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I set out to see if I could use the freedom that comes with having many shafts to make a picture. I chose trees in three basic shapes- pyramidal, vase, and round. If I wove the images all facing the same way, it would be lopsided when worn as a scarf. I fixed this by alternating them flipped over and reversed. This had the added benefit of a having the front and back look the same.
Techniques:
Handweaving, hand dyeing, hand twisted fringe. Deflected Doubleweave
Dimensions:
9″x76″ including fringe
Materials:
20/2 silk: both spun and noil
Loom:
AVL K Series 32 shaft loom. 30 shafts used
Muffy Young
Muffy Young is an award-winning professional weaver who sells her scarves and shawls at juried shows and small galleries. Self taught as a weaver, she was originally inspired by textiles and landscapes when traveling in South America at age 16. She continues to be influenced by the colors and design elements of Peruvian and Guatemalan cloth, and also draws inspiration from textiles and natural landscapes of Central Asia and Africa.
In college, Muffy took a double major in math and physics. While working on an advanced degree in mathematics, she took a couples of classes in hand weaving at a local shop in New York City. Initially, she was interested in knowing how looms worked. When she finished the classes, she was determined to pursue a different path than the one she was being led to in math and sciences. The rest of her weaving education was from workshops and books. Then, as now, the deep well of her inspiration comes from what is possible on a multi-harness loom with hand-dyed yarn. Her 24 and 32 harness looms allow her to be creative in terms of scale, texture and motif. Hand dying her silk yarns gives her complete control over the color palette. On a practical level, hand-dying keeps the yarn stash contained.
Like all complex weavers, Muffy is always asking: “What will happen if I try this?” She likes to try new things and she likes to combine patterns, and one design leads to the next. She repeats designs for the many audiences she shows to, but she’s always adding new work. She feels there will always be something new to explore in this wonderful art-form. Her designs evolve over time and she always tries to tell a clear story in them. Since the pandemic, she has used her hand-dyed silks to weave tapestries. This is an exciting new way for her to express her love of pattern and landscape. In her scarves and shawls, her passion is to create pieces that are truly “wearable art:” beautiful to view and touch, and comfortably luxurious to wear. With tapestries, she can make something beautiful and interesting, something to look at and contemplate.
Muffy has won numerous awards, including 3 Awards of Excellence from the American Craft Council, Best in Fashion at Smithsonian Craft2Wear, and Best Use of Silk from Complex Weavers. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Racine Art Museum. She lives and works in Waltham Massachusetts.
