Script for
Episode 132:
Working With Value
Most spinners either love barber-poling in their yarns or hate it. Whichever kind of spinner you are, you can learn to predict and control barber-poling if you understand what it is and why it happens. And you will, by the end of this episode.
Hello there, darling Sheepspotter! Welcome to Episode 132 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love. In today's episode, we look at another facet of color--value--and the effects it will produce in your handspun yarns and the cloth that you make from them. I also have an important announcement at the end of this episode, so be sure to hang around until the end for that. Otherwise you're going to be very confused next week.
There are three aspects of color: hue, which we talked about last week, is the color's "address" on the color wheel; saturation, which is the relative brightness or dullness of a color, and which can be changed by mixing it with white, gray, black, or its complement; and value, which is the relative lightness or darkness of a color when it is compared to a 10 part gray scale, where 1 is white and 10 is black.
In order to determine the value of a particular color, you need a value scale; you can find zillions of examples on the internet or you can buy one at an art supply store. Place your scale on top of the color, hold them at arm's length, and squint at them. The gray that is most similar (i.e. contrasts the least with) to the color you're working with is the value of that color.
But even if you don't go to the trouble of determining the value of every color in your yarn, there are ways to work with value that are less exacting but still useful to us as spinners.
Why value matters
In her book, Color Works, Deb Menz introduces the chapter on value this way:
This may be the single most important chapter in the book. The value relationship is the first aspect of a piece that a viewer will perceive from a distance. The actual colors are not obvious until the viewer gets much closer. The range of values used in any design will evoke some emotional response. If you use values that are not consistent with your intentions, the colors chosen will not be pleasing to you, but when you learn to see the relative values of colors, you can choose colors that are consistent with your intentions.
When we are creating and working with our yarn, we're in close proximity to it. But most people will see your work from further away, and in that situation, the values that are present will be the first thing they see.
Cool hues, on the blue side of the color wheel, fall higher on the value scale (i.e. are darker) that warm colors, those on the orange side of the color wheel. Yellow is the lightest, which is why it often dominates a color combination even when it's used sparingly.
Know your major and minor keys
Ranges of values are often described in color theory as major or minor keys, by analogy with music. When a yarn or piece of art is in a major key, that means that the values of the colors in it range all the way from the top to the bottom of the value scale, from very light to very dark. When it's in a minor key, it means that all the values of the colors fall into a narrow part of the color scale. So a yarn in a major key would have a wide range of values and one in a minor key would have colors that are all similar in value.
We can further break down the major minor keys as follows:
High major key: uses the full range of values, but the lightest values predominate
Middle major key: uses the full range of values, but most of the colors are in the middle of the value scale
Low major key: uses the full range of values, but most of the colors are at the low or dark end of the value scale.
Similarly, there are different minor keys:
High minor key: uses colors from the lightest third of the value scale (think pastels)
Middle minor key: uses color from the middle third of the value scale
Low minor key: uses color from the darkest third of the value scale
That's great, Sasha, but what does any of this have to do with barber-poling
Barber-poling is produced by strong value contrasts, so color combinations in the major keys will be most likely to barber-pole. The high and low major keys are particularly prone. So whether you love this effect or hate it, it's worth taking a moment, when combining colors in a yarn, to think about the values present (or, in other words, to name the key).
Different keys produce different effects in the viewer. The major keys are bolder; minor keys quieter. And we have strong associations with some keys: the high minor key (all light colors) is often used in products for newborns and infants. The low minor key (all dark colors) feels heavy and somber.
As with any other aspect of color, the first step to being able to use value intentionally in your spinning is to first notice it. And if the language of "keys" feels overwhelming, just start by making it a practice, when encountering color schemes, to recognize the range of values present and to identify which values predominate in the combination. When you get started with this, it can help to take a black and white picture of the scheme in question. When working with multicolored braids, this quick assessment will tell you a lot about what you can expect in the yarn. Blending colors, say in a batt, is another great opportunity to think about and experiment with value.
In this episode we've defined value (the relative lightness or darkness of a color in relation to a 10 step scale from white to black), we've talked about why it matters (it's the first thing we see when looking at something from a distance), we've talked about major and minor keys, we've related all this to the phenomenon, in handspun yarns, of barber-poling, and I've suggested two ways to start to notice value in your own work if that's not yet part of your spinning practice.
There's a dedicated discussion thread in The Flock where you can comment on this episode and discuss it with me and other listeners. This week we're going to try something a little bit different in that thread. We're going to post pictures of a few colorways from a truly brilliant colorist, Mary Ann Pagano of Three Waters Farms, in the thread. The colorways are in different keys; they are also all, as of this writing, available on Mary Ann's Etsy store, just in case you fall in love with them! So if you'd like to give yourself a little quiz on values and keys, head to the thread, have a look, and identify the key of each of the colorways in a comment. Let it never be said that this isn't a full-service podcast! As always. the link is in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right inside your podcast app. Just open up the description for this episode, click the link, and you'll be taken right to the thread.
Darling Sheepspotter, that's it for me this week. Thank you so much for listening. I will be taking a break from creating new episodes during December and the first couple of weeks in January. When you start a podcast, everyone tells you that consistency is everything; you must adhere to your schedule no matter what, terrible things will happen if you don't. And I'm proud of the fact that, with the exceptions of a few episodes that were posted on Monday rather than Friday, I've been able to do that this year. But the fact is that a) I need some time to catch up and work on some other projects and b) I want to normalize taking breaks when we need to.
So, all that said, I will be taking a break from the podcast from now until January 17.
However, do not despair; we will continue to post episodes during this time; we will be airing some selected snippets--let's call them flashbacks--from my very first podcast, SpinDoctor in place of our regular episodes. I made SpinDoctor on and off from 2010-2014. It was a very different kind of show than this one, and I thought it would be fun to share some of it with you. So over the next six weeks, you'll hear about my trips to Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2011 and Rhinebeck in 2010, when I was still a baby spinner. I'm also including interviews with Deb Menz, author of Color in Spinning; Beth Smith, author of The Spinner's Book of Fleece; Deb Robson, author of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook; and a particularly hilarious episode I did with Jillian Moreno when we were rooming together at the Madrona Winter Fiber Arts Retreat in 2012, before either of us were spinning teachers.
I really hope that you enjoy this little trip down memory lane. While you wait for the first flashback episode, take some time out from the holiday madness and spin something! I am certain that it will do you good.