It has been a colorful couple of weeks. I warped up another Structo, this time with a summer/winter motif, that can explore the many ways to manipulate the tie-down threads to create different looks. I just did the first one, in brick formation, and this just made me smile, in the bleak mid winter days of February. I love the black background.
Over the weekend, I taught a two day remote class, actually it was one day, spread over two afternoons, with a group in California. I just marvel that I can wake up in NJ, do my usual morning routine, work a bit in the studio, flip on the computer and guide a dozen women 3000 miles away through a project. They were an enthusiastic group, and had some wonderful scraps, leftovers and workshop samples to play with. And one woman described how much the project made her smile when she remembered each bit of fabric, handwoven or otherwise, and the story behind it. I think I should call these memory mats. Anyway, here is a sampling. Photos are still rolling in!
If your guild is interested in this workshop, here is a link to the prospectus.
The Magic Puzzle Company, which inspired a fabric I wove this time last year, in spite of a broken shoulder, issued three more puzzles in the series. We dove into the first one, and I grabbed the poster and ran off to the studio with it. The colors were glorious, and perfect for the grey days of winter, and I knew I was jumping into the deep end on the next project.
I pulled as much yarn as I could fit on the counter, almost all of it is hand-dyed, except for a couple of commercial coned yarn fill ins and some extreme novelties, which I toss in here and there.
I used the draft from the puzzle fabric I did last year, converting it from 12 shafts to 8, because the floor loom I want to put it on is the only one that’s free. My daughter commandeered the 12 shaft loom! Because I’m using so many different weights of yarn and so many different structures, all requiring different setts, I carefully printed out the threading sequence, added yarn samples, and outlined a custom sett, which was important to know how many inches this baby would take up, since the loom was only 25″ wide. The number of ends is misleading, and the sett is an average of about 27epi, but it depends…
And then I started winding. I did five different 8 yard chains, each with about 5″ worth of warp.
And here they are all together waiting to be sleyed through the reed.
I had just the best time this week, carefully working from the skeins directly to the warping board, taping the ends to the mill frame instead of knotting, less waste and quicker, as I changed warp ends, sometimes every thread. Though I had a plan, often I deviated a bit with the color or blend of colors, throwing in a novelty here and there. It is the most creative I get in the weaving process and it is so much fun to see it all come together. I can’t wait to get this sleyed, threaded and beamed, and try the first couple of inches. I can’t imagine I’ll hate it, there is just too much fun color, but you never know…
So stay tuned to see how this goes…
Daryl, bless you for sharing this brilliant, happy blast of color. Ohio is known for its thousand shades of gray, and this was such a joyful pick-me-up!!! Thank you!!!!
Gorgeous! Thanks for the post! In my next life, I‘m going to be a weaver! ??????
Oops! Don‘t know how those question marks sneaked in my comment. No questions at all!
You are so incredibly creative and so inspiring. I loved how you did a sett chart with the yarns attached. Definitely something I want to do in the future. Thank you for taking the time to write your blogs. You continue to inspire and amaze.
Hmm. I am curious about the taping of the warp ends onto the warping mill. How do you keep those ends in their place in the warp chain when you take the chain off the mill?
INCREDIBLE!!! That’s all I have to say.
I love the idea of combining a while lot of different textures and threads in the warp. Is there a problem with tension or shrinkage differing across the warp?
Do you do classes on how you do your drafts with different structures etc.?
I love the photos of the scrap class you shared, especially the placemats!! I’m going to talk to Toni to see if we can sign up for this!
Rose, I documented this technique of combining structures pretty well in an extensive article in Heddlecraft Magazine, titled, Combining Structures for Wow fabrics. It is issue #38 https://heddlecraft.com/single-issues.html. You can purchase individual downloaded issues for something like $4.50. The scrap class is one I do for guilds. Ask your guild to host one! It is one day, or as in the guild that just hosted it, spread over two afternoons, with time to work after the first session.
Love it! Great antidote for a week when every time I approached my loom a warp thread broke on the simplest project ever! My loom telling me that “no, the your kitchen isn’t finished — go paint. Come back to me later and do your asymmetrical weird stuff!”.
Curious what fiber/color you will use for weft. And as someone who loves adding textured yarns I’m wondering how that yarn in the fourth warping mill picture will fit through your heddles and reed. One time I made replacement heddles with larger eyes for my thicker textured yarn. What do you do?
Totally amazing!