My ikat dyeing on this piece is working out great. See the little white stripes on the central warp- they are staying together much better than previously without shifting too severely. I know that a slight shifting of the threads is an inevitable and desirable feature of ikat but if they go too far off the patterning dissolves completely.

I put this success down to much better warping on my part and because it is a very narrow warp, the warping process was easier. This is the same warp that I painted in Loving that Dyeing post…so it changes colours beautifully as I weave. I guess you are wondering about the reasoning for this textile…we it is sort of under wraps and you’ll see soon. I hate keeping secrets especially about presents which is akin to this. Keep posted!

Thanks for your comments about this blog previously. It’s so encouraging to keep at it. I used to think that getting a blog up and running was pretty straight forward especially at blogger or maybe wordpress servers with that push button approach but no. Even the push button approach in its efforts to make things easier for us are actually becoming more like software that you never really understand completely. It feels daunting and only the bravest in the land  web would attempt it.

Amanda is a new blogger who has done a fabulous job even on her first post. Straight into luscious weaving and interesting technique. Find her at http://sampling-sampling.blogspot.com/

My first blog entry was much more tentative. Here it is with a reference to my blog mother. The one who triggers ‘I think I’ll have a go’…. and the blog is born. There was no photo, just a nervous “hello world”.

Thursday, November 25, 2004
New Commission & New blog

I am designing a woven commission for a ‘celebration’ cloth as a wedding present. I decided to use silk as it weaves up with such luscious handle and drape.
This is also my first attempt at the blog! I have returned again and again to Sarah Bradberry’s site at www.knitting-and.com and have enjoyed it so much that I thought I’d have a go myself.

Pretty interesting! Well no, but then I don’t really think that’s the point of blogging although it is a definite plus for readers. For ourselves as craftspeople and artists it’s a public web diary of our work and thoughts with the potential for extending our community with others.

I’m in the process of changing my web furniture around so you may ‘trip’ over some things at the moment! Hopefully it will all look better soon.

There has been a great dye workshop at the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers which has inspired me to revisit my dyebooks. I use fibre reactive dyes with both cellulose and protein fibres and I went through a period of trying to control my dye colours. The compilation of this dye book actually taught me about each of the dye colours I use and how much will produce the various depths of shading. Each little skein of 2/20 mercerized cotton weighed one gram. By applying different amounts of dye solution I was able to record the results. For the pale colours I had to use a syringe to measure accurately enough.

After doing all of this dyeing I now find I have a better ‘feel’ for the dye colours rather than getting down to exactness.

The raddle is such a valuable weaving tool.

It helps to organise the warp so it can be wound on evenly. This colourful warp slid through pretty well and I find that narrow warps are much easier to beam by myself than wider ones.

I’d really like to have another person help me each time I warp but that just doesn’t happen. Firstly who has that much patience except the weaver herself. I have to order the other around because I’m in charge of the warp and who takes kindly to that. Secondly another human just isn’t always around when you need them. In the loneliness of warping I dream of helpers. I keep thinking of ingenious new ideas to streamline the operation for next time. Adding a piece of wood here and there or tieing this or that into another position. But somehow each warp seems to have different challenges and it seems like a new adventure every time.

Bonnie takes raddling a step further and uses it as a design tool.

Serendipitously, Cally has also written about raddling recently – it must be the time of year. She has actually trained her husband as a warping helper. What an inspiration.

My 8 shaft floor loom is on the move again. This time with a ribbed weave. Five scarves of warp painted 2/20 mercerised cotton with a 2/60 silk weft.

I seem to be unwinding alot of skeins lately ready for the warping process. But I’ve developed some smart ideas! When I use an immersion dye method on any skeins they are so ‘tangly’ to unwind. So I am now weaving with the yarn undyed then cross dyeing after I have finished the weaving. To maintain the clarity of the warp painting the undyed yarn must be one type of fibre and the painted yarn another type.Silk can be dyed with a fibre reactive for protein fibres which won’t affect the cotton warp.

There’s alot of room for experimentation with cross dyeing, and I think it can be more productive for a small weaving studio operation as winding and unwinding skeins takes up so much time.

Also, The Thread Project site has posted up a photo of the 49 cloths in St Pauls Chapel for the 9/11 memorial. They look spectacular hanging from the balconies. This rewarding project is also documented by webcast on the St Pauls site. Click on Thread Project to see an overview of the project by Terry Helwig.

Here are the photos of the watermark fabric which was originally green and blue but now overdyed to create a more subtle cloth. I’m pleased with this cloth.. Being a silk it drapes beautifully.

I always have a bit of trouble with silk. After dyeing with Fibre Reactive dyes (Drimerene K) it looses its handle and becomes hard. I’ve tried boiling it in soapy water to get rid of any residue before dyeing but its not alot better. I then read that the stiff feel after weaving silk is normal and a few minutes in a warm dyer or lots of handling will soften it up. This worked and the silk fabric now has a soft, silky feel.

I’m now busily dyeing up my next three projects which will produce 15 scarves and stoles with various techniques. Two different types of woven shibori combined with pre-painted warps and a ridged warp-wise fabric. I’m also keen to use cross-dyeing and over-dyeing again as it produces such exquisite results.I’m using a bit of tencil again to see how it shapes up in the designs. In one of the warps I used a blue rayon yarn every 4th warp. This should bring another dimension to the dyeing and look of the textile.

Also check out Becky’s Vavstuga for mini video tutorials on weaving. They are very effective and informative way of presenting weaving techniques.