Thursday, July 11, 2013

Solving problems

Quite some time ago I wove a series of scarves in an orange/red and a harsh orange.  No one looked at them and they weren't my colour so I nonchalantly hit the dye pot.  This first one I overdyed with 'fire red' which made the red redder and softened the orange.


Then I figured blue over red gives purple and over orange I'd get a green but what sort I didn't know so it was with curiosity that I kept peering into the pot.  A successful outcome I think.
 The play study of 4 colour double weave continues.  I dressed the loom with a black and white merino wool warp; weft was emerald green and purple.  The black enriched the colour but white was a bit stark.


 Same warp and different treadling, this time the weft is quarry and silver grey.
 You can see from the close up that the white has killed the silver.  Two medium colours would have been better.  Nonetheless they are both super wraps and very wearable.
 Blanket production continues and, among others I've done recently, this is wet warp straight from the dye pot in paua colours.
 The next warp I've put on the dobby loom for another run of 4 colour double weave is 2/20 cotton in charcoal and silver.  The charcoal is mercerised but the silver isn't and as soon as I started rolling the warp onto the back beam (front to back) I was in strife with the silver fluffing and attaching itself to its neighbours.  B..ger I thought and went for a walk to the beach.  While strolling along I recalled a blog post from Daryl Lancaster where she separates layers of her warp with cords while winding it on.  I thought it was worth trying even though I get a basket weave shed with echo threading.  It worked; I went slowly but no tangles or broken threads.  I really thought I was going to have to bin this one.

side view
Isn't the internet wonderful.  You never know when posting information about one thing will help with another problem.
I did include an extra half metre of warp for sampling and tried many different combinations of weft.  All but one is successful and now I can't decide which ones to weave.  More next time.

3 comments:

  1. You have been busy there! Lovely over-dye results. You must be very pleased.

    The four colour double weave is simply stunning; particularly the quarry and silver grey!

    I sure wish you and I lived closer....
    :) Susan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Susan, It would be wonderful to have a fellow weaver near by to bounce ideas off but on the other hand I'm more creative if left to my own devices.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unbelievable work! The double weave experiments are so dramatic. I agree that the internet is a dream - especially for us lone weavers. All the tips and suggestions I got before teaching at NEWS really made a positive difference in how I approached the class.

    ReplyDelete