So hard to photograph!

Weaving is easy. Taking a decent photo of the finished article can be so hard.  Here are some before and after pics of a wrap I took off the loom a week or so ago.  It has plain weave panels with an alpaca and silk warp in a very dark navy at 18 epi and lace weave panels in 16/2 mercerised cotton at 24 epi  which, in some lights looks exectly the same colour and at other times seems several shades lighter. The weft is the mercerised cotton. None of the photos shows the colour accurately.
Here's one before washing . . .

It's definitely not this blue - and increasing the saturation turns it purple - but you get the idea.  That's a couple of fine silver threads added as supplementaries outlining the lace stripes. There is a heavier silver yarn down each selvedge.
This is after washing and pressing . . . and yes, that's the ironing board you can see through the fabric.

I tried all sorts of light levels but couldn't do any better than this. The end hanging down behind the ironing board in the shadow is the best bit for colour but of course it doesn't show the pattern.  I'm pleased to have done this because it seems that the blue one in a similar style that I sent to the CF exhibition in Hamilton has been sold. At least I'm trusting that it has because it hasn't come back.  I wasn't really ready to say goodbye to that one; I like to have things around for a while before they disappear and get forgotten. 

As you can see, this wrap is not finished. I'm saving the fringes for school holidays so I will have something to do while sitting in Esther's new house enjoying the sunshine.

Blue Wrap

My latest creation is this wrap in bamboo with panels of dark blue Bronson lace in slub cotton.

The main warp is bamboo and it took quite a while to decide what to add to it to make it interesting.  On its own it was not quite wide enough for a wrap and also I felt it looked quite flat and bland even though it is multi-hued.  At Festival I found some nice dark blue slubby cotton on the DEA stall. I intend it for another use but stole a bit off the cone to make the lace stripes and even used it for the weft. I'm very satisfied with the look of the result.  It is quite light and drapes well.  I'm not too sure about the bamboo though.  It seems to crease quite readily and I suspect it might pill.  Time will tell.