Thursday, May 29, 2014

Wedding problems

Having completed the third block of feathers I have just thought of a solution to a problem I can see which I should have done before I started feathers.
Taniko often ends up wider than the body of the korowai. Mostly I do the taniko at the top where I can drop whenu (warp strings) and pick them up for turning. They are hidden by the mawhitiwhiti pattern on the back. However with the taniko on the bottom I hadn't given much thought to this problem. And to make matters worse I chose to do mawhitiwhiti in the body as well drawing in the sides even more. I can see now if I had added some whenu on the first row after the taniko hiding the addition under the feathers there wouldn't have been such a problem. Must remember this for next time I do a wide taniko on the bottom of a korowai. 
As it is I may be able to tighten up the cast on row a bit by running a 'gathering' thread along. It's not too bad but I notice it and it annoys me when I could have fixed it earlier. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi Robin, I've just been going back and looking at your korowai with awe . . . I have just finished my first whatu tauri so I really appreciate the effort you put into your work. I especially loved the korowai with the blue and white taaniko across it. Would you mind telling me what you used for your whenu?

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    1. Thank you for your kind comments Wendy. The whenu string is some mop string from ICB Cleaning Supplies in Auckland. They have a web site but you need to ring them. Browns brushes also sell fine mop string but again ring them as it isn't featured on its website. Both companies are in Auckland.

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