If I had to pick the two things that weavers fret most about, I would say it is selvedges and color interaction. One is a purely technical element of weaving that requires skill and practice and the other is perhaps a more esoteric element that requires...skill and practice.
Luckily the skill portion of both benefit from strategies. In Introduction to Shadow Weave, Jannie gave a valuable tip for handling your selvedges when weaving with two shuttles. In her latest course, Designing Shadow Weave, Jannie talks about picking colors based on value, choosing colors with high and low contrast, and combining sets of values in one shadow-weave piece. See it in action in this special clip from her course.
Embedded content: https://youtu.be/sEFXSO2Iwts
Remember you always have the weft!
It happens to the best of us, sometimes our best laid plans go awry. We look at the beautiful warp that we so carefully planned, warped, and threaded, and realize our pattern isn't going to show, making all that work be for naught. Enter the weft. It may take some sampling to find the right combination, but Jannie recommends using colors with more value contrast to enhance a shadow-weave warp with low-value contrast.
Jannie shows how adding weft colors with more value contrast can boost a shadow-weave warp with low value contrast.
Once you get these skills under your belt, you will understand more about color and value, and can start practicing not only two-shuttle management but also designing your own shadow-weave fabrics.
Check out Jannie’s latest course to develop more practical skills for color and design, and explore new depths of shadow weave.
Weave well,
Susan