Lockdown Collection - ZSPO4

Continuing my desire to reduce and use up what I have in the PickOne Studio, the earlier part of this year was spent researching the Japanese techniques of Zanshi and Saori textiles.

Zanshi is the Japanese word for leftovers and Zanshi cloth was originally woven from loom waste, meaning that nothing was discarded. Saori or Sakiori weaving allows a free form of cloth to be produced with little restrictions or rules, these cloths were originally woven using up shredded fabric torn into thin strips of fabric usually in silk or cotton, again using up what would otherwise discarded.

So with this in mind I have produced a series of pieces which takes its lead from this technique and thinking. This collection has been woven at 16 ends/per/inch and measures 1.80 x 0.30m with a 0.15cm hand twisted fringe prior to being finished/washed. As well as each length having a common warp of Shetland yarn a unifying progressive twill weave structure has been used throughout with a variety of materials in the weft - cashmere, cotton rags, linen, silk, mercerised cotton, merino, wool, fancy woollen yarns, twos looped mohair (brushed and unbrushed) twine, cotton, cottolin - which means that completed pieces have a gloriously undulating selvedge due to the differential shrinkage of each yarn employed for the weft.