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Sunday, 25 November 2018

Beginning to weave: an adjustment to my approach

As I've been preparing the weaving forms I have been working on each phase of the three birds together (all the eyes, all the beaks etc.).  It didn't take me long to realize that this isn't a good strategy for the actual weaving. I expected to weave the heads of all three, then the backs etc. I wove the robin's head and then switched to the pied wagtail. I discovered that the flow that develops as I concentrate on the colours and shapes was interrupted when I switched to the head of the next bird with its very different colour scheme and kinds of markings. As soon as I realized that I continued to work on the pied wagtail, allowing myself to get immersed in the process of the the whole bird. 

Of this bird, my favourite section to weave is the strip of black and white hatch marks on the shoulder. The pied wagtail is now nearing completion with only the tail wire to add and the underside left to cover.