By Fiona Durman of Ashculme Textiles, Wagga Wagga

After a lovely morning walk on the beach I was keen to get back to the studio. With two looms already in action and plans for warp painting and more today I was itching to get started.

While I wove the shibori weave yesterday a design was forming in my mind, one that may take longer than I have time for, so I spent quite a lot of the morning working on that. It felt good to fall into the rhythm of weaving.

Today was also about dyeing, or more precisely, warp painting and ikat. So first up we gathered a varied selection of cottons and one linen and wound those into a warp. With some resists tied we then headed to the dye pots and mixed colours to paint onto the fibre. Using warm earthy colours, with rich deep shades, so different from the softer ones I tend to do at home, we massaged the colours into the warp and also into a skein for the weft. Needless to say I’m longing to get the warp on the loom and start the weaving.

Much of the afternoon was spent working on the double warp – concentrating on trying different techniques, tubular, one sided opening, central opening and swapping and mixing the colours. Tomorrow I will add Leno to it. I’ve never been someone who does swatches and test runs, so this is a great discipline for me, concentrating on techniques rather than the end product. But of course design will always work its way in and I think the end result will be acceptable.

After the concentration of double weave, the rail reed was a lovely way to unwind and spend an hour or two. The rail reed varies the warp threads, spreading them out or bringing them in close together. This creates endless possibilities of structure, shape and form, with open spaces inviting a pop of colour or a fine translucent thread. This is a style of weaving that takes patience, allowing the threads to move into their changing positions over the course of the weave, rather than expecting them to just jump from spot to spot. This is what I plan to master tomorrow – giving those warp threads the time they need to move as they choose

More to come