An Eight-Pointed Star in Rya

Finally, the loom is clear and I am ready to dismantle it and take it to the studio in the Casket Arts Building.  This banded rya piece was just the sort I love; planned, but with room for experimentation and with fabulous, dense reds to work with.  I constantly wondered whether my idea for using traditional Norwegian techniques and symbols in a new combination would be graphic and appealing, and whether the bands I wove would be in balance.  I took it off the loom when my son was visiting, and he was very impressed.  Thanks, Joe!

I started the piece with bands that included laid-in patterns.  My husband walked by the loom at around this point.  “I really like that.”

After I began on the rya star section he walked by one day and almost involuntarily blurted out, “Eewwww.”  (Yes, he SAID that.)

What do you mean, I asked.  You can’t really see what it will be yet.  “Oh, it just sort of looks like an explosion.”  Now I was worried. Would it have my intended effect?

My husband had a point.  It did sort of look like an explosion.  I thought that I would make the rya somewhat sparse, but clearly I am not capable of that; the star is dense, using a combination of wool yarn, along with a little linen, that I find appealing.  When I started the rya section I cut what seemed like a mountain of red yarn, yet I found myself returning to cut more, time and again.

Sometimes the cat thought it was supposed to be a joint activity.

And now I have ideas for other pieces with symbols and bands, maybe even bigger that the size of this one, 31″ x 48.”  Here are some more detail shots.