Dilemmas

Slit Tapestry/ Back of the loom/ Back light/

Yesterday, I released this tapestry from the loom.

I say 'released' because it was woven with a four selvedge warp, 
the tapestry part suspended (laced if you will)
between two supplementary warps of fly line backing,
and when such a tapestry is done there is no cutting involved--
rather an 'unlacing' as you might with shoes.

Last Light on the Loom. Pipe Loom (black and galvanized). String heddles/ leashes as described in Backstrap Dialogues (the zine).

But I wrote about four selvedge warping in a different post so won't go into detail,
as today I wanted to answer a couple of the questions that Janet asked in her comment on last week's glimpse of  the work in progress.

Halcyon 2 ply doubled for four selvedge warp

"Did I have a cartoon behind the warp," she asked first,
and the answer is No, then Yes, then No. 

I began merely with a desire to tap some weft into warp
and a bit of curiosity about combining:
1. ​a collection of spindle spun yarn (natural dyes as usual),
2. some mill spun 2 ply Shetland from Elemental Affects
(a hint/ challenge from Rebecca Mezoff led me to check my LYS, The Yarn Underground, for unexpected tapestry weft),
and
3. some wool warp I  bought at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, Maine in September.
(details at the end).

​The "plan" then, was simply to weave--

 to lose myself, if I could, 
in the interaction between bobbins, hand and yarn.
Plain weft with circles.

Alas, however,
 the woman with the striped dress insisted on gathering up some of the circles,
so I drew a quick sketch, positioned her behind the warp,
decided to change value right about there (Janet's heel question),
figuring that she wouldn't take up too much space and I could get back to my simple shapes soon enough.

Should have known better.
This purple sock person had some deliberating of her own to do.
Weld yellow, or not weld yellow?
​That is the question.

A background color was assumed (by me at least),  but open warp tapestry is an old friend, the kind that almost invariably arrives unannounced with the expectation that I'll be ready and willing to include her in whatever I'm doing.
As usual I couldn't say no.
​
So that was how that came about.

Then more lovely tap, tap, tap.

Exhausted, however, by all of this unexpected decision making
 a little nap toward the top suddenly seemed appealing --
with the added opportunity to let go of color and rise above all those circles.

But alas, contemplation of color turned out to be the order of the day
and who can resist the magic of opposable thumbs,
(so good for holding on-- and for letting go)?

And then, suddenly, it was done,
and ​I have no idea what this work is about.

Nor, indeed, do I know how I'm going to hang it--
(the open warp and two sided nature makes an ordinary frame/ mount seem silly).

It doesn't even have a title.

​And these photos are a little out of focus.

And, Why? ; 17" x 17"; wool warp and weft; natural dye ©sarahcswett 2017

But it has had a bath in  hot soapy water,
is currently drying,
and is nearly ready for a steamy iron.

UPDATE three weeks later: Julie Barnes came up with its forever name: And, Why?

And after that,
perhaps I'll take the (somewhat obvious) hint from these three gals,
return to sorting  ideas
​and  contemplating whatever it is I am going to do next.
Did I say something about a dress?

Halcyon Wool Warp -- 2 ply

Oh, and here's the technical stuff/ yarn review:
The Halcyon two ply warp is  strong, balanced  and tightly plied.  Very easy to work with. Though definitely wool, it feels to my hands almost like cotton Seine Twine-- very different from the singles Brown Sheep Wool Warp I've been using for a while (softer, smoother and full of extra twist).   I like them both, but can see that this one might perhaps more satisfying for those who are trying wool for the first time and want a familiar feeling. Definitely suitable for large works -- though if not using a four selvedge warping technique I'd probably go for the 3 or 4 ply, depending of course on your sett, the thickness of your weft, and personal preference as to the hand/ look of your finished work.
As Rebecca Mezoff says in this post, the possibilities are tremendous. 
I sett this tapestry at 9 epi, which was great for my super fine hand spun yarn, but a tiny bit close for the Elemental Affects weft used double (I wanted to blend the two greys). 

AS for the Elemental Affects yarn -- I liked it very much.
  It  has little stretch, lies beautifully in the shed and packs into place in a most satisfying way. 
I would/ will definitely use it again, though will have to figure out the sett/ weft interaction.  The two skeins I got were a slightly different weight  from one another --the darker grey slightly thicker-- so though two strands of hte light grey packed in beautifully, two dark required more force than I like.  As you can see if you scroll up a couple of photos, I transitioned from double dark grey to a combination of one light/ one dark for the border part way up, as the two dark strand combo was driving me a little crazy.  
Ways to fix this: 
1. wider sett (8 epi probably)
2.  finer warp (which would make more space between the strands).]
3. combining the Elemental Affects with a strand of something finer than it,
4. using only one strand of the Elemental Affects at a time (and changing my sett to 10 or 12)
5. finding out which size yarn is the 'normal' one.  If the finer, then get more of that.  If the thicker, adjust accordingly.  It comes in lots of lovely colors for you non-dyers, and you can get them from the Feral Knitter.    Of course now that I've  just been to Janine's site, I'm suddenly curious about the Jamieson's Shetland yarn for tapestry. 
Has anyone tried it? 

Elemental Affects 2 ply