Freeswimming freeweaving

I’m free-swimming in the Kunene River.  Hundreds of kilometres of onion-bag Namibian desert shrink to nothing when, out of nowhere, there’s a sudden smear of luscious green velvet plant-life, edging the languid aquamarine silk of the River. A huge bubbling plaited-corduroy waterfall is underpinned by turquoise plastic scaffolding-protectors. On the far side of the river, the gold-tipped highlands of Angola loom.

Size: 80 by 65cm

Materials:
To see more about how I made this, please see https://carolinemawer.com/weaving-at-make/

– Warp (the yarn which holds the weave together): 
Flat area: I had help from four extra hands to twist three yarns into a warp strong enough for a piece this big. 

Mountain: doubled-up metal-thread sculpted and sewn into shape after initial weft applied ,

– Weft (the woven substance of the weave. Often but not only over-under over-under the warp): Scores of salvaged upcycled fabrics ripped or cut up. Plus various threads. And the plastic scaffolding-protectors, of course.

– Swimmers: Hand-drawn on thick paper, these are the only things not woven, and the only things changed from my memory – I was advised to add swimming costumes!

With many thanks to the amazing Joygun Nehar (@Joy_in_Weaving), who mentored me for this, my first ever weave – initially at MAKE @makeatstorygarden

This weave was included in RCA’s In the meantime, under Joygun’s name.
Scroll down to the pdf here – click on the far right, then look down for her name

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.