In the Dutch magazine “Weven” I read an article about “Weaving for totem poles”, an artist project by Clara van den Bosch at the Textielfestival in May 2020 in Leiden. Hmmm, it could be nice to participate…. But when I read which requirements the band had to meet, I quickly dropped out. 7 cm wide and 2 meters long; that was not going to happen. But then I got the tip to sew two or three smaller bands together; that could solve the problem of the width, so I started reading again.
The assignment turned out to be even more specific; 7 cm wide, 190 cm long, in the colors red, ocher, black, white and gold and the pattern should be inspired by ethnic symbols. I designed a pattern for 47 tablets. After warping, it seemed that the width was 5.5 cm. Too wide to sew two smaller bands to the side, but still too small for the project. Fortunately my loom could handle the 47 cards easily, so I added ten more extra tablets to each side.
I was enthusiastic from the start; the colors look great together and the pattern became beautiful, but after 35 cm I had woven everything that I had drawn. Two meters of tape with all sorts of different patterns seemed to me to be a bit too much. However, with the float technique 8 color combinations are possible. Back to the drawing board to see if I could figure out how to get all these 8 combinations.
It worked out! The first four combinations were pretty easy, but to get the other four combinations you should give the tablets an extra turn forward. In the end I managed to weave 5.5 color combinations on one warp. The result is pretty exciting (in my humble opinion): the various combinations really have a different look!
It is a pity that I have to give the band away, but on the other hand; I cannot wait to see it as a part of one of the Totem Poles. I hope it will be May soon…..
