Hand painting a ruana: Don't get cocky!

My latest project on the loom is a warp painted ruana. It is going to be gorgeous! But it has been a struggle, mostly because I got cocky and missed little details.

So, it started well. I sat down with my client, and we batted around ideas and picked colors. I usually do my warp painting with about 4-5 colors of dye, but she picked out 10 colors. We figured out how to put them together, and off we went.

When I had the dye and the yarn, the measuring began.

And then, the dyeing. Here was snag number one. I usually dye with foam brushes, but I forgot that I only had enough for 6 colors of dye. And I was working with 10 colors this time. And I started dyeing after stores closed. So, I shrugged and got eye droppers, which I had plenty of. Annnnnd dyeing took a bit over 8 hours, non-stop. Eye droppers are NOT the way to go. Lesson learned. It turned out, but that was quite the marathon.

Also, see the strips of cut up plastic bag that I tied on the ends of the warp chains in that middle picture? I use a permanent marker to write numbers on them, so I can keep track of the order of the warp chains. That helps me get them back onto the loom in the same order that I dyed them in. Lesson two: use Sharpie, not the knock off brand even if it is near to hand. Because the knock off brand washes off in the rinsing process, and then you have a puzzle to solve when you take the chains to the loom!

Lesson number 3: It is quite ok to use your top loading washing machine to soak your warp chains when you are rinsing them, to get the excess dye out. But for the love of God, do NOT turn your back and let it flip over to agitate mode. Luckily, I had put the chains in lingerie bags, so it wasn't a total disaster. But I had some serious untangling to do to separate things back out.

Lesson number 4: Double check which reed you have on the loom before you start sleying it. I got halfway done, and realized I had the wrong one in. I had to take the old reed out and lay it across my lap, then one by one transfer the threads into the new reed. Again, nothing I couldn't recover from, but a pain in the neck! And it would have been an easy catch if I had looked before I started.

Thank goodness for the warping trapeze! It took some patient work to straighten out the tangles from my previous goofs as I beamed the warp on, but I did eventually get everything on the loom under even tension.

From there on out, things have been much easier. I've got enough warp on here for three garments. I'm using black cotton for the first weft choice, purple cotton for the second, and I'm currently weaving black tencel for the third.

So, all's well that ends well? This is turning out beautifully. But boy, have I said a few words along the way!!

Tutorial: Warping the medieval box loom

Several years ago, I bought a medieval style box loom at Estrella War, a local event for the historical recreation group that I was active in at the time. I've since moved on to other activities, and the loom has been sitting unused. Poor little thing! But I found someone who is still active in the historical community, and I'll be passing the loom on to her this week. In preparation for that, I warped up the loom one more time, and took pictures of the process so she could see how I did it. That should give her a starting point for her own explorations.

So... Usually I use a warping board or mill to measure out my warp, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have one of those. So I fell back on the old school method of setting up wood clamps to give me three uprights. I put two down at one end of the table to make my figure 8 cross around, and one down at the other end to measure out the length.

 I'm using cotton crochet thread here. Start by tying on to the outside of the two clamps.

 Bring your yarn around one side of the next clamp, to start your figure 8.

 Bring your thread down to the far end, and around that upright.

  Come back up to the two clamps (Without crossing your thread between the figure 8 clamps and the far end, like I did here. I flipped it around after the picture.), and make the other arm of your figure 8. This gives you your cross, which will keep the threads in order for you.

 When you want to change colors, simply cut your working thread and tie on a new one.

When you are done measuring out your warp, tie your last thread off to the upright.

 Now, take 5 lengths of thread and tie bows around the threading cross. One on each arm of the figure 8, and one through the openings of the 8 right around the intersection. This will keep the cross intact until you are ready to use it.

 If your warp is long, I also recommend tying a choke tie around the length of the warp, every few feet. This will keep things from tangling.

 Ok, go down to the far end away from the cross, and lift your warp off of the upright.

 From that far end, chain your warp up. Again, this will keep things from tangling.

 Reach your hand through the loop, and grab the warp and pull it through, making another loop. Keep doing this. It is kind of like crochet.

Now you have your warp, and it is time to thread the rigid heddle. I use some binder clips to make a stand for the heddle.

 Take your threading cross in your hand like so. Your fingers are going to hold that cross for you.

 Remove the black ties, and snip open the beginning loop.

 You can fold your bottom two fingers down to keep things stable.

 Now, you can pick your threads up one by one, in the order that you warped them up.

 I made a threading hook of bent wire, and use that to pull the first thread through the hole.

 The next thread goes in the slot next to that hole.

 Repeat, hole then slot then hole then slot then....Then check your work and make sure that you didn't skip any like I did. If you do, move them over into the right spot one by one.

 When your heddle is threaded, it will look something like this.

 Now, tie the cut ends around the apron rod at one end of the loom.

 Bring your warp up and over the back beam, and down to the front end of the loom.

 Release the brake on the back beam, so it will turn.

 Hold onto the warp at the front end of the loom, to give it tension during the warping process. (I turned the loom around for working. The front of the loom is on the left in the picture now. No big deal, I just didn't want to confuse you.)

 Move your heddle down to the back end of the loom, so the warp will spread evenly as you wind it on.

 Wind your warp onto the back beam. Insert strips of paper as you go along, to prevent the threads from burrowing down into the previous layers as you go along. If they do, they will end up different lengths, and will give you tension problems as you weave. Try to keep your warp centered as you wind on, so the threads don't slip off the sides of the paper. (Oops. I did that one too.)

 When the warp is all wound on, snip the end loop and tie on to the front apron rod, up and over the front beam.

 Re-engage the brakes, and wind enough to put tension on the threads.

 Now you're ready to weave! You create the weaving sheds (the opening for your weft thread) by lifting up on the heddle for one...

 ...and pushing down on the heddle for the other.

 Weave your header, and you are ready to go! To advance your warp, release the back brake, crank it forward, and re-engage the brake.

A tip for tying onto the front apron rod in weaving

I don't know where I picked this tip up, but I'd like to thank that person. Tonight I tied my warp onto the front apron rod of the loom, and I remembered the tip I had heard to swap the edge threads in the sections when I'm tying on. Like so:

Why? When you go to weave the header, look how quickly the warp arranges itself into place!!

Header woven, ready to go. And very little waste of warp. I love this trick.

Warping the loom for a baby wrap

I'm making progress on getting the loom all warped up for the next batch of baby wraps. I'm working a bit each day, so I make sure I can get these completed and out to their new owners before I take off for vacation/family reunion in July. As I'm working, I'm remembering how much I like working with this yarn. It is 10/2 mercerized Valley cotton from Webs, and is just lovely and shiny slipping through my hands.

So, first up is the calculation part. I remember back in high school deciding that I'd never use math again, so I didn't have to worry about it. Boy was I wrong. Weaving is really just visible math. You've got to figure out how many threads, of what colors, at what length to get the effect you want. So each project sees me with pencil, paper, and a calculator in hand.

Then it is time to measure out the threads. I create the gradation of color as I go along, by changing colors every 2-4 threads. That makes for a lot of cutting and tying knots. I've tried other methods, but ended up with nasty tangles when I tried to get the warp onto the loom. This takes me a bit of extra time, but I like the results better.

I'm putting on 21 yards of warp this time around. That gives me enough for 3 five meter baby wraps. One for my mama client, one for the new testing regulations, and one more sister wrap. My client gets first dibs on the sister, so we'll see whether or not it ends up on the open market or not.

There! The warp is all measured out, and the color changes 'programmed' in.

Next up, I work on getting the warp onto the loom. I'm warping front to back, so my first step is to sley the reed. Or, in other words, I hook the threads through the slotted piece of metal at the front of the loom. That spreads the threads to a nice even width. Also? I learned that sley and slay are from the same Old English root word slea, meaning 'to strike'. I'll use the reed, which used to be called the sley, to beat or strike the weft threads into place in the weaving process. Words are neat.

From there, the threads each get their own heddle, which will control when it raises and lowers in the weaving process. 760 threads, hooked one by one by one...

Once they're all through, the end of the warp gets tied onto the back apron rod of the loom.

There! Through the reed, through the heddles, and tied on. I love this part. This is where I get my first real glimpse to see how well the color blending worked out. I'm rather pleased by this one.

My client chose pretty colors, didn't she?

Today's job will be to wind all 21 yards back onto the back warp beam of the loom, to store it until it is ready to be woven. This is a fiddly bit, because it needs to be under perfectly even tension. More later, after I get that part done. But I'm making progress!