Color challenge completed

[altivo]

Purple Onions Runner
Originally uploaded by Altivo

Here is my answer to the guild challenge for 2009: "Weave something in the color(s) you dislike most." The color best qualified for that choice in my case is purple. This workshop piece is done in overshot structure based on an old traditional pattern called The Wandering Vine. The white ground is 10/2 perle cotton, and the colored pattern yarns are raw silk in purple (shown) and a deep maroon. Title: Purple Onions Make Me Cry.

Finished, but not removed from the loom because there's more warp and I'm going to do a second piece on it.

Comments

[saythename.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed. This has both an Op Art feel to it
and sense of the way the muslims decorated their
mosques with patterns.

Not bad.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Op Art is an apt description, and the analogy to Islamic mosaics is also appropriate. Though the technique doesn't borrow directly from either, being parallel in development to the arabesque and hundreds of years older than Op Art, the similarities are still valid.

The photo doesn't show the reversals in the diagonal direction, which I think make the piece especially interesting. When it is unwound and can be seen in its entirety, I'll post another image.

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

Nice! I agree on the op-art and purple seems quite right for onions.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You may like the second piece I have planned for this warp. It will be a reference to the Cat in the Hat, with cat tracks going over a hill and pink snow falling from the sky. XD

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I can see why you gave it that name now. :)

I wish you luck with completing it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. No problem with completion now, it's just a matter of stitching up the hems, washing and pressing.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting! Yeah, that's definitely more complicated than what I would've been able to do on my little loom in elementary school way back. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

As weaving techniques go, this is still only moderately complex. It's a four shaft design, meaning that the warp threads are lifted in just four separate groups to create the pattern. Though I've used related two color methods before, this is my first experience with this particular technique and I think I like it enough to try some more. That, of course, was the reason for taking the class, and the instructor will be pleased I'm sure.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Awesome... but making me hungry. ;)

I like the little technical details you slip in, too. Weaving is one of the things topping my "to research properly" pile and you're tantalising my laziness...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The technical details in the caption on Flickr are there because I use the same photos in my weaving related posts on Ravelry and Blogger. If I left them out, the weavers would immediately be asking for them.

If any of them make you curious, speak up. I don't mind explaining.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

That's a nice pattern. ^^
It got this curious pixelated look too...

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Oh, the icon. The pattern kinda reminds me of mosquito eyes too. =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Argos here: Hmm, I hadn't thought of mosquitoes, but you're absolutely right. Maybe I should do a mosquito-themed piece too. We'll see how much warp I actually have...

Pixelation is a fact of life with this kind of technique. The pixels can be reduced in size by using finer and finer threads and packing them more to the inch. On the other paw, you can take advantage of the pixels to make little motifs like the checkerboard squares that appear at the points of each onion, so it's a trade-off. In essence, you are building a design out of four "blocks". A block is a subset of the available warp threads that will be covered with the color when that block is active. Every warp thread must belong to one of the blocks, and only one. Each weft thread that is woven must also belong to one and only one block. So you select where the blocks will lie, and then arrange them in a sequence that makes the desired pattern. It's an interesting challenge or puzzle. ;D

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

*nods* It's amazing too how many different patterns can be made with relatively simple systems. Though it must be tricky to rig it all together, and keep the pattern running. Not a job for scatterbrains like me. =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We used to do it on graph paper with colored pencils. It's much easier now using appropriate computer software that emulates the weaving. You set up a threading, specify colors and yarn thicknesses, and voilá! You can see both sides of the resulting fabric. Then you can say, "What if we move every fifth warp thread into block C? Or, "What if I switch colors here?" The computer happily shows you what will happen. When you're ready to thread the actual loom, the computer prints out the threading sequence in large, friendly letters. The software I use can even go backwards: draw in the interlacement and colors retrieved by picking apart a cloth sample, and the computer shows you how to set up the loom to create the same fabric.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Saves a lot of headscratching, that. Technology to the rescue. =)

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of a greek restaurant in Birmingham...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Greek salad, with purple onion rings, olives, anchovies, romaine, and of course, feta cheese. Nummy.

[breyerchic04.livejournal.com]

Very pretty! It's the same color as your lj theme.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Technically not the same color though. You might call the background on my pages lavender or orchid or something like that. The photo makes the purple silk look a bit browner than it is. It really is PURPLE. ;p

Not that I hate purple, but I'm real tired of it. In the last ten years, every time I go to a knitting or weaving show or sale, it seems as if more than half of the articles are purple.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Wow look at that O.O Groovy stuff )