Sunday 5 October 2014

Flaws

After my recent post on knots, I received this quotation that's probably meant to address (and quell) my paranoia with flaws in my weaving:
“Some beautiful things are more dazzling when they are still imperfect than when they have been too perfectly crafted."
- La Rochefoucauld
Examples of flaws include a threading error, which will run lengthwise down the cloth. It will show up (to various severities) as a subtle stripe of colour imbalance, or a raised stripe of grouped threads, or some distinct imperfection that grabs my eye uncomfortably and makes me squirm to some degree.

Flaws running across the cloth are from my errors in the treadling sequence. They usually appear as a jump in the progression, some missed rows, and I find are often more visible than lengthwise flaws. 

The degree of visibility and acceptance of flaws ranges among viewers, however, with this weaver usually being the most critical of her work.  I get the "lighten up" comments from various fans of my work. That's fine, as it shows me I'm the most critical and others see the flaws as minor imperfections that prove the cloth was handwoven.

I'm not providing any photos in this blog. I've said enough!

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