Fire at the Lake

I've started weaving the image from Una Walker based on a photo taken at Butt Lake Reservoir in Plumas County, California, during the Chips fire of 2012. According to Una, the fire burned over 75,000 acres from July 29th until it was contained on Aug 31st.

I sampled the image first with 2-shuttle weaves based on 8-end satins (red and white wefts). The image is composed of just red, white, and black, so I thought my favorite 2-shuttle weaves would do well enough. However, with 8-end satins, the red and white weft showed too much in the areas that were supposed to be deep black. The 8-end satins just didn't beat in closely enough for my taste - 60 ppi was as dense as I could get the weft to beat.

Back to the [Photoshop] drawing board, and a new set of 3-shuttle weaves based on 10-end satins. The three wefts are red, white, and black. I hoped the black weft would contribute to a blacker black, by covering the red and white a little better. The sample told me a lot - it beat in at 78 ppi, compared to 60, and although the white pick shows when I throw the shuttle and beat, the next pick is black, and it hides the white almost completely in the "black" areas when I beat it into place.

I'm hoping to enter this piece in the Firestorm exhibit sponsored by the Pikes Peak Weavers Guild of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The exhibit commemorates the horrible fire season of 2012. Gotta get busy, as the postmark deadline is April 8th!