Part 3 covers my explorations at Avani, Uttarakhand. For this leg of the project, undyed 2/48 Nm and 2/64 Nm Merino wool yarn counts were selected and naturally dyed on Avani's campus.
Textures were explored on the 4 shafts fly shuttle looms, using fulling techniques, high twist cotton yarn and blends with Eri silk.
For textures, I was inspired by the crimped and weathered surfaces of the local rocks spotted during a field trip to one of Avani's weaving centers.
I was particularly drawn to the violet and bluish-gray colouration of the rocks. Hence, for the explorations Merino wool and Eri silk yarns were dyed with natural indigo by the expert dyers at Avani. For shades of violet, the indigo dyed yarns were overdyed with lac.
Above: Warp stripes explorations.
The warp design incorporated a combination of 2/48 Nm Merino wool and 2/60 Eri silk yarns. A straight draft was chosen for this warp.
The different tensile properties of Merino wool and Eri silk yarns yielded a puckered texture, similar to seersucker fabrics. After light fulling and calendaring, different samples were obtained either with diminished puckering or with a flattened and smoother handle.
Above, Left: Merino wool + Eri silk. Both Merino wool and Eri silk, dyed in the same shade of indigo, were used in the weft. Different material exhibited the colour differently, which was used to create shadow stripes in the weft.
Above, Right: Merino wool + Eri silk. The thin horizontal stripes were woven with Eri silk for lustre.
Above, Left: Merino wool + Eri silk + Cotton. 2/40 Ne high twist cotton yarn was woven in the weft in a 3/1 twill weave. Once dipped in hot water, the sample developed a warp-faced, satin weave like look on one side. On the back side, the cotton yarns spiraled in on themselves to create a completely different look. The result was a serendipitous discovery.
Above, Right: Merino wool + Eri silk + Cotton. 2/40 Ne high twist cotton yarn was woven in the weft in a plain weave. Once dipped in hot water, the sample shrunk and crinkled.
Above: These are the snapshots of some other results obtained from fulling, high twist yarn and calendaring experiments.
Another set of explorations were based out of the local pattern weave - Almora weave (Below, Left). During this time, I was beginning to develop my concept for the final collection. I was inspired by the Modernist paintings of S. H. Raza. I tried to develop new samples inspired by his aesthetic language, while using the existing dyed yarns from the previous exploration.
Shanti Bindu, S.H. Raza, 1996 (Below, Right)
In the second warp, the drafting order of one of the Almora patterns was selected from Avani’s repository. Lac and indigo dyed, 2/64 Nm Merino wool was used with thin silver zari stripes. In the weft, 60s Eri silk was used in similar or shades of the colour of Merino wool in the warp, for a muted and luxe appeal.
The complete Almora pattern was visible in a pointed twill, while a normal twill yielded a unidirectional, rippled look. The later trick was very useful in creating a contemporary, gradational, striped pattern, inspired by the colour mixing and layering of Raza’s brush-work.
Above, Left: Merino wool + Eri silk. For weft, Eri silk was dyed with rusted iron shavings for black, Kesuda flowers (Flame of the Forest) for orange, apart from Indigo + Lac for shades of violet.
Above, Right: The same sample was treated to fulling and calendaring for the sake of exploration of textures as well as to mitigate the slippage of yarns.
Above: Merino wool + Eri silk
Above, Left: Merino wool + Eri silk. For weft, Eri silk was used.
The pattern was chosen from the point of creating with it more subtle and tone on tone textures that could be revealed with the play of light on the fabric.
Above, Right: After fulling and calendaring, the Eri silk Almora pattern was embedded in the fabric as only a texture sans its distinct pattern.
The treated fabric had a muted lustre, and didn't exhibit slippage of yarns that was suitable for apparel fabrics.
