Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / All blog posts / Sea turtles with waves
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December 24, 2013 by Tien Chiu

Sea turtles with waves

I spent yesterday twiddling with turtles again, exploring the possibilities on 40 shafts. This time I decided to work with an unconventional tied structure, using a method I learned in Kay Faulkner’s Ties: Practical, Decorative, and Unconventional lecture at Complex Weavers Seminars. I wanted to put ripples into the background using the ties, so I devoted six shafts to the ties and the remaining thirty-four to the turtles.

I started by drafting a structure for the ties. I used network drafting on a 3-end initial (threading and treadling) to create this draft (click for the larger version):

six-shaft networked ripples
six-shaft networked ripples

Then I took the image of a sea turtle, did some magic in Photoshop, merged it with the draft for the ties, and produced this draft:

sea turtle weaving draft, on 40 shafts
sea turtle weaving draft, on 40 shafts

The ties are network drafted in a ripple pattern, giving the background “waves”, and the sea turtles are made using the heavier pattern weft. This particular draft displays a white warp, a pale aqua tabby weft, and a dark blue pattern weft. I’ll probably experiment with other possibilities for warp and weft later today, including some gradated colors and maybe some painted warps. If I can get this together, I’ll enter it in the yardage show at Convergence, or (if I miss the deadline) make it into a shawl. If I do the latter, I think I will gussy it up with a scattering of beads. Heck, I may weave a few beads into the fabric, just for fun.

And, to finish things off, here is an image of domestic bliss amidst utter chaos: the kittens snuggled together on the disaster area that is my worktable.

Fritz and Tigress, cuddled up and sleeping on my worktable
Fritz and Tigress, cuddled up and sleeping on my worktable

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Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: sea turtles

Previous post: T minus 4 days
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