Knotwork necklace – finished!
The knotwork necklace, finished. I’m hoping to get some shots in natural daylight, to see if they will make the weird coloring of these beads show up better.
Ironically, the best way to see the color of the beads, is to force it out of focus.
Specs: The weaving is approximately twenty-four inches long, but with the folding to make the center front, and the closure in the back (which is a magnetic clasp, sewn on to the ribbon) it’s more like a 22-inch neck size. The weaving is 1.25″ across, worked on 61 four-hole tablets for a total of 244 warp ends, and an effective epi of 195. The thread is a 40d3x3 organzine, about the weight of a Size C sewing thread. I made every single inch of silk, including the thread used for the beads and the construction. It has nine of the large square iridescent Czech beads, nine dagger beads, and more of the Size 8 seed beads than I really want to count, but it’s somewhere between 300 and 400. The seed and dagger beads are carried on the structural weft; the large square beads were sewn on after weaving.
This is truly beautiful!
What I haven’t figured out, and makes me laugh because people ask me the same thing all the time, “What are you doing with the finished product?” Do you weave for gifts? sale? galleries?
I spin, primarily on a drop spindle, and people always ask “What do you *do* with all that yarn?” Um, nothing. I have baskets of yarn. I spin for fun. Sometimes I give away the yarn, but after 14+ years spinning, I’m only just starting to think “Hmm, I think I’ll use this for.. XYZ.”
Skimming through your blog, I cannot figure out what you *do* with all these amazing ribbons of silk you have woven! 🙂
Cat, it’s a mix. I weave most of them just because it’s the project that I want to do next… it’s what is bubbling in my brain. I’ve got several angles – I’m doing the work for artistic expression, for furtherance of my craft, to give as gifts, to put in shows. The last big piece (two years ago) won a prize in a show here in Dallas, then went on to a show in Florida where it sold – that’s the perfect path, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t make things primarily in mind of selling them, but the money sure helps buy more toys!
Absolutely EXQUISITE!
Wow, this is Capital G Gorgeous! I want one. =) You are so talented; I’m in awe of your skills.
Beautifully made, and a really gorgeous piece of handwork!
You spun all the thread? Black AND Gold???
I’m also a spinner; well, a beginning spinner. I can understand the amount of work that went into the piece, and I cannot express how stunning it is.
Well, I reeled it all from cocoons, and twisted it with a spinning wheel – it’s different from spinning, but I did make it all. If you go back a few posts, you can see the thread before it was degummed and dyed.