Copper Verdigris Scarf

It has been a while since I have woven with some of the silk warps that Mum and I had dyed last summer; it is so nice to pull out colour on a grey winters day.  The warp that jumped out was painted in turquoise with bands of orange.

The buckets of Tencel come out and after careful consideration Mum pulled out Adobe, a red brown colour.  I will admit that I was really dubious but we went with it.  Bands of the red brown were added to outside edges of the scarf and it will also be the weft for the scarf.

The pattern is pretty 6 shaft crackle and thankfully the Adobe red brown Tencel weft works a treat.  The repeat is about 3 inches long. 

At 15 inches I saw something on the right hand side of the scarf, a strange double pick on both sides of the large motif.  So I unwove the scarf, picked out the hem stitching and found the two threading errors and start the scarf again!

The rest of the weaving went smoothly.  Standing back from the loom the scarf almost glows with a coppery shimmer.  It really reminds me of copper verdigris, which is usually green but can also be blue.

When I was dying the warp for the scarf I was hoping that the combination of turquoise and orange would make some pretty transitional colours like green but they seemed to not really mix or make a lighter orange-y brown.  But the jagged peaks of the turquoise into the orange bands makes for a really dynamic scarf. 

The scarf is finished and it is pretty stunning.  I think that the unusual colour choice of the red brown as really inspired.  The large motif can be better seen on the weft dominate side, upside down to when I wove it.  For Sale.

Final Garden Photo is Arctic Bells Daffodils (Narcissus bulbocodium 'Arctic Bells').  They are a form of hoop skirt daffodil, they are a lovely pale lemony colour and very fragrant.  They are not quite open in this picture but in the next couple of days they will be.

10 Shaft Crackle Silk Scarf for Autumn

  My autumn crackle scarf is off the loom today, and I’m totally chuffed!

This scarf has been a joy to weave right from the beginning.  The colours of the silk were so inspiring and I loved seeing the foreshadowing of the pattern from the back of the loom.

Notice the floating selvedges?  On my last few projects I have doubled the floating selvedges on each side to give added presence to the edges and to help negate fraying.  It seems to have worked and I will continue to use a doubled floating selvedges when using silk and tencel.

The gold weft really is working well with all of the different colours in the warp, it contrasts beautifully with the burgundy and the olive and when it hits the brown portion, it just gleams like silk should.

The crackle trellis pattern was a really lovely weave, it is treadled as an advancing twill with fairly short runs that are woven from 1 – 10 and then reversed from 10 – 1.

I wove right up to the end of the warp and frankly couldn’t get any shed at all by the end of it.  I just managed to get 70 inches with the tension off.  I expect that I will end up with a scarf between 67 and 69 inches.

Here is the scarf right off the loom in our very weak November sunshine.

Same scarf and hour later in much stronger sun.  

The last two silk scarves have had their final photos taken and now are up on the store, WovenBeauty, on Etsy.  The first is the yellow and blue scarf, For Sale.

The second is the blue polka dots with the centre panel of pink and orange silk, For Sale.

The Difference is in the Sett

 I have just put the third of my hand painted silk warps on the loom.  This time I’ve chosen to weave a 30/2 tussah silk warp painted in olive, plum and bronze, very autumnal.

When I am planning a project there are a few things that I need to know up front: the number of warp ends that I have to work with, and how close to sley the reed being the two most important.

When I first started weaving I bought Mary E Black’s The Key to Weaving which I swear contains everything you need to know about weaving within its 698 pages.  At the very end of the book in the appendix lies a sleying table with some common setts.  This is a good, but dated chart of what was commonly used in the 1950’s.

Mary Black’s table contains the grist, the fibre and setts for loose plain weave, firm plain weave and twill.  For example 8/2 cotton is sett at 20 epi for loose plain weave, 24 for firm plain weave and 28 for twill.  Years ago I put all of this information onto an Excel spreadsheet and I have been updating it with new information ever since including yards per pound and the sett for lace if I can find it.  My chart states that 30/2 should be sett at 26 epi for loose plain weave, 32 epi for firm plain weave and 40 epi for twill. I looked at my reeds and chose to sley the cloth at 36 epi, so 3 per dent in a 12 dent reed.

Once I had it sleyed I thought it looked a tad crammed, but I hoped that slimming down the weft would be the answer.  I tried 10/2 tencel in red and 20/2 tencel in black and neither of them were good.  The red tencel just fused into the back ground with the warp and the black tencel was too spidery.

I thought that the warp just looked too tight overall.

I decided to re-sley the warp at 30 epi, so 2 per dent in a 15 dent reed and I’m much happier with the look of the warp although the scarf will be a tad wider than anticipated since I had 256 ends of warp, I now have a 8 1/2 inch wide scarf.

The pattern I’ve chosen for this scarf is a 10 shaft Crackle weave grid and the weft I’ve chosen is 8/2 tencel in gold. Now I’ve just got to buckle down and weave it.

Can you see them?  We got 12 golf ball sized oranges off our wee tree and there is candied orange peel in our future.  

Crackle Weave Painted Silk Scarf

I just removed this scarf off of the loom and I’m already calling her ‘Jean’.  This colour way is definitely the perfect match for a jean jacket or any denim outfit.

The pattern was one both Ngaire and I had used before and every time I weave it I remember why it is a firm favourite.  You can see the draft here and here. 

The treadling that I used this time is such a long pattern repeat that I only wove the pattern five times to get the full 70 inches.  It was such an engaging treadling that there was no time to get complacent or to memorize it, so I was on task the entire weave.

Now that ‘Jean’ is off the loom you can see how long the pattern repeat actually is.

I always start my finishing process by lightly braiding the fringe.  I find that this really helps keep the ends from knotting during the washing process.  Then once it has been washed and on the drying rack it is easy to undo the loose braid to allow the fringe to dry straight.

I start the washing process with Eucalan fine fabric wash.  Eucalan is a no-rinse, delicate wash that is non-toxic, biodegradable, free of bleach, phosphates, synthetic fragrance and dyes.  Since I am selling this scarf I think it is a good idea to use a soap that is essentially allergen free. The grapefruit fragrance is derived from natural plant oils, so it is super mild and fresh.  I avoid the lavender product as it can be a tad overwhelming.

It is blustery here on Vancouver Island today, so I'm please that we got the greenhouse tidied up for the winter yesterday.   I use it as a sun room and have moved our patio furniture in, all ready to cosy up with a good book! I still have three Brugmansia’s in the greenhouse because they have plenty of blooms on them that are just about to open.  These three are new cultivars for me and I’m really looking forward to seeing them for the first time, so waiting on Rhapsody, Zuni Yellow Spider and French Connection. Below is what Zuni Yellow Spider should look like, fingers crossed.

8 Shaft Painted Silk Crackle Scarf

 Another silk scarf warp on the loom today.  I am not choosing to do these scarves in any particular order, just taking whichever one tickles my fancy at the moment.

Today I chose the half gold and half blue scarf, perhaps I am unwittingly influenced by current events, who knows?

What I’m finding more problematic is finding a pattern that shows off the painted warp rather than hiding or muting it.

I finally settled on this 8 Shaft Crackle Pattern that both Ngaire and I have used successfully in the past.  Here is a link to previous scarves, Scarf 1 and Scarf 2.

I love taking a first photo of how the warp looks from the back of the loom, you can really see the painted colours so clearly and if you look at the heddles you get some foreshadowing of what the pattern will look like.  The deep vee’s of the pattern are showing a bit.  Of all the photos taken, this one is the closest in colour.  The next few photos are taken once the rain starts, thus dulling the warp colours.

Here is the pattern just beginning to emerge, and the weft needed no auditioning, navy blue was the perfect weft from the get go.  

This is an extremely long pattern repeat with the entire pattern measuring 14 inches, so I’m only showing a part of the pattern.  The nice thing about this is that I will only weave 5 full patterns, so I sure won’t get bored!

This pattern is quite asymmetrical and you can see it clearly here.  You weave a lozenge like pattern first on the left side and then a similar, but not identical pattern on the right side.  I find this type of pattern really exciting visually.

Finally we got a photo of the last scarf I wove after washing a steam pressing.  I love this feather pattern and the drape is exceptional.

Silk Waves Scarf on Eight

I found this pattern somewhere on the internet and I loved the general shape of the motif, so different from the very angular shapes I’ve done lately.   I put the original Crackle Weave draft up on the computer and made a few alterations both in the warp and the treadling to make it uniquely mine and I’m really happy with the results. This is the original draft.

I have a lovely stash of silk in my cupboard and as I was riffling through I found this lovely deep dark inky blue that totally captivated me for the warp.  I paired it with 2/8 tencel in Greyed Teal for the weft.  A match made in heaven I think.

To get three full motifs, I ended up pulling a warp of 200 ends for a slightly wider scarf at 8.3 inches in the reed. I sett the warp at 24 ends per inch.

When the light hits this web, it shimmers beautifully.  On a side note, we have had the cloudiest spring I can remember here this year, so getting photos that really show off the shimmer and shine in my weaving has been difficult.

Here is the beauty shot of the scarf after being washed and quickly pressed, but to make my admittedly self imposed Monday deadline, the fringe has not yet been twisted.

And another photo of the scarf outside in the gloom against a grey house.....maybe not the best light, but needs must, and all that.

I have my fringe twizzling to look forward to today!

I have nurtured a cutting from my Brugmansia all winter and today I noticed it has decided to reward me with a blossom.  I can’t wait to see it open, hopefully our temperatures will warm up enough that I can start putting her outside soon.

Raindrops and Snowflakes

The ink blue Tencel scarves are off the loom.  I don’t have any in-progress photos so it is straight to the final reveal for the scarves.  The first scarf is made from ink blue Tencel warp with white Tencel weft.  The pattern is an original crackle (the pattern is available for sale) and I think that it kind of looks like snowflakes in this colourway.  For Sale.

The second scarf has the same ink blue Tencel warp with azure blue Tencel weft.  I tweaked the pattern to create a more raindrop like effect.  For Sale.

The store is running low on table linens and we are hoping to add a line of place mats but somehow rummaging around in the stash for ideas for table linens I found this.  A lovely hand dyed skein of 2/20 silk in a range of pinks.

It just called to me and I quickly had it on the swift and then spinning and whirling around the ball winder.

Next it is onto the warping board, I find that for a single scarf I can do a warp length of 100 inches.  That gives me 10 inches for the fringe in the front, 70 inches for weaving the scarf and 20 inches for the second fringe, take up and loom waste.  

I was able to get 154 ends of the pink silk.  I haven’t decided on the pattern yet but the pretty spring like pinks are making me very happy.

Final Garden Photo is violas.  There are five pots in a row on the edge of the patio.  They are each planted with different colours of violas and there are two types of daffodils layered in the pots also.  It is quite mild weather wise right now so it’s hard not to think that spring is right around the corner.