing colours blended into the general murk. You're thinking warp-faced fabric? Silk stripes against the wool would be striking indeed... but would 18/2 wool and 20/2 silk work together like that? Would there not be differential shrinkage on finishing that might leave the silk striped buckled?
So, point the first (and I can't believe I'm saying this) - twill may not be the way to go. It really, really affects the warp stripes and not always in good ways. I went with plain weave on the kimono fabric because I really WANTED the stripes and the twill absolutely got in the way of that. However, as I' was playing with the twills in the sample, I found an alternate treadling that seemed to be a good compromise - 1-2-4-3 (repeat). Not a strict diagonal, but just enough to keep it mostly warp-dominant whilst still being twill-y. Might try that on the next go-'round.
ReplyDeleteAs for the wool and silk playing together in the warp - I think you're spot on. They *will* shrink differently. No doubt about it. How much differently is affected by how vigorously you finish it. And, maybe the magnitude of it could be mitigated by running a strand of the silk next to a strand of wool in the Ikat-y stripes to help balance it. Honestly, unless you sampled and finished it, it'd be hard to know just how badly it'd go.
Lastly, in the "murkiness" department - remember that whatever you use as weft will interact with the warp and change things dramatically. Have a look at my picture from the "on the loom" post that shows the purple stripe both woven and as bare warp. The effect of the green on the purple is DRAMATIC to say the least. It shouldn't be surprising since they're opposite on the color wheel and therefore will grey each other out, but until I saw it, I wasn't sure how much it happens. And, I'm actually very happy with the result since I was worried that the purple would be too strong. So, if you want to dull out the blue and the purple, then weave it off with a purple that's close in contrast and it'll tone that yellow down a whole bunch.
Make sense?
In the shower I was thinking about blue and gold twill diamonds with a rust stripe through the middle of each. Would be very pretty... but I honestly don't know that I could bear to wear such clear brightness, especially here, where the sunlight itself is muted by comparison with western North America. I have very strong feelings about colour: I deeply prefer the lack of it (muddy greys, black). I also don't much like stripes, especially bold ones. When I wear stripes, especially vertical ones, they highlight my curves which to me is a bad thing - and bright stripes would make me stand out in a crowd, which is even worse! I'm a muted muddy sort of person at heart.
ReplyDeleteSampling is a good plan, I know. But basically what that means (I think) is: wind and start weaving a warp that might be unuseable. I can see the value of doing that, but at this point winding a warp is still a big thing. I'd like a few unqualified successes under my belt before I start courting educational failures!
As Diane said, make color wraps - much less yarn "waste" than a full warp, but it will give you the idea of how things look together, in what proportions, etc.
ReplyDeleteNot that I've ever made a color wrap, mind you.
(also, this working a day job gets in the way!!)
I keep coming back to the second-from-the-last photo. I think the color grouping there is the most interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one I like best. The colours are darker and richer. I like that. I even like it without the rust and apricot contrasts; I think the teal and two purples would work for the weave in joannenonum's post 6833 in 'Let's Weave'.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do with the colours in the second-from-last?
Maybe we should have a series of design challenges: we each get the same two colours (I'm thinking indigo and natural white/cream) and post a description of what we'd do with them. Real fabric if you can, although I've got a backlog of real life work. coloured sketches and wraps would suffice.
You know, that's a good idea - why don't you make a post of that, so we make sure everyopne sees it? (By everyone I mean Diane.)
DeleteETA: Indigo, natural, and a third colour of the participant's choice.
ReplyDeleteand boy have I been missing out on this conversation!
DeleteInteresting idea, actually. I'd like to do this, but I'll add that it should be with a FO in mind. Dishtowels would be different than a kimono, scarf, top, skirt, etc.
And yes, sketches/wraps would suffice.