Sponsored by TWIST - Tablet Weavers International Studies & Techniques
Hello Everyone,
I thought I would tell you about an interesting project I'm doing
with a metal artist. We are making a piece for a collaborative
exhibition where all of the artists are asked to try something they
haven't done before, to stretch, and -- the best part -- the rules
say "failure is OK".
Lately I have become really interested in rain chains, especially the
traditional Japanese style which consists of cups with open
bottoms. So our idea is to make a piece of garden art inspired by
the rain chains -- Rebecca is making a hammered brass basin, and I'm
trying to make tablet-woven cups out of brass and copper wire. We
hope to rig up an aquarium pump so we can have water falling through
the cups into the basin.
I'm using the double-faced weave so one side is mostly brass and the
other copper. Then by folding and shaping, I can get a pleasing
funnel-shaped cup which actually seems to function -- when I pour
water on the sides of the weaving, it actually flows down through the
hole, and not right through the weaving!. At this point, I'm leaving
a long wire fringe on each end of the woven part.
We are lucky to have Alaskan Brass & Copper here in Portland, and I
can go there and get the wire on one-pound spools. I wind a
continuous warp directly from these spools by putting the spools on
the horizontal dowels of my tensioning blocks and then up through a
warping wand --- it works great. I make the warp around vertical
posts, but instead of dropping the tablets on each side as usual, I
lay each tablet on top of the previous one. Then when the warp is
finished, I transfer it to my tensioning blocks with the horizontal
dowels, and I'm ready to weave. I've been talking to my husband
about getting this process on DVD... we'll see.
I have been experimenting with different gauges of wire, number of
tablets, and width and length of the woven section to see what works
best. The warp I just finished used 80 tablets, and 22 gauge copper
and 22 gauge brass. The warp is about 34" long, 3" wide, with about
9" woven and the rest left as fringe. It looks beautiful, but was
really physically difficult to weave. I think the main problem was
the brass at that gauge is just too stiff, and I'm going to go to 24
gauge brass for the next one.
I would be interested in hearing any comments about weaving with wire
that might help! This piece has to be finished for exhibition
during Labor Day weekend, and I will post photos.
Take care,
Linda
Send private reply to Linda Hendrickson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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