Dalmatica Week Round Up

This week was my week on the Dalmatica - the electronic jacquard. What a fun machine!

First of all I will confess that my focus was less on design and more on how to get it to make the structures that I wanted. Next time I come back I want to focus on combining the two.

So my first project was making gauze circular pockets for which to put things in. The design is very loosely based on draping lines. The lolly wrappers (carta caramella) inside the pockets are courtesy of Marta, one of the amazing production weavers at Lisio. Marta is great fun and hands these delicious little morsels out at the perfect moment.

 This was my test area - the first enormous semi circle shows what happens when you get the pixel dimensions wrong in the weave software Point Carre. Then I got it right :)

Colour test strips and first test of repeat. 

 Detail so you can see the lolly wrapper cut up - the lolly is called 'Specchi' which means section. I think this one was lemon flavoured.

The finished length. Will take better photos when I get home. I made enough to make something with - maybe a skirt or a laptop bag?

 This insignificant little strip was the most fun I've had in a long time. There are 3 layers there, though technically 5. Figuring this out in the weave software was enormous fun. 

At this point I need to say a huge thanks to my weave teachers Julie Holyoke and Eva Bassile - their help in all these projects is amazing.

Back to the weaving. This is something I have wanted to try on a jacquard for about 4 years now. Remember my phd proposal Belly? Well this is some of the work that I wanted to research. It's based on plant cellular structures. This one in particular is based on stomata - the plant breathing cells in leaves. 

pic from this page - http://sciencevogel.wikispaces.com/Pictures+-+leaf+%26+stomata - also a better explanation.

 This is still just in the sample phase - can you notice the curved shape where the multi layering starts?

 So I created a single weft multi layered fabric that hopefully resembles the stomata. Multi layered cloth is easy enough on shaft looms but getting the cellular shape and the speed of production and flexibility of control is only possible on a computerised jacquard. I do love it!

I have another day on Monday on the Dalmatica which is when I plan to produce the finished piece - fingers crossed!

Oh and this is the view from the classroom.

--melly

Shopping in FLorence

It had to happen. These are a few of the tasty treats I've found -


In a vintage and burlesque store-

 1960s handbag

 1990s Roberto Cavalli shoes - olala!

And entire passimentary store!

More fun to be had!

--melly

Silky Floats

I cut off my first sample! so I had a chance to photograph properly and cut some of the floats.

 New warp and loom -

--melly

The Threads

Check out the Threads! now I really do have thread envy! The image is of Manuel Canovas design studio in Paris.
Via Walter G

Weaving at Lisio

So finally I manage to put something on the blog!

The story so far - I ran away from home to Florence, Italy, for weaving. That's about it really. Oh and I'm having an amazing time! The course I'm doing is at Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio , where I studied first when I was 18. It's wonderful to be back.

Onto the weaving. I think I started out fairly slowly. I didn't have much time before I left to prepare designs and things - mainly I had ideas for techniques I wanted to experiment with. Techniques with more of a sculptural, engineered quality, embedded into the cloth surface.

So the first cloth is a fairly simple circle, with a semicircle overlayed and long weft floats. These floats have bothered my teachers a lot! I may leave them or cut them when it's finished though - I'll make that decision when it's off.

The first repeat - with a card punching mistake! This fabric is woven face down so this photo is take from underneath but will be the right side of the fabric.

Initial trial of design -

 Change colours - beautiful, beautiful blends of silks!

O la la! so many broken threads to fix!

This feels better! 2nd day of weaving. Found a lot of mistakes to fix, so today should be relatively trouble free!

I found a little bit of glow in the dark thread, so I wove a little bit with it - I'll only be able to see what it's like when I take it off. It's light until after 9pm here at the moment!

And this is the right side of the fabric, with the flash on, to show up those beautiful silk floats!

More later! I promise!

--melly

Warp recycling

Belinda's eco dyed silk warp (recycling)

Belinda's new warp, silk and rayon

Hi Melly only 3 sleeps and you will be on your way. very exciting. I have put a new warp on the loom and I am using up an old warp that i think is left over from Uni days. its a small warp of eco dyed silk. I have wound a second warp of rayon and plan to do double cloth squares.

Finished scarves

I finished weaving these scarves ages ago. Not long after your last visit it the studio Melly, but I didn't post the photos of the finished scarves after they were washed, so here they are. I am not at all happy with the purple one as it is very open and didn't close in the washing process. Lesson is with this wool to not leave as much space as it is not a felting wool like I ordered! I will have to take some more photos for you as theses are not good either.

Henry's Blanket, Finished

Off the loom and ready to be finished

Washed and ready to have the fringe done

New mummy decided she likes the fringe as is, so that saved a lot of work!

Ok Its been finished for a while now, I seem to have been busy doing every thing and enjoying been a Ganny and not posting photos for you Mell. Now I need to take a photo of Henry in his blanket . 

Safe Travels Melly

via designsponge

photos by sissi castellano

Bon voyage Melly ( French not Italian) a bunch of flowers for you and some thread to use at Lisio!