Exploring Creativity and Intuition Through SAORI Weaving
Continuing my exploration into SAORI weaving, intuition and creativity, I attended my second SAORI workshop with Amanda Edney of Beautiful Cloth SAORI Studio last Friday. I was surprised when I arrived at Napton village Hall to find that I was the only workshop participant for the day. I was really fortunate to have one-to-one teaching and an opportunity to talk, as well as continue to experiment with ideas and techniques, whilst Amanda worked on a weaving project of her own.
I took a collection of bits and pieces with me from home including ribbons, bits of lace and old bobbins of yarns from previous projects. My work recently has a theme of combining highlights of colour with a neutral or white base. I wanted to experiment with using white and neutral colour yarns and include colour with inserts of ribbons and threads. I’ve also had lace pinned on my notice board for a while so I wanted to try this out as well. This piece was a progression from last time, using techniques from last time and learning some new ones.
NEW TECHNIQUES
- 3 yarns — weaving 3 colours of yarn so that all three colours appear in the same weft row. So colour on the right, left and in the middle. This is a more advanced version of using two yarns that I tried last time. It involves having one colour on the shuttle and one cone on the floor to the left and another on the right. It takes quite a bit of concentration but the effect is worth it.
- Extra warp thread — Amanda demonstrated this on her loom, I didn’t try it myself yet but it’s on my list for next time. A different colour of thread to the warp is chosen then whilst still attached to the cone, threaded through one heddle and lined up with a corresponding gap in the reed. The cone is at the back of the loom and the individual thread is weighted down to create the required tension. The yarn thread is then woven into the fabric at the front and is incorporated with the weaving. It can be used as a feature in the weft or as a highlight colour in the warp.
- Spacing warp threads in reed — Another one I’m yet to try but Amanda showed me how she had set up her loom with a narrow warp that she’d threaded with wider spacing through the reed. This can create areas of different density in the weaving.
- Sakiori — weaving with yarns made from rags — This is something I’m really keen to try out next time. Sakiori is a traditional Japanese practice of weaving with rags that has been incorporated into Saori. Amanda demonstrated how to use a special Saori gadget for cutting strips of fabric into ribbons of cloth to make yarn and then roll it into a ball.
THOUGHTS ON THE DAY
It was really nice to have a whole day devoted to weaving and working on my creative practice and to have the support of an expert teacher. Part of this project is about working with a creative teacher and mentor and of course there is a relationship that develops there, this was something I hadn’t thought fully about but this is inspiring in itself. It was good to have the opportunity to talk more to Amanda and to hear more about her and her interesting life. I was amazed when she said to me during our discussion over lunch, ‘Are you a HSP?’ (HSP meaning Highly Sensitive Person — I recommend looking up the work of Elaine Aron if you’re interested in this). ‘Yes I am!’ It was so good to have someone ask this as it’s not something that I believe many people know about and there was a sense of relief and recognition from meeting a fellow HSP. Maybe she intuited this because I’d been talking about how peaceful and quiet it was at Napton and because I’d been talking a bit about my journey with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). I always find it difficult with new people to know how much to share about my health but in this situation I felt it would be helpful. This is something that’s come up for me in regards to this blog too. How much do I share about what I experience with my health alongside this project? Do I keep it strictly weaving or do I out of authenticity add in some of the reality?
THOUGHTS ON MY WEAVING
Amanda said she had left me to weave without much interference because she knew my project is about intuition. We talked a bit about that. I wish I could remember more of what she said but she talked about Saori being about free expression and ‘weaving from the heart’. This resonated, perhaps that’s the key thing I’m seeking in my exploration of intuition in this process, an expression that comes from the heart.
I wasn’t that happy with what I created somehow on the day. I don’t think my idea of weaving mostly in white worked that well, perhaps because of the black warp. I felt some of the ribbons I included looked clunky and indelicate. So I thought about this. I realised it’s really hard for me to let go of the idea of producing something that looks ‘nice’ and that I have an undefined mental idea of what ‘works’ and is pleasing to me. So when I’m creating and this is not being met, it feels disappointing and like a failure. I have this internal desire/need to create something that has a sort of delicateness and balance and I’ve always preferred light weight yarns like silk. I think I need to challenge my comfort zone a little more with heavier weight yarns and more experimental ideas. However, perhaps this delicateness and balance that I can’t describe but feel compelled to create is expressing something from my heart.
The other reflection I have on this is that I need to accept the place this piece of work has in my creative process. It’s an experimental learning piece. It’s only the second piece of Saori weaving I have ever produced. I need to allow myself time and patience for my work to develop and allow development into unexpected areas. Returning to the idea of self-expression, I think my idea of this comes from Art Therapy, where the focus is more on the process and act of creating rather than on the outcome or product. Perhaps this is a question of degree. How much emphasis is on self expression and how much on the outcome? This doesn’t have to be either/or but can combine both. What does self expression look like anyway?
NEXT STEPS
Looking forward to the next session, I want to try out adding extra warp threads and experiment with highlight colours next to the black warp. I also want to try Sakiori and I’m going to get together some fabric to make into Sakiori yarns. Sakiori got me reflecting on the idea of identity in clothing and deconstructing and reconstructing identity. I have a lot of fabrics that belonged to my grandmother and the collections of ribbons, lace, buttons and yarns all have a history, they are part of my history, so I like the idea of weaving these artefacts into a cloth that combines this aspect of personal and shared histories.
LINKS
On Saori Weaving with library@orchard’s Resident, Natalia Tan
Sakiori Weaving: A Legacy of Weaving with Rags | Handwoven
If you would like to keep up to date with my progress throughout this project, please follow me on my blog and Social Media; Instagram @ameswibs, Twitter @amiwib.
Intuitive Threads is a personal research and development project by textile artist Amie Wiberley, Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Amie is a textile artist and holistic and creativity coach. Find out more at www.amiewiberley.co.uk. Sign up to the mailing list here.
