Pink and Orange Silk Scarf with Blue Network Twill Polka Dots

The scarf started with a small warp of 88 threads in 2/22 orange and pink Silk and I’ve added azure blue edges in 2/8 Tencel to make an 8 inch wide scarf.  I’m using a darker blue 2/8 Tencel called ming as the weft.  It has worked out very nicely in my humble opinion!

The pattern is an 8 shaft network twill that makes polka dots,  and it is just lovely.  The plentiful dots dance across the warp and are a joy to weave.  The photo is a little washed out but the blue edges with the tone on tone polka dots is really quite effective.

I’m quite surprized by how similar the pink and orange splashes are in the warp.  At certain angles they blur together and its hard to tell them apart.  And when the blue weft is added the centre stripe seems to be iridescent.  

The finished scarf is quite striking, even if I haven’t given it a pressing yet!

There are two sides of the scarf one with the Ming blue polka dots (weft faced) and the other side has orange and pink polka dots with the lighter blue dots on the edges (warp faced).  Sorry for the slightly blurry photo.

We’ve had two big storms with lots of rain so the mushrooms have started to show up in the local forests.  We went on a mushroom walk last week and there were two highlights, one was the Hydnellum peckii also called strawberries and cream or blood fungus or jam tart.  The cap leaks red fluid that pools and looks very creepy.

The second was Phellodon tomentosus also called owl eyes.  They are very cute, looking like the mask around the eyes of an owl, like the one at the top of the picture.  

Just as an FYI we are running a 20% off sale on selected items in our store Woven Beauty.

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.

Finishing a Scarf and Starting a Scarf

The plum, moss, purple and turquoise silk scarf with navy blue Tencel weft is finally finished and it's really beautiful!  We’ve had some lovely autumn sunshine so I’ve taken the final beauty shots for our Etsy store, but the photos still need some cropping.  Here are a couple of unedited shots that show how lovely this scarf is.  I hope to have the listing up in a couple of days.

I dipped back into the hand dyed silk warps and picked out a bright pink and orange warp.  This warp only has 88 ends so I need to figure the other 112 ends.  Do I do the silk in a centre stripe, or an offset stripe or break it up?  I decided to pick out the colours that I could be using first and then drape the warp over each.  I thought that I'd let that lead the design.  I pulled out various colours of Tencel and placed them along the length of the silk warp so I could get an idea of how the colours would work.  

I stepped away from them for a bit and then came back with clear eyes and tossed some colours out and rearranged some other.  I got it down to four colourways.  

There were two winners, Azure/Ming Blue and Grey Teal/Dark Grey Teal.  They both made the pink and orange pop and they kept a bright tone for the scarf, they didn’t tone down or mute the pink and orange. 

I finally decided to go with the Azure/Ming blue combination.  Next, I had to find a pattern, I wanted a pattern with a small repeat that would look good across the 88 ends of the pink and orange silk.  A tried and true classic that I just love is the network twill polka dots, perfect!

With the pattern picked, I could figure out how to place the silk warp within the scarf.  I went simple with the pink and orange silk stripe down the middle framed by the azure blue Tencel.  I have just finished threading and soon will be weaving. 

Final Garden Photos show that we are in that strange time when the summer flowers are still going strong like here with zonal geraniums (Pelargonium hortorum) and Hot Lips Sage (Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips').

But the fall colour is in full swing on this lovely cut leaf Japanese maple.  The plants are only about five feet away from each other!

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.

Twelve Shaft Painted Silk Scarf

I have also put on one of the newly dyed silk warps onto the loom.  This warp is full of colour, moss green, plum purple, turquoise, royal blue and purple.  I’m not sure what I was thinking with this colourway but it is exciting! 

Picking out a weft colour proved to be quite difficult, I want a colour that highlights everything going on in the warp but doesn’t overpower.  I tried iris, amethyst, olive, navy and a denim blue all in Tencel.  The dark blues and purples seem to work the best. 

But I still wasn’t sure so for the second weft auditions I tried eggplant, navy, dark teal and amethyst.  I worried that the purples would fight against the plum in the warp so I went with the navy blue for the weft of the scarf.

For the pattern I went with a tried and true pattern, a 6 shaft crackle that has been used successfully with several painted warps before.  But this time the pattern and the weft seemed to hide the lovely painted warp.

So I unwove that woven four inches, unpicked the hem stitching, pulled the warp out of the reed then I remember that I should put the lease sticks back in.  So I found a sort of cross in the threading put the lease sticks in and pulled out the threading.  

I picked another pattern, this time a 12 shaft twill with lovely spiky diamonds.  I am weaving with the weft dominate side up but you can still see the streaks of colour moving through the warp.  It is a relief to find a pattern that is going to show off the warp.  It is a complicated treadling so it is weaving up slowly.

Final photos are from a botany walk at Miracle Beach Provincial Park.  The leaves of the big leaf maple are starting to turn colour but some are starting to drop leaves early due to drought stress.

There are several large fires burning in the mountains above us so there was a smoky haze combined with the sunlight piercing the tree canopy made for some spectacular photos.

Autumn Hand Painted Silk Scarf on Ten

It’s been quite awhile since I sat at the loom.  Spring and summer are always so very busy in the garden and with just enjoying the lovely weather; that weaving takes a back seat.

A few weeks ago we pulled out all the natural coloured silk we had and spent four days painting and washing silk warps ready for the cool weather when weaving beside the fire is the perfect way to spend a day.

This is one of the first warps I painted and I gravitated toward it because it looks just like the Raywood Ash tree in our garden.  The colours are moss, plum, fuchsia and old gold, so autumnal.  

Once I got it on the loom I realized that this is a very busy warp . So naturally I had trouble with choosing a weft that didn’t mute any of the colours or just fade against them. The first wefts I auditioned were moss, gold and red/violet.  The red/violet was the clear winner in this batch.

This batch is purple, navy and the red/violet again and the red/violet is the winner, it's a brave choice, but a stunning one I think.

Since it has been months since I last wove I wanted an easy weave to treadle. The pattern I decided upon is a 10 shaft undulating twill that has a lovely feathery pattern and as a bonus it has a straight twill treadling 1-10, a perfect way to limber up my weaving legs.  This is the draft I used.

All the pattern set up is in the tie up and the threading.

The sheen on this silk is coming through beautifully and frankly although this is waaay out of my comfort zone,  and I’m loving it.

Today I got the scarf off the loom and here she is in all her glory before wet finishing.  It will look scads better after a good wash and press, but I’m still really stoked with it.

Even though it's not yet wet finished it still looked good on the mannikin.

We have ventured into the world of Brugmansia this year and I’ve just got to say WOW!  This is Madame de Pompadour and the blossoms are a full 16 inches in length and these blooms smell amazing in the evening. The first shot is just as she's opening.

This shot is in her full glory.

Finishing up the Dye Days

After the creative part of dyeing the silk warps is done, the warps sit wrapped up in plastic wrap for 24 hours.  Then the rinsing begins, just plain water to start moving out the excess dye, then a couple of drops of Synthrapol soap is added to the final rinse to remove every last speck of loose dye.

The silk warp comes out of the rinsing process in a bit of a tangled ball.  Luckily, it is really easy to fix, just grab the ends and a couple of flicks the warp is laying flat and smooth, ready to hang and dry.

The first lot of 8 silk warps are with the 2/22 silk.  There is a couple of different painting styles on show here.  There is a long curve of colour, half and half colour and random colour splashes, anything and everything goes when dyeing like this.   There is a lot of colour here!

Since we had the dyes out I also over dyed a scarf, it was white cotton and lime green silk.  I over dyed it with navy blue Procion MX dye.  It was a multi step process but easy, just a lot of stirring.  The dye bath method took about two hours and then straight to rinsing.

This is the second lot of 8 silk warps.  There is a mix of tussah silk and a camel/silk blend.  The camel/silk blend is wonderfully soft and I’m quite excited to work with it.

I didn’t get a photo of the third lot of silk warps, I guess I’m still a little rusty in the blog making!  But here is a final photo of all the warps together.  What a wonderful range of colours!

I’m a little disappointed on how the over dyed silk scarf went.  I think that the container that I used was a little small, the instructions said to use a container that allowed the material to float freely and I thought that I had.  But the scarf has marks of where the material bent and it is lighter on one side.  So I guess that it is mine now!

Final garden photo is a Hydrangea paniculata 'Vanille Fraise' the shrub is over 8 feet tall and the heads are at least 1 foot in length.  The flowers start as white in the summer then as the nights get cooler they start to pinken.   We had a heavy rain a few weeks ago, so they are being supported a bit now. It is a spectacular highlight to the start of the autumn in the garden.