New Beginnings

In this blog, I’d like to talk about a number of things—art as contemplative practice, the joys and challenges of working in the fiber arts, using weaving and basketry techniques to create contemporary art. 

Today, I thought I’d start with what I’m working on now.  This piece is one of three that started as a commission proposal which fell through.  I decided to do the pieces anyway because I really liked the designs.  All three have swirling spiral shapes in shades of greens or blues.  The finished pieces will be 24” in diameter and around 2” deep.  They are worked on a single strand core of 3/8” manila rope—thicker than I usually use for added strength in the larger piece—more on that another day. The yarns I’m using are mercerized and unmercerized cottons.

At this stage, I was testing color combinations to get the values I wanted in the piece.  I’m blending 6 strands at a time in the needle so I have a lot of color combinations available!

Here is a close-up of the yarns I’m using. 

Here’s an image of the original design.  It’s only an approximation; it’s not possible to fully map out a coiled piece because the design has to be continually adjusted to the continuous spiral and the curves of each row.

And, this is where I am right now–around 8″ in diameter.

So, that’s where I am right now… I’ll show you more another day. 

Until then, be well!