I finished weaving and dyeing the phoenix scarf yesterday, and am mulling over what to do with it. On the one hand, it’s gorgeous. I just love it. On the other hand, it has quite a few flaws, which makes me wonder whether I should send it to the Woven Together: Firestorm exhibit.
The most egregious flaws are where a shaft didn’t quite raise properly (or else I missed a pick, or something). They look something like this:
(Ignore the moire effect in the small version- that’s an artifact of reducing the photo size. If you click through to the full-size photo, you’ll immediately see the flaw – a line running across the tips of the wings.)
There are also a few other flaws, like where a thread broke and I didn’t see it immediately. While the scarf looks good from a distance, up close it has quite a few technical errors. So I’m not sure I want to send it in.
On the other hand, it’s also a beautiful scarf and I think people would enjoy seeing it. So perhaps I will send it in anyway. Probably the only person who will see the errors is the juror!
The dye job, by the way, came out beautifully. Compare the top photo with this one, taken on the loom before dyeing:
The original fabric was rather sallow and uninteresting. I overdyed it by scrunching it up, pouring a little bit of VERY dilute scarlet dye at the bottom, and some slightly less dilute orange dye on top, then waiting 10 minutes before adding soda ash solution. (This process comes from Ann Johnston’s Color by Accident.) The result is a slightly mottled, much “warmer” background that suggests birds flying through an inferno.
If I enter this one as well, I will probably title it In the Inferno or something similar. Still mulling over titles, suggestions welcome!
(The scarf is not yet finished, by the way – I still need to bead the fringes. I’m planning to do some vertical netting of beads in fiery colors, after I hem the ends – just enough to give it a little swing at the ends.)
Also, Reborn in Flame: Phoenix Rising (aka the wall hanging) is back from the framer’s. They did an excellent job, and I am now mostly satisfied with it – there are minor flaws in the piece and some of the framed edges are a bit irregular since I didn’t want to lose even a little bit of it to the framing – but overall it is gorgeous. I’m not going to post pix of it (or of the full scarf) until Sunday night, though, when Joe, my photographer buddy, shoots the official photos. He’ll do a much better job than I could.
Send the scarf in! When you’re the creator, you are really conscious of the errors. A piece like this could be an inspiration for people to stretch their skills.