moving on with cutouts

If you take the cut-out shape, here with parts of the actual motif removed to give a more complex shape, and draw it randomly into a more regular shape (shown here into a square, rectangle and circle) you can throw up other combinations of the motif. Also the negatives spaces between the motifs also create new shapes, all these could be used together as they are all 'related'.

Here I have used coloured and decorated paper to give an idea of how the shape will appear in textiles etc. I folded the paper into a long, thin concertina, drew round the motif down the length and cut it out. I then cut the still folded paper into sections, opened them out and rearranged them to create more shapes.

more play with cutouts

Still experimenting with the paper cut-outs based on a question mark shape.

I have started use a thin and thick black pen to draw out the lines and shapes suggest by the cutouts

 

The next stage could be to use the same shape but distort it into another basic unit (which gives it a more regular and easier overall shape for stacking and layering)

question mark

I am thinking of doing a short workshop using a simple design technique. So I have spent the morning playing around with paper cut outs...could have been doing the ironing/cleaning/shopping but snipping with scissors was more fun!

I took a punctuation mark( question mark) and, freehand, drew it bold and chunky. Folded paper into a concertina and drew round and cut out the basic shape. I kept one for a template and used the others to create the following repeat patterns.

 

 

This last one looked nice when laid horizontally.There is a lot of possibility in such a simple shape, I may have to have a cup of coffee and play a little more :)

we thought we had a white dog!

who can resist snow pictures

clasped weft

I have been playing about with the clasped weft technique, using my knitter's loom.

 I, with the most marvellous's help, warped the loom by putting a separate length and colour into each slot along the length of the 12" loom, and then put pink on one side and blue on the other through the slots. I used 4 pinks and rotated them, and 4 blues and rotated them as well.

The weaving was done by putting the first colour through the shed, around the second colour at the side, and then both colours were pulled back through the shed: two strands of each colour in the shed. They were positioned by eye. I repeated this 4 times and then wove a tabby weave for 6 rows which neatly left the first colour at the opposite side to which it started.

I used  light and dark green for the colours so that I could see what was going on and placed the 'change over' at the centre each time.

Not the most appealing piece of weaving but it does allow me to get a hold on the technique. I see lots of possibilities.... you could stagger the 'join' randomly across the width of the work, run a narrow column of alternate colour up on edge, create a pattern using the tabby weave infill's with a bold change of colour etc

mostly mitts

I have been playing about with creating a pair of mittens for Claire. She is renown for her cold hands and wants something 'thick, long and warm'. Not too sure these are what she has in mind but, hey, I liked making them.

They are made from some Falkland Islands chunky I have had for an age, one skien I kept as natural, the other I dyed in a multicoloured effect with acid milling dyes.

 

  They are slightly different as I was 'playing'.. one was done on 4mm needles and doesn't have the stripe between the cuff and stripey pattern, and doesn't have a terribly attractive decrease at the top, the other was done on 4.5mm needles, does have the stripe between patterns and has a much better wick decrease.

I quite like them, well to be honest I gave them a test run last night, wearing them to Oxford (Mat was playing at the Holywell and it's a long walk in from where we park) in the bitter cold that decesended on West oxon.

So do I give her the practice pair, or keep them and make another...hmm.

I'll think about it whilst I get ready to have the delight that is little Jake, who's coming to stay with granny for the weekend so's his parents can party.
Oh and before I go
Guess who walked past the little newsagents in the village and saw...'for sale  spinning wheel £10.00'. So, of course I phoned the number and am now the proud owner of a single treadle Ashford traveller(in full working order) for..£10.00...oh I must have been good in a previous life....I know I already have one but can you ever have too many spinning wheels??