Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / Archives for advancing twill

August 28, 2009 by Tien Chiu

tiger eye

tiger_eye_closeup

This piece was one of my very early pieces – I wove it on my first loom, an 8-shaft Baby Wolf.  It was my first attempt at designing my own patterns, and I’m still very proud of it.  I took the “Heart Throb Scarf” pattern from Twill Thrills: The Best of Weaver’s and modified it ruthlessly until I had a pattern I liked.  I cut off the top part of the heart, reflected the bottom half of the heart to produced a “slit pupil” effect, then tinkered with the pattern beneath the heart until I had a rounded cat’s eye.  I then hand-dyed the silk warp in two subtly different shades of orange (to add visual interest), and the cashmere weft in solid black.

The beads are by Gayle Herring, lampworked glass.

[Show as slideshow]
The tiger eye pattern The tiger eye pattern, as simulated by weaving software.
The sample I wove for the tiger eye shawl. The sample I wove before tackling the full shawl. It shows off the two different shades of orange quite nicely.

A closeup of the tiger eye pattern, showing off the beads. A closeup of the tiger eye pattern, showing off the beads.
The entire tiger-eye shawl. The complete tiger eye shawl.

Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: advancing twill

August 18, 2009 by Tien Chiu

black fire

shawl

This shawl is closely related to “Liquid Fire“, except with a black weft instead of a changing-color weft.  It was inspired by an article by Flavian  Geis in Weaver’s magazine, which depicted a cocoon jacket.  My attempt at weaving the jacket was unsuccessful, but I had enough warp left over to weave a couple of shawls.  The first one I did in a black weft, and this is “Black Fire”.  It looks a little like tiger stripes, no?

[Show as slideshow]
The shawl on the loom The shawl on the loom, showing the warp color progression nicely. The paper tape on the right is to track how much I've woven.
Closeup of the pattern on the loom. A closeup of the pattern on the loom.

A closeup of the Black Fire Shawl A closeup, that shows the pattern clearly. It's an advancing twill, published by Flavian Geis in Weaver's Magazine.
A larger photo of the same shawl. A larger photo of the same shawl.

The reverse side of The reverse side of "Black Fire". Notice how this is slightly weft-dominant, making for a darker shawl.
The front side of The front side of Black Fire. The warp is slightly dominant on this side, giving more intense colors.

Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: advancing twill, gradient colors

August 18, 2009 by Tien Chiu

liquid fire

liquid-fire
Photo courtesy of Joe Decker, Rockslide Photography

This shawl rose out of an unsuccessful attempt to weave the advancing-twill cocoon jacket published by Flavian Geis in Weaver’s magazine (can’t remember the issue).  It was a beautiful jacket, with a warp that gradually changed colors from red to yellow and back again, and a weft that alternated between black and a sequence that changed from red to yellow and back again.  The result was an absolutely beautiful jacket.  I wove it up only to discover that, alas, my loom was too narrow! and the resulting jacket was too short for anyone older than 8.  What a disappointment!

Nonetheless, I forged on.  I had enough warp on the loom for three more shawls, so I wove two shawls with black weft with the intent of giving them away.  Then I found myself looking at the pirns full of those beautiful red-to-yellow shades.  I had hand-dyed 20 skeins of yarn in colors changing gradually from red to yellow, so close in hue that it was nearly impossible to distinguish adjacent stripes.  I had enough left over on the pirns to weave one last shawl.  Would it work?  There was only one way to find out!

…so I wove up the shawl, in 1.5″ stripes of each weft color, to produce an absolutely stunning shawl.  I have since done more complex work with changing colors, but this was my first piece, and I love it.

[Show as slideshow]
Liquid Fire on the loom Liquid Fire on the loom (a Leclerc Diana). The paper tape on the right is a measuring-mechanism, that tells me how much I've woven, and when to change weft colors.
Liquid fire closeup A closeup of "Liquid Fire". Here the weft is red, showing the advancing twill pattern clearly.

A half-view of Liquid Fire. Half the Liquid Fire shawl. This photo shows how the weft color changes gradually from red at left to yellow at the center of the piece, producing a starburst-like pattern.
Liquid Fire shawl The completed Liquid Fire shawl. Photo courtesy Joe Decker, Rockslide Photography.

Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: advancing twill, gradient colors

August 14, 2009 by Tien Chiu

silver fox

silver_shawl

This shawl was woven using four strands of a lovely gray cashmere/silk blend, loosely twisted together, as warp.  Weft was the same yarn, dyed black.  The pattern is an advancing twill, either taken directly from, or greatly influenced by, an article in Weaver’s magazine (I think it’s also in Twill Thrills: The Best of Weaver’s).

This shawl was woven as a gift for a dear friend of mine, who has become a Tibetan lama (very rare for a Caucasian woman) and now lives in India, with only occasional teaching tours to the U.S.  Sadly, I have no more photos of it – it was one of my favorite pieces when I wove it.  I still think it’s beautiful, and I hope she’s enjoying it.

Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: advancing twill

August 1, 2009 by Tien Chiu

advancing twill flowers

project_4

This was a very early piece – my fourth weaving project, in fact! – and is the “Advancing Twill Flowers” shawl published in an issue of Handwoven Magazine.  The only changes I made were to weave it up in 2/28 nm silk and 2/28 nm black cashmere, instead of sewing thread (which increased the width from scarf to shawl), and to shift the colors very slightly.

All the colors in this shawl are hand-dyed (by me).  I had a small apartment at the time, and didn’t have the space to store lots of colors, so I bought a lot of white yarn and dyed it to my needs.  I still dye all my own yarns, preferring the greater range of colors I can get by dyeing my own.

[Show as slideshow]
Project on the loom
A closer look at the pattern

Very close view of pattern

Filed Under: Creative works, finished, Weaving Tagged With: advancing twill

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