Colour and Design with Jane

I arrived home from two weeks on Bowen and immediately dove into a five-day weaving workshop with Jane Stafford. How lucky I am to live on the same island as Jane, who is a phenomenal teacher. Not only does she generously share all the tricks and innovations she developed over her 30 years as a production weaver, she is lively, engaging and possessed of a saucy sense of humour. ( And I must say at the outset that she is much sleeker in person than my camera would suggest.)

Eight of us were there to learn Jane's approach to Colour and Design. There were tons of samples to look at and fondle.

She talked about creating a "Consumate Cloth", a cloth that has optimum drape and perfectly fulfills the requirements for the purpose it is intended for. Jane demonstrated how cloth at different setts would drape differently by holding samples on the bias and letting them flow onto the table. She has a particular affinity for soft, light, touchable cloth, and isn't shy about hugging her favourites.

There was an awful lot of cloth on the table by lunchtime!

She introduced us to a brilliantly simple system of dividing space using the Fibonacci series of numbers.

Then we went to the lovely pre-warped looms, weaving eight samples each of various gamps that demonstrated the design and colour concepts were were to be immersed in for the next few days. 

One of the nicest things about the class is that I was allowed to bring Gracie too. Luckily my fellow students all welcomed her and it was quickly decided that she was to be our mascot.

Next posts will be on playing with colour, saving a warp, and exotic cloth.