Snow queen is a ring sling piece woven on a Tenderness white cotton warp that was prepared for the Czech and Slovakian Competition of weavers 2019.
It’s creation has not been precisely planned. It was organic. An idea lead to another idea and they were slowly woven into a reality.
First I decided to keep the white and complement it with natural merino wool I had kept in my yarn stash becouse I want to respect the season and the weather outside.
The pattern I created for the wrap seen from the side reminds of the clouds and a snow falling from them. The other edge of the warp resembles the soil it falls on and can also symbolize the ups and downs of a long journey. I decided to emphasise th movement and feel of a snowstorm by adding inlays in contrasting wider bamboo-cotton blend yarn.
This stronger yarn is inserted also along the warp to symbolize Gerda’s journey because the heavy snowstorm on the cloth soon remindedme of the tale of Snow queen and Gerda’s struggle to find and save her friend. She’s traveling by herself and trying to find him and even almost loses hope and memory of him but the nature, specificly th eflouwers, do remind her of her purpose nad she manages to rescue him. That’s why the warp inlays also end when the final scene opens.
In the snowstorm there are three imagesof Gerda painted with inlays on a plain weave sectiones that replaced the huck lace so that the can be seen better. It was necessary to change the pattern twice in the middle of one shead to accomplish it.
I encountered a struggleat the part where the inlays paintitng caused too much friction on the edges mostly becouse I did beat after inserting every part of the painting. It was up to seven beats in one shed. Furtunately the yarn did not break and I was paying much more attention to it afterwards and used a comb to secure the inlays into their place before beating for the second and final time. I managed to almost traighten this part afterI took it off the loom in th emending rpocess but it’s a bit bumpier then the rest of the selvedges. So if you want to try it too,I suggest you pay attention as well.
There are four images at the cloth. The first three of them are white, winterish. Thea are oriented to the sides, becouse they will be atthe part of the ring sling that goes horizontally. The fourth one that represents the meeting begins after the rrengs nad is oriented vertically. The rings of the ringsling will represent the transition from Gerda’s journey to the finale.
First image shows Gerda at the begining of her journey. Determined. Strong.
Secondpictire is after awhile when she gets tired and the world seems bigger nad bigger.
The last winter image shows cuddled and leaning ageanst a trunk of a tree in the middle of forest. But she did not give up anyway and the love she had for her friend kept her going.
And that’s the reason the story end with a happy ending and defeating the Winter. It is represented by melting of the snow. Idecided to slowly transition the pattern from huck lace to a plain weave that represent clean air and freedom.
