Tien Chiu

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Doodling

While traveling, I’ve been doodling some possibilities for shawl designs. These are pretty, but not Art; I’m trying to stick with relatively simple stuff, since I really need to focus my mental energies on Creating Craft for the next few months.

That said, me being me, they’re still fairly complex. Here are a few of my “doodles”:

bubbles shawl on a white warp and gradient weft
bubbles shawl on a white warp and gradient weft
reverse side - bubbles shawl on a white warp and gradient weft
reverse side – bubbles shawl on a white warp and gradient weft
shawl - white bubbles on navy gradient
shawl – white bubbles on navy gradient
Reverse side - white bubbles on navy gradient
Reverse side – white bubbles on navy gradient

After the bubbles, I decided to doodle up some Celtic knotwork using royalty-free design elements from one of the Dover books. Here are a black-and-white double weave version, a single-layer version woven with a black warp and a gradient weft, and a single layer version woven with a solid weft:

Celtic knotwork double weave black and white - front side
Celtic knotwork double weave black and white – front side
Celtic knotwork double weave black and white - reverse side
Celtic knotwork double weave black and white – reverse side
Celtic knotwork shawl, single color
Celtic knotwork shawl, single color
Celtic knotwork black and gradient, reverse side
Celtic knotwork black and gradient, reverse side
Celtic knotwork black and gradient, front side
Celtic knotwork black and gradient, front side

And, finally, I doodled up a vignette of sea life:

"Under the sea," solid color weft
“Under the sea,” solid color weft
"Under the Sea" shawl, gradient weft
“Under the Sea” shawl, gradient weft

The last one is more of a concept sketch than a serious mockup – it would be pretty complicated to execute. For one thing, the white in the lionfish and the seahorse would either have to match the weft color, or I’d have to use double weave, which would make the reverse quite different from the front. Nonetheless, it was fun to doodle up. I’m still exploring what I can do with the jacquard loom, and even if these aren’t Art, they’re enjoyable exercises, and thinking through how I would weave each design is helping me get a more intuitive feel for jacquard design.

I’ve also finally come to my senses. It makes NO sense to dye and then wind 30,000 yards of yarn onto cones, when I can spend an extra $80-100 and buy black silk yarn instead of white silk. Silly me. So I will place an order on Monday or Tuesday, and will get started on re-warping the week after.

I’ve also gotten two more inquiries about custom commissions. Yes, I am taking commissions, so long as they are weavable on my black-and-white warp and don’t come with an imminent deadline. I’m also planning to sell some of the shawls from the new warp, so if you’re interested in one of the designs in this post, ping me using the contact form in the sidebar (or by replying to this email, if you’re an email subscriber). I haven’t figured out pricing yet, though – working that out will take awhile longer.

Comments

  1. I am program chair of the San Diego Creative Weavers Guild. I have had several requests to contact you about giving a talk and workshop for us. Could you pkease send me information on what you offer, costs and availability. Your work is wonderful Thank you.,

    • Unfortunately there is a lot of labor in putting together the sample sets! But my friend Carla is willing to wind and label skeins for up to two more people, if anyone is interested in splitting costs. You’d have to wind your own cards or find some other way of organizing your samples, though.