The ingenuity of Christine’s fiberography weavings begins with inspiration from one of her nine flower and herb gardens. As plants are nurtured, from cuttings or seeds to blooming and maturity, they are photographed for future weaving images. Once an image is selected, it is manipulated, enlarged, cropped, or abstracted before ink-jet printing it onto a large sheet of cotton fabric.
Putting a warp onto a manual four-harness loom is the most time-consuming portion of the weaving process. Every step is crucial to the final product. Discovering one mistake made in warping or threading means discarding all woven pieces and starting over with a new warp. Warps consist of sewing threads
and 20/2 weaving yarns (similar to the diameter of a sewing thread). There are a minimum of 500 warp threads in each weaving.
Prepatory steps for "Persian Shield"
The first step in preparing a warp is determining how many thin sewing threads are needed per inch to obtain the final weaving width. The threads are wrapped for length on a warping board while wrapping in a selected color sequence to match the portions of the image that is being woven. Several spools of different variegated thread colors are used in most works. Care must be taken to ensure the threads don’t cross or tangle before getting the warp on the loom.
The warp is transferred from the warping board to the loom, tied on and rolled onto the back beam. Each of the 500 plus sewing threads are inserted into separate heddles on each of the four harnesses, depending on how the work is to be woven. How the threading and treadling is sequenced determines the final weaving pattern. Each thread is then threaded into the reed in the beater bar. The reed determines the fabric’s sett and keeps the cloth’s look even. After the loom is entirely threaded, the warp is tied to the front beam and the weaving process can begin. The dressing of the loom can take up to three weeks or more of constant work.
Christine uses a traditional inlay technique to complete her weaving. Care must be taken not to break any thin sewing threads under tension while weaving. It can take over six weeks to produce a finished weaving depending upon the size of the work.
Click the slideshow below to view Christine's complex Fiberography process to create "Persian Shield".
