Colors and Design

Sometimes, a weft can make all the difference. Two of the items I had for sale this past week were created on the same warp, but used different wefts. The photo below is the two wefts in a side-by-side comparison.

Weft Comparison
The warp is the same with wide rows of teal off-set by narrow rows of navy. My reason: I wanted to use up the teal, and I still had enough leftover to make a decent wrap. The wrap is the one the left, by the way. On the right, is the poncho I wove using navy as the weft.

A larger picture of the River Moss Poncho is below:
River Moss Poncho
When designing, I often ignore warp length, though I have a general idea how much warp I need, and focus on color. I love color, unlike the rest of my family who are blue only folks. Case in point: my office is themes of chocolate and teal, and when I chose those two colors my family balked.

Part of the reason I enjoy weaving lots of color is because I can't wear many colors. I look best in the cool dark colors like navy, plum, and forest. Black, silver and aubergine are my favorite colors. Both my mom and my sister can wear apricot, cardinal and screaming blue, so I dally with color in my warps.

The other reason I love color is simply because there is so much of it in this world. In 2007, I went to Ireland, and while in the Connemara, I spotted this beautiful combination (no photos, I'm afraid), of mustard and navy, but it was very specific color of mustard. Not yellow, more of a copper color, but definitely not metallic. The mustard came from lichen at the edges of the navy pools of water.

I find colors influence our opinions of items. Take for example the first two photos. The teal warp is a bright color regardless of the weft. When I add navy as the weft, it mutes the teal, providing understated beauty. Ponchos are going to make a statement, but the navy weft indicates an individual who likes to show-off subtly.

On the other hand, adding a teal weft powers up the teal warp, and almost ignores the navy warp. The photograph is the closest I could get the bright endurance of the teal. The wrap is energy barely contained by the navy strips. It is a showpiece for those who want to make a statement without resorting to the expected red.

The teal was a happy experiment. I didn't plan to use the teal, but I'm thankful I did.

Both the River Moss Wrap and the River Moss Poncho are for sale, but currently, I only have the poncho up. Next week, I should have the River Moss Wrap on Etsy, so I would suggest you check out the Bridgette ni Brian shop.




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