Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Kente Update



I have the loom dressed with a 72 thread sample for my kente cloth that I'm going to weave for a guy in Cape Coral, FL as a wall hanging. (See last entry below) What a great project - threading was a snap: 434343 212121 434343 212121 . . . I'm using a 10 variation pattern with that one threading and using different harness tie-ups for the different variations. AND: the really cool thing about this type of weaving is that I can weave one 48" strip, wind a completely different warp for the next strip, tie that one on to the previous one and continue weaving - never having to rethread the loom again. Woo Hoo ! ! !

{The picture above shows how Kente cloth is normally used as clothing.}

The pattern is out of Davidson. The pattern is woven using harnesses 3 & 4 with the tabby on harnesses 1 & 2. Floats are three threads across, max.
I'm spinning bleached French flax for part of the warp which I plan on painting using African motifs so that I'll get an Ikat effect - subtle but *there*. I'm also spinning tussah silk for part of the weft. Most of the weft will be cotton and silk with some raffia thrown in for texture. I'm planning on mounting it on a raw tree limb after the panels/strips are sewn together. The warp will be commercial mercerized cotton & hand-spun linen.