Weaving off Extra Warp

When I prepare all of my large weavings I always put on extra warp and often have extra weft yarn. Most of my larger weavings take me up to 2 1/2 years to create and in that amount of time design choices I made early on can change or I might want to play with something at the end of the weaving.

Sometimes I get to that extra warp and just...play. When I weave in Double Weave Pick Up, it's a plain weave at base. Remembering what twill looks like when the loom is already tied up for it is nice. I do my double weave tie-up as any normal tie-up, 1, 2,3,4. This week I started a very simple twill and just kept going.

I was mesmerized, I had the time and quiet space, I had bobbins of weft to use up. I started day-dreaming of what the fabric was becoming and what I could make out if it. I have a thin strappy satin top that I love the shape of. I could start with something like that....Beaded or loomed straps....who knows. I forget how quickly straight-weaving goes. Still not fast by any means but much quicker than 1/4 of an inch per hour.

Or it could just sit in my stash for years like so many other fabrics. I'm trying not to add projects beyond my focus for new wall/installation pieces. I'm part of a group show this September 2023 and I'm really excited but nervous that I won't have much new work.  Either way it'll be fine, but having a deadline is really helpful for me to get work out of my brain, into the sketchbook and then into reality so I'm using it as a driving force.

*Bonus Content*

I did my first Instagram Live video cutting this piece off the loom. I didn't realize I was recording so I look dumb for the first few seconds 😂. You can find that HERE.

Winding Warp #2 for "Is There a Thing to Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time"

I figure I'll try to video most of this weaving process in time lapse, just for fun.  Here's another 2+ hours of warp winding. I remember to stop and do some stretchs this time. I do not remember to count at the end of winding the grey so there's some backing up and re-winding on to the ball of thread. 

 The colors for this second warp are grey with pops of citrus colors. There's more information on the first warp winding post for this weaving HERE. 

Winding Warp #1 for "Is There a Thing to Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time"

 

This piece is probably 2 or more years in to the thought/design process. These start by floating around in my head and in sketchbooks before I finally getting around to drafting the design, printing/taping it and choosing colors to then starting to wind the warp.  2020 seems to be a good time for the culmination of this piece as we have become more dependant than ever on keeping in touch through Zoom, social media and having a general dependance on the internet; yet it also becomes the thing that can mess with our psyche the most.

As far as color I wanted to go dark on this piece, I even thought about black on black but I'm not up for driving myself crazy while weaving in 2021. I decided on a black warp and a grey warp. I also have to admit to myself that there are some little, occasional, bursts on positive things that happen over social media so I picked a few colors to put into each warp.  Just one strand every 10 or so ends. 

The above time lapse video is 2 hours into 3 minutes.  I'm winding the first warp and the strands of color that will go into this warp. You can also tell when I'm counting warp threads that I'm watching TV (Blacklist, so good).  Even with a warping wheel winding the warp is a tedious process. 

I made a small sample wrap to get a color idea before I started winding this warp.  I rarely do this, but I'm not used to working in black and grey with little other color.  The sample shows the color coming in every 7th warp but I decided I want them more spaced-out so it's about double the amount of black between the strands.

Once I have 3-4 solid hours I'll get the next warp wound. 

Warp Winding for Two

Yesterday was a chilly sunny Sunday.  My place was picked up and moved around enough to start thinking about making some changes in my office and studio space.  Either way, I was going to have to move my warp winder.  I have been feeling a burst of artistic energy again.  I grabbed the warp winder and decided to plan out my next pieces.  

I had drafted a very large version of my next piece "Leaf Me Alone" and it has been feeling a bit intimidating.  So I put together a cartoon for a smaller version of it, and that's where I'm starting.  I've been wanting to use a darker variegated thread for both warps on one of these and I think the small version will be a good tester for that also.

So, I spent my Sunday winding off 4 warps for 2 projects.  It felt great to get these done.  Here's a bit about what it means to wind a warp in video format: 

Ignore my comfy Sunday lounging clothes, I didn't feel like getting too cleaned up for the internet. I get more done that way.

So math was done, ends per inch was calculated (a bit more open than packed together), below is the "cross" in my warp that I talk about in the video:

Below is the second warps (2 per weaving for double weave), which I also got wound off for the larger more intimidating piece.  Time to get to it!

Delicious piles of hand dyed rayon warps! 

Unwrapping and Warping Delilah

You may remember back in March I helped my friend and old college roommate, Amy, get her loom up and running again.  So, she came out to my house a few weeks ago to give me the kick in the pants I needed to unwrap my loom, Delilah, and start in on my weaving for the Friends of the Porkies donation.  Delilah has been hiding behind boxes in the mess that is currently my studio.  It helped just to have the deadline of Amy coming over to try to have some semblance of organization in my studio.

Amy wound off her warp and balled yarn for her next weaving. (Tencel from Forma)

I wound off my warp and realized that I needed to dye 

at least one of the three to get the color range I wanted.

3 warps, ready for triple weave

Through the reed.

I'm so thankful that my Macomber loom lets the back beam down so 

I can sit close to the heddles to thread them.

Warp all through the heddles.

Once the back is tied on, this is how I pull the warp through and get all the snags out.

Tied up nice and tight, it feels so good!

The test to make sure there's no threading errors. First try, no issues. Yay!

Also, this is my 300th blog post.  Seems crazy, I started blogging 7 years ago, I have received my one google check (ha ha), sold some pieces here and there after posting new work, and I use this as an archive of my own work which comes in handy all of the time. My life has flipped upside down and then right-side up again. I never planned on living back in Michigan after leaving for Colorado in 2004, but here I am, loving Lansing and all the friends I've made here, getting back to my art-focus after ditching it for a bad life-choice. 

Weaving during the Holidays

I took some time over this holiday to finally wind this warp on to my loom.  It has been threaded since August but I just haven't gotten to getting the darn thing on.  I had originally planned out this yardage for potential fabric for the Mary Sue Fenner Jacket workshop that I took at Michigan League of Handweavers Conference this summer.  I just never quite got to finishing it, partially because I was stuck dyeing extra black weft and ran out.  So it sat, partially threaded on my loom.

The warp on this fabric is leftover rayon from my days at the University of Michigan Art School.  I was always playing with dyes and colors so I had a ton of balls of rayon that I've been lugging around from apartment to apartment and now to home.  I figured it's make a nice striped blend with black and I could make some room in my yarn stash.

Actually, just weaving off fabric has been somewhat relaxing.  I have a difficult time during the holidays, mainly because of the complete lack of structure in my schedule and having to pack up and keep moving. I haven't touched my beadwork.  We've been getting our master bedroom and closet built/painted/carpeting pulled and windows stripped and repainted.  It's left little time for creativity and entry applications.

For now, being able to throw a couple shots of weft here and there as I walk in and out of my loom room gives me a little peace, a little bit of structure in my life until schedules get back to normal.  I thought that this was the week to be back on-schedule, but due to "Snowpocalypse" I can't get to the office, my husband is home and I'm sorting out a to-do list. Which includes building a snow fort.

Forest Through the Trees, Part 1, Warping the Loom

"Forest through the Trees" is what I am currently working on for this first piece of my Individual Artist's Grant.  I was planning creating it well before I knew I received the grant so it will not have the 3-D vining beadwork in it, but it does incorporate 3 panels, 2 of which will integrate beadweaving.  The back panel, which is woven, is what I am working on in these photos.  This is just the set-up (I didn't get photos of the dyeing process, which is another beast in and of itself, maybe next time!)

Cartoon for the back panel which will be handwoven in double weave pick up.

I hand dyed this warp yarn in my basement for the back panel of this first piece.

This is one of the warp colors being taken off of the warp winder.

Threading the reed of the loom with the first warp, alternating for stripes.

The second warp through the reed on top of the first warp, again, alternating for strips

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View from the back of the loom, next, all 720 strings have to be threaded individually though each heddle in order. You can see why you'll be seeing less and less of me away from my studio.

I remove the back beam on my loom to thread the heddles.  It gets me just a little closer.  My back warp beam is a pain to take off, so I just wrap myself over it to get to the heddles.

Warp through the heddles. I am completely in love with the colors of this warp!

Warp strings tied to the back beam.

I know it looks like a tangled mess, this is the front of the loom with the warp ready to pull through. It actually went faster than I expected.

Pulling the warp through the reed and the heddles.

....and the front tie on!

It's so nice to just have the warp done.  Now I'm ready to start weaving.  The next blog will talk a little about double weave pick up which is the type of weave the I'm doing with this piece, and also show the header with the separated fabrics.

I'll be trying to keep track of my time the best I can, here's an approximate run down for this portion:

Dying warp: 6+ hours

Balling and Winding warp:  4+ hours

Warping loom: 13 hours

This project is brought to you by the Arts Council of Greater Lansing.

Side note: My apologies on the quality of photos as many of them will be taken from my phone for speed and convenience in posting my updates.