Final Weaving – Emily Lum

Intention:

My starting inspiration for this piece was the occupation of space, expectation, and comfort. I was inspired by how space is conveyed after the sample weavings and when I worked on this, I wanted to keep the relationship between the warp and the weft in mind, and how the weft can represent how people and things occupy space. When I began this project, I intended to use different weaving techniques, and incorporate 3D elements to help me work through my thoughts on this topic. I chose to use colors that seemed comfortable and decided to use a lot of knotting techniques to create fringe, because I wanted this final weaving to be interactive and inviting.

Process:

I had considered using other materials, but because I wanted this project to be really soft and comforting, I decided to stick with dyed wool. After my sample, I still wanted to bring a little bit of the high/low contrast parts with the colors I was using and the weaving techniques. There were sections where I used floats and soumak knots to play into the 3D space, in contrast to sections where I had lots of rya knots and fringe that were obviously sticking out from the weaving and hiding parts of the weaving underneath it. There are parts under the fringe that are different from what is shown below it, and I did this so when people went up to it and lifted it up, they may see something unexpected. I also left a large portion of the warp showing using lacing techniques, but when I looked at my weaving after, that part evoked some unsettling emotions in me, so I actually went back and tied in pom-poms to help tie that into the weaving more. My use of rya knots was also a way for me to feel like I was weaving a cohesive piece with all the different colors. While the other colors were a little muted, I really liked using the yellow wool in contrast. When I first saw it, I thought it looked cheerful, soft, and exciting so I wanted to use it in part of my weaving.

Learning:

I learned that I really enjoy the weaving process from this project. Even though it took me a long time, I appreciate the craft that goes into it. I also learned that demonstrating control over the tension ands of the weft took a lot of time and concentration. I think what was interesting about working on this project, is that because I could only see parts of the weaving at a time, the end product turned out a lot differently (and much longer) than I thought it would be. When I was working on this project, I intended for this weaving to seem comfortable, but I hadn’t realized the colors I chose would be “collegiate,” so that was a little surprising to me. I thought the impression that this seemed like layered cake was also interesting to me, because I watched a lot of The Great British Bake Off while working on the weaving. If I were to continue this piece, I think I would want to experiment with combining pieces horizontally and maybe stitching this together so it would be more like a blanket. I would also want to see what this would look like with fewer colors, or maybe colors that don’t have such a high contrast. Additionally, I think it would be interesting to use different material, like really fluffy wool that hasn’t been spun into yarn yet, or larger pieces of fabric. Overall, I like this piece, but I think it would be great to experiment more!

Sample:

Final Project: