Thursday, April 12, 2007

Washed warp on the line

I washed the excess dye out of the warp chains this afternoon - many washings through hot water and Syntrapol.  Here is a photo of the warp drying on the line.  The colors have changed somewhat - the yellows are not true yellow, but are now shades of chartreuse to green.  This will be an interesting warp to weave - lots of gem tones.  Looking at the background  of grass and spring trees, it's easy to see a correlation with the warp colors.

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Monday, April 9, 2007

A good day for painting a warp

Since the forecast is for showers the next several days, I took advantage of the warmest day we've had in a week to paint a warp. I decided on a dusky blue to yellow colorway, which will give greens in the middle areas where the two colors meet. I have some photos posted below. The first is the plain white warp, wound into chains, and soaked in fixer, laid out on 12 yards of black plastic. On another day, I scoured these warp chains and line dried them, so they were ready and waiting for this sunny afternoon.

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The second photo shows the warp after I painted the colors on, with the third photo being a close up to show the colors as they appear on the warp. Bear in mind that this warp is sopping wet with dye and fixer.

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I have folded the black plastic over the warp chains and weighted it with boards. It will stay like that on the lawn for 48 hours, minimum, longer if it stays cloudy and rainy. The black plastic is good for soaking up solar rays.

After the warp has cured in the sun for several days, I'll wash the excess dye out with many baths in hot water and Synthropol, then line dry before heading to the loom. I'll try to post photos of the warp drying on the line. The difference in colors from today's product to the end product is pretty amazing sometimes. Each dye project is an experiment, and this part of the experiment requires patience. Patience!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Easter morning

For the third morning in a row, we had a killing frost. I had hostas up a foot, and a lot of trees were leafed out. Everything will come back out, but it is a little distressing to look at.

We built the raised bed, and built a wheelchair ramp on the front of the house and one on the back, too. Lots of work done by the Sister Crew. It was so much fun.

I got back to weaving this week. I worked off the small rug warp on the Hammett and have another wound, ready to put on. This will be the last warp for Pendleton rugs until next winter. I still have blue jean rugs to weave, and placemats and runners, too. I think I'll work on table items next.

I have two more tea towels on the Newcomb. I'm hoping to have a painted warp ready to go on it when the last tea towel comes off, but I haven't had pretty weather yet for dyeing the warp. It's all prepped, so that step is done. I've about made up my mind on my colorway, but will wait and see if that changes.

I saw an ancient loom last week. A 93 year old man has been weaving on it, and he got it used at an auction. It is handmade, from 4x4 walnut. It's a two harness, counterbalance, and it probably has a 6 ft. x 6 ft footprint. It has made a lot of rugs, evidenced by indentations worn into the back beam by so many yards of warp passing over it. And we're talking about walnut here. It stands true and square and the rugs he has woven are nice and straight.

It's good to see an old workhorse like this, still producing rugs. There are so many fancy looms, and even the basic looms are pretty pricey if you buy them new. This looms takes you right back to the essentials.