Tuesday Tip - Sectional Warping

It can be quite confusing to keep track of how many yards are on your sectional warp. I have solved this problem with coins. To start I determine how long the warp is. I usually work in 5 yard increments (I usually put 25, 35 or 50 yard warps on). I divide this by 5 and get that many nickels (5, 7 or 10 for above example) and 4 pennies. For every 5 yards I wind I place one of the nickels in a pile - when they are all gone I am done! If I am interupted mid wind I place that many pennies in the pile before answering the phone or whatever. I have gone back hours later and I always know where I am! One other trick I do is count to 5 (yds) out loud - helps to hear it, too.

Just my way of keeping track. Hope it helps you.

More Loom Shibori....Or the sister is off the loom

Putting a special warp on the loom is always an exciting experience. I like to make at least 2 items per warp and showed the first half of this warp in an earlier post:

Handwoven Loom Controlled Shibori

This week I finished weaving the last 5 yards which I lovingly call 'her sister'. Right now, she is destined to become another shorter kimono. This time I went a bit color crazy with the middle section and most every color is well represented. I enjoy going from the somewhat quiet and contemplative project to one that is more vibrant. To make it even more exciting and I decided to vary the spacing between pull cords : I would throw 6, 9 or 12 shots in between merely depending on my mood. I suspect that after pulling, painting and discharging the shibori 'flames' will look pretty much the same to most people. But, it made for more interesting weaving and reminded me how much I enjoy weaving painted warp with black weft. Perhaps I will follow up by painting the entire warp, not just the middle.

Handwoven Loom Controlled Shibori

Sometimes a customer likes my work, but wants something different. I welcome these challenges - although at times they seem daunting. A customer saw my new silk kimono's and really liked them, but as a petite she needed a different size. She also wanted it to be long and mainly black. Here is the one she tried on :

This one was done entirely with Procion dyes, but the only way to really get a good black on silk is with Acid dyes. So, that is why I decided to use Lanset dyes for the middle warp painted section. I wrote about this last week:
http://artweardesign.blogspot.com/2009/04/warp-painting-with-lanaset-dyes-in-10.html
From there I warped the loom as normal. I had 10" of hand dyed black, 10" warp painted, and 14" of hand dyed black (the extra 4" was to create a band to go on the front center). I used a monks belt threading. After every 12 shots of plain weave in a hand dyed black silk weft I raised either shafts 1-2 or 3-4 and put in a 'junk' weft.

After weaving 5 yards I cut it off the loom and pulled the junk weft tightly and tied it off. The warp (a silk noil from Treenway silks) compressed from 34" on the loom to 4" pulled tightly. In the original kimono, I used thickened dye to 'paint' the top of the compressed fabric - each side got a different color. Because I used dye both colors showed on the fabric. But, using the black any dye I used would be totally lost. Therefore, I decided to use paint and discharge techniques. I lightly painted one side with red fabric paint. The other side I used discharge paste which I steamed. This proved a wee bit trickier than I thought. Naturally, the sample was perfect-but I don't have a professional steamer and the fabric took up most of my steam pot. The paste was quite stubborn in removing the dye. After the first try- with minor success- I repainted the discharge paste on half of the cloth and steamed that. Then I did the other half. This proved to work a bit better. If I were to do more of this, though I definitely would need a bigger steamer.



I never put just one project on the loom - so there is another 5 yards waiting to be woven off. It is also black, warp painted and black. I haven't decided what I want to do with the shibori bits yet, though. I just got some shimmer paints from Pro Chem that I am itching to try, so some of them might just sneak into the next piece.



This technique was created by Catherine Ellis and she graciously shared her ideas with us in a book: Woven Shibori. If you are interested in this technique, I highly suggest adding this book to your collection. I, personally, am looking forward to exploring other ideas on my new (to me) 8 harness loom!

Warp Painting with Lanaset Dyes in 10 Easy Steps!

First I want to say: OBSERVE ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS - ie. no eating or drinking, use a mask to make the dyes, wear old clothes and rubber gloves.....

1. Wind your warp as usual. Mark every inch or so of the warp (depending on the design you are trying to achieve). I like to use tyvek squares marked with numbers tied to one end of the warp

2. Wash your warp using a drop of synthrapol - make sure you have protected the warp with plenty of ties

3. Make your soak bucket. I add 105 g citric acid to 4L (1 gallon) of water. I prefer citric acid to vinegar because of the smell (citric acid has none)

4. Put your warp in the soak bucket for at least 1/2 hour.

5. Mix your dyes - I like to use 5g/250ml water- that is I mix 5 grams of dye in 250 milliliters of water.

6. Lay out some plastic wrap on your table. Have your soak bucket at one end. Pull your warp out and lay it on the plastic wrap in order.

7. NOW THE FUN PART! Using a paint brush ( I like the foam ones) - paint your warp . I like to let serendipity take over at this point. The most important thing to do is make sure the underside warp is painted also - you may have to flip it over and check. You may also have to mop up any excess dye - I like to use cloth that I can process later to create something beautiful instead of paper towels.

8. As you continue to paint lay more plastic wrap on top of your warp - either a new layer or fold the sides in on top - the important thing is to keep the warp moist at this point. Roll it up as you go and pull out new warp to paint until you are done.

9. I let the entire bundle rest for about 1/2 hr or so - it can rest longer, but that is the minimum.

10.Then I place it in a steam basket and put into a pot of water- making sure it never touches the water and steam for 30 minutes. I let it rest again until it reaches room temp (this is the tough time to wait and see) and ***NOW FOR THE MAGIC *** unwrap - it's like a birthday present every time!