Tencel painted warp

I’ve enjoyed taking close-up shots of my scarves on the loom lately. This one gives the impression of 3-dimensional hills and valleys. At least it does when it’s large, maybe not so much at a small size.

It’s the first scarf I wove on that hand painted tencel warp, and I used the weft I’d immersion-dyed for the warp a few weeks ago but decided not to use. It matched the darker blue of this warp very well. I liked it on the loom ok, but not so much in the finished scarf. Too dark for my tastes.

After that I had to cut and re-tie my warp. Not sure why I was having problems with it, but easier to do this than to fuss with it every pick for the rest of the length.

From my notes I knew I’d measured the warp to make 1 fringed scarf, 1 long cowl, and 1 short cowl. I knew I’d lose some length by the cutting and re-tying, so decided to do the short cowl next. Once I got this woven I’d simply use whatever length was left fo the long cowl. So I picked a commercially-dyed tencel that was almost exactly the same color as the medium blue in my warp and treadled for Ms and Ws.

I really like the way the colors play together in this piece, and find myself liking these short cowls. Yes, there are fewer options fo wear, but they are light and easy to toss on. Anyway, I do wish that the purple color had shown up again in the warp, but c’est la vie.

For the long cowl I picked a commercially-dyed red-violet that looked great when I held it next to each color in the warp. Interestingly, it turned almost burgundy as I wove it, using what I think of as my feathers treadling.

I’m happy with it, although I still like the colors best in the short cowl. We’ll see what my customers think at my next show...just a month away now.

July 26th, 2017 | 

RH to Mac

Earlier this month I blogged about some 10/2 tencel I had dyed and put on my rigid heddle loom for demonstration at a show.

After I took that photo of the 2 heddles threaded, I tied on to the front of the loom and did a few weaving experiments. I quickly learned that at a show was not the time to use the 2 heddles independently as too much thought was required. So I clamped them together to weave as 1, with double density of 22 ends per inch and off I set.

I started with 5 rows of Danish medallions. I’d never woven them before, but as usual, that didn’t stop me. The first motif got qui squished as I wound it on the front beam. Hmmmmmm, I wondered.

Then I simply wove plain weave. Because of the double density, it was actually more like basket weave, with 2 warp threads sid by side in each shed. I didn’t get much woven in the 3 days of the show because I was encouraging people to weave on the tapestry loom (more of that in an upcoming post), only about 10′′.

I hated it. It was clear to me that it would produce a sleazy fabric, one that would not stand up to regular use and that I would no be willing to sell.

So when I came home I put a set of lease sticks in the warp, unwound and unwove what I’d done, getting back to the beginning of the warp.

Then I untied, carried it over to the Macomber, and beamed it.

For the first scarf I used the pale blue I’d immersion dyed to match/coordinate. Although I only sett it at 24 ends per inch, the fabric was turning out fine. I can’t really explain this, I just accept it.

For the second scarf, which would be a cowl, I used a commercially dyed tencel. I really like the texture – actually the appearance of texture – in this shot.

This morning I fringed the scarf and sewed the cowl, subsequently washing, drying, and pressing them.

Although these colors are much lighter than my usual palette, I think they’re perfect for summer. So much so that I decided to use similar colors for my next project.

I measured out 4 bouts of 30/2 silk, 216 ends each, long enough for 2 shawls. I knew that this silk would need a really good scour, and it sure did; look how dirty the water was!

I mixed up some dyes, using some leftover blues from the scarf warp, went down to the basement at 5PM yesterday, and came back upstairs around 8 with my painting and clean up work complete. Look how much blue and green dye I had when I was don with the painting – NONE! Good thing I didn’t need more – although I could have come close with the greens as I’d measured that, I never could have matched the blues since I was using up leftovers.

After steaming, overnight batching, and rinsing, here is the dyed silk hanging on the line along with the tencel scarves. You’d think I’d planned that similarity or something! In reality, I’m not good enough to claim that – a happy accident.

Here’s what’s going on the loom today, from dyeing I did back in April. These are more my typical color values.

July 20th, 2017 | 

Lots of progress

Like anyone in business, I have to prioritize. What has the closest deadline? Do those things first. So here’s what I’ve accomplished since my last post...4 days ago. (You know that saying, if you want something done, give it to a busy person? Yep.)

Wash & dry a bunch of pillowcases and other fabric, then cut them into appropriate sizes, sew 31 bags, print and cut my bag tags, then thread the bags with ribbon and tie a bag tag on them. (no pix)
Do both the machine and hand sewing on those 8 bumberet towels, then wash and dry them. They still need the hard press, but that won’t take long. (no pix)

Thanks to my son, get the 2nd heddle kit installed on my rigid heddle loom.

Get the heddles and reed threaded, and the treadles tied up, for that custom baby wrap order.

Get a warp prepped, dyed, and threaded on that RH loom. This is a story in and of itself. Here’s another saying, this time a bit modified: If at first you don’t succeed, dye, dye again.

After measuring out a 10/2 tencel warp, I went down to my basement and hand painted it in cool blue and 2 greens, thinking the were perfect colors for summer at the lake, where my show will be next weekend.

I was happy with it. Until after it batched and was rinsed. The greens were ok, but the blue was WAY too pale. So after consultin with a great dyer I know, I laid the wet warp back out on the table, mixed some more concentrated dye with the soda ash so I could skip the pre-soak step, and painted over the blue. I also decided to eliminate the unpainted/white areas, since the colors were pale. Here it is in process.

Meanwhile, I wanted to dye the wefts to coordinate. So I measured out 2 small skeins, just under 2 ounces each, 1 for the weft for each scarf. I immersion dyed these wefts before I knew how the warp would turn out. Since the skeins were so small, the dishpans I usually use as vessels were too big to be practical. I searched around the house for smaller containers that I wouldn’ need again, and ended up at my neighbors, too. The end result? I was dyeing al Fresca. (Get it?)

After all the yarn was dry, I didn’t think the wefts were right for the warp, so I wound and dyed a third skein. Here’s how things proceeded...

I’m still not sure if I have the 2nd weft color yet, but won’t dye any more. I’ll have to use one of those colors or find something else in my stash.

Here’s what’s left to do by Wednesday evening:

Make a cake for my son’s birthday on Monday, and enjoy a family dinner tomorrow night;
Make something nice to bring to a dinner with friends on Tuesday to celebrate the 4th;
Tie on that RH warp so I can test out wefts and decide what to bring to the show;
Warp up my little tapestry loom, also to bring to the show, with a variety of yarns for people to do a bit of community weaving while I’m there – anything to bring people into my booth;

Hard press and label those towels;
Begin weaving that baby wrap – I made a time commitment to those women.

Think I can do it? I’m sure I can. It’s all about time management.

July 2nd, 2017 |