The Rug.. Threading the Heddles

Everything takes longer on a bigger loom...especially threading the heddles.

Now to wind it up and I'm finally ready to start weaving. 

peace&love

Rebecca 

The Rug.. Made it to the Big Loom

With all the preparations done, I headed to the loom.  The loom is 42" long and my rug will fill up 38".  The rug will be warped faced, meaning only the warp threads show, so I doubled up and tripled up the threads per dent.  My rug is 15 epi (ends per inch) and there are 6 dents per inch in the reed.  So I threaded 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2.  

The next step is to thread the heddles, but you and I will have to wait until Monday for that.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. A Touch of Blue

With the final color added, the yarns are ready for the loom.

So close.. It's the start of the end.  All the measurements, calculation and preparations have paid off.  I will pick up speed on Wednesday and in no time the rug will be complete.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Chevron Dyeing

Yesterday I dyed the warp yarns.  All my preparations paid off and everything went very smoothly, but since I had about 5 dye lots, it still took a good 6 hours.  Here is the process.

I started off with 3 dyes.. taupe, old ivory and dark gray.  When I ordered these dyes they did not have color samples so I just hoped for the best.

The recipe called for white vinegar to act as a mordant, what attaches the dye to the yarn.

For the dye to work best, the dye needed to be simmering.  I used this large aluminum, old camping pot (worked great).

After choosing and tying off each section that needed to be dyed, I dipped each end in the simmering dye.  

It only stayed in for a couple of minutes.  I could see the yarns soaking up the dye.

The first batch.  The last yarns added to the dye bath ended up lighter since the earlier yarns had soaked up all the dye.

The first dye lot.. taupe, all laid out.. everything is going to plan.

Re tying for the the next color.

The second color is a less concentrated taupe.

Re tying for the third color.

Third color, Old Ivory.. all laid out.

I had one more color, a dark grey, that tied everything together.  Stay tuned for the start of the weaving process.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Pre Dye Preparations

Organization and preparation is key in weaving.  It took a lot of planning ahead of time so that when I start dyeing, everything will go smoothly.  Here is how I prepare myself for the dyeing process.

Measure and tie off all the yarns.

Stretch out all the yarns.

Each bundle represents an inch (15 epi).  This will be a warp faced rug.

Now I can tie off the pattern to prepare myself for dyeing.  I have color coded the sections so I know which dye goes where.  I will be making a chevron pattern that will be done in an ikat manner. (Ikat will be further discussed later on in the weaving process.)

I numbered each grouping of yarns so after dyeing I can put them back in the appropriate order and it will be all ready for the loom.

Now I'm ready for dyeing!

peace&love

Rebecca

The Card of the Weaving

Card weaving is a simple and fun form of weaving that allows you to weave anytime, anywhere.  It's an early form of weaving that has been practiced for hundreds of years.  I love it for the fact that since I don't have a loom, yet, I can get my weaving fix when I'm not in class.

First I planned out my pattern.  There are four rows, A, B, C, and D and the columns relate to how many cards you use.  I then counted, measured and cut the yarns.

Here are the cards and the shuttle, each yarn need to go through each hole.

Reading the pattern I know which color yarn goes in which hole.  Repeat until all cards and yarns are used.  

Too many yarns.. I like to use a comb to untangle all the yarns.

Stay tuned for the next step.. weaving.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Design Project- Mid Century Modern meets Nature

For my Interior Design class, I combined the raw natural elements of the great outdoors with the clean crisp lines of mid century modern design.  I played with textures and patterns creating a warm and inviting interior.  

The Great Room

White walls contrasted with deep velvet couches and chairs and a beautiful wood plank ceiling.

The Dining Room

Black lacquer walls with natural tones in the draperies and a great basket weave floor.

The Floor Plan and Reading Room.

The Reading Room combines all the mid brown tones mixing textures and patterns.  I used a great herringbone textile wallcovering that warms up the room.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Placemats

The final placemats, all rolled out..

Cut into pieces..

Very happy with how these placemats turned out.  I can't wait to play around with new patterns and colors.

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Weaving.. The Rug

And it begins again..

For my next project I am going bigger.  I will be creating an ikat wool rug.  I will be hand dying the wool yarns by hand in an ikat pattern.  To start off I've calculated all the warp yarns I need and now to measure and cut.  Stay tuned for the dyeing of the warp and then the fun part.. weaving. 

Be bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

Transformation to Gray

This Benjamin Morre color is just what this room needed.

ceiling AF-80

walls AF-395

Be Bold in your Design.

peace&love

Rebecca