Features

Before I write about Jacquard looms I want to define a loom as a tensioning device.

There are a huge number of options when it comes to designing a spun yarn and many ways to approach it, with whole books written about the subject! Menz (2005) is one example of many. My preferred method is to dye my fibre before spinning and to use an image, natural object or mood as my colour source. In the example I am going to write about here, my fibre is silk, my inspiration a Giant Atlas Moth, and my dyes are natural.

This is the story of my first year of weaving, mainly on home-made looms. I celebrated it with an exhibition of my work for friends, neighbours and members of the Guild.

A small envelope of purple threads fell from the hinges of an upturned rusty trunk: I stared with some incredulity at handwriting in red ink claiming the envelope’s contents to be ‘Tyrian Purple, dyed with the bodies of shellfish found on the African coast'.

Whenever I am asked whether it is best to wash sheep’s fleece before spinning, or spin raw fleece ‘in the grease’, I always have the same answer.