Week 9

This week, I plan to finish the projects I have left for spinning and work toward finishing my woven piece. I have decided to alternate between a burnt orange color, turquoise and a deep blue for my woven project. Unfortunately, I realized a bit too late that I should have put some of the time I had used on spinning the turquoise toward other projects since I now have an over abundance of turquoise yarn. I guess I'll use that information the next time I spin for a project.

Week 8

This week, my post is a step-by-step instruction on back to front warping that includes pictures. I was not able to get any shots of warping, so this post will focus on putting the warp onto the loom.

1. Securely attach the rattle to the castle of the loom
2. Find the cross in the warp and put the leash sticks through the cross, remove the tie holding the cross and make sure the leash sticks are at the front of the loom
3. Split the warp in half and proceed to slip each half onto the metal bar in the back attached to the warp beam
4. slip another metal bar in for added weight and wrap with string
5. make sure the reed is centered as well as rattle -- At this point you want to know how many dents per inch your reed has, the space between the pegs of your rattle, and how many epi (ends per inch) your project has - for this project I have 16 epi, am using an 8 dent reed and there is approximately 1/2" between each of my pegs. I will divide 16 by 8 to get how many strings per dent I use (2) and then I will divide 16 by 2 to get how many strings I put between the pegs of my rattle (8).
6. After dividing the strings between the pegs of the rattle, I secure it by wrapping string or rubber bands around the pegs. During this time, it is a good idea to secure the leash sticks to the castle and front beam so that they may slide, but not slip to the side. If you are doing this yourself, tie the warp to the front beam so that you may work with tension.
7. Next, you "clean & crank" - the idea is to make sure that the warp does not twist or stick to itself and after you have done that, crank it onto the warp beam. You can use your fingers, or a smooth stick to clean the warp.
8. Pull the leash sticks down to create a small shed as you 'clean' the warp.
9. Continue to release more of the warp until you have enough with which to thread and tie on to the cloth beam. Once you have cleaned the warp, transfer the cross to the back and secure the leash sticks.
10. Now, cut the end of the warp and split the heddle count for each harness between the two sides, counting out only one side. Thread from the outside in. (in this photo I've tied the threads into bundles of so that I may untie them and thread them with ease without worry of grabbing the wrong end)
11. This is a quick fix when I miscalculated how many ends I needed - I threaded it through the proper heddle and added it into the reed as a group of 3 on the end instead of 2.
12. After threading through the heddles, tie the beater into an upright, position so that you can thread the reed with ease. Start from the middle and work your way out.
13. After you have threaded the reed, tie the ends onto the metal bar, which is attached to the cloth beam.
14. Before you begin to weave, you need to spread the warp out a bit more evenly. Use a fat yarn and weave that through a few times. after it is sufficienctly spread, you hemstitch and begin to weave!

Week 7

This week has been all about the spinning. I have been spinning for my weaving project as well as the Sheep to Shawl event that occurs in September. Beyond that, there has just been the planning for my weaving project and measuring out the warp to be used. The next few weeks will consist of me weaving and spinning since I am pretty much finished with my reading. I will discuss what I have learned about the history of weaving and spinning in my week 8 post.

Week 6

This week has been about creating my project design and getting the materials prepared for it. I've finally dyed my first batch of fiber. It isn't perfect, but it isn't all that bad for a first try. I plan to try again with smaller amounts of fiber and less water so that one dye bath doesn't take as long. I may have to do more baths, but I will ultimately have more control and that seems to be an important thing to have while dyeing fiber.

Note: Now that I have completed dyeing my second amount of fiber, I find that it is still streaky. I believe it might be due to my hesitation of agitating the fiber. I'm afraid it will felt and that would be no fun. I plan to do my next batch some time soon so that I can test this idea and hopefully get a more uniform color. It is nice to have the ability to vary as well as the ability to prioduce a consistent color.

Week 4 & Week 5 posts

During week 4 I lost my internet connection so I am combining my activities from both weeks into one post.

In week 4, instead of having a lesson, I went to the Seattle Weavers' Guild monthly meeting to interact with one of the largest weavers' guilds in the US. The whole experience was wonderful! I was fortunate enough to be there for John marshall's presentation of Japanese weaving and dyeing techniques. I have taken many pictures, both of what he has made and what he has collected.

Here is a picture of the projects brought and presented by guild members:





These are a few closeups of his dye work/woven products:


















This is part of his personal collection:

velvet



gold paper that is shredded and woven in (with example)







A Japanese textile in the Chinese style

A salesman's box used to promote & support a type of silkworm





One of the design templates for cloth

Embroidery

Embroidery

Week 5 Post:

Tuesday was the big day for putting together my loom:



I need to redo the tie-ups and figure out which heddles I'd like to use since I have 4 different varieties of heddles on the harnesses. I also need to tweak a few more things, but otherwise things look pretty good. I should be able to start weaving my sample soon, which will include my handspuns (some designer, some that are more focused on how colors work together). I also received my camp stove for dyeing so that I won't dye my kitchen every color of the rainbow. The next few weeks will be very busy for me, but I've almost finished the books I set out to read and now have to do the physical parts of my contract. Thursday was a review on drop spindles, but I also learned how to use the navajo spindle I mentioned in my last post. I believe it will be most helpful when I spin my bulky yarns.
This week I will be finishing my thick and thin handspun as well as my laceweight yarn. I am not sure how I will be dyeing my thick and thin yet, but I know I will leave the laceweight natural. I will also be dyeing a lot of unspun fiber since that will give me more flexibility. After dyeing my fibers I will be doing granny stacks, wrapped yarn, bulky yarn, adding objects into the fiber, and yarn with eyelashes. Dependent on time, I may try a few other techniques, but for now these will be my main focus.

Third Week, Post II

This week was all about blending fibers and discussing different ways of dyeing fibers. One technique was to put fiber in glass quart jars and add different dyes to each, allowing you to produce a sample of different colors. Another technique is to 'paint' spun fiber in a pie pan by dripping different colors onto different portions of the yarn. My goal is to produce things that are colorful, clear and distinct. I've seen many examples of hand-dyed fiber that is muddy or muted by all of the colors blended into it.

As for the actual creation of blended fibers, I was able to take a picture of one of the batts we created. We used the odds and ends Lana had to create them and work the kinks out of my new drum carder.

In the way of spinning, I will be focusing on slubs. I don't happen to possess a jumbo flyer for my Ashford, but I am making due by feeding the slubs through the orifice and onto the bobbin. I haven't gotten a rythm down yet for incorporating them into a yarn so some of them are rather lumpy, which is not

Next week I will be working with Lana on Navajo spindles, which look like this:


They are on average 30"+ in length and are often spun while sitting on the floor. I have been told they are a great way to spin chunky yarn.

In other news, I attended the monthly Olympia Weavers Guild meeting and got to meet many local weavers. I will take part in the Sheep to Shawl project for the Puyallup Fair in September by spinning some of the wool to be used in the shawl. I'm very excited about being invited to participate in this event and hope to participate more in the Olympia Weavers Guild.