Fun with Chevron.. Hand Painted

My dreams and goals coming out of the University of Delaware was to paint large murals in bold patterns.  Bold patterns that would sweep across the room.  It was only until halfway through this project that I realized my dream had been coming true.  An oversized chevron pattern in bold colors that wrapped around walls and into creases.  Something wallpaper can't do is be custom made to the environment. HandPainted is the way to go.

It has only been since I was paired with and working with the Green Owl Designers that I have been exposed to these bold ideas and given the opportunity to express myself on these vast wall space and do what I truly love.  I get great satisfaction completing these bold chevron patterns that make a bold statement in a room.  Something only some designers can pull off and convince the client into.  Thank you greatly to the Green Owl Designers!

I started off taping it off with string to see the tendencies of the angles of the chevron and started to measure off the heights of the chevron stripes. A lot of measurements and the use of a level were used. 

Once I figured out how the chevron worked and found the perfect sizing, I started taping off.

I filled in the second and fourth stripe, the top being the wall color. 

Two walls had the chevron pattern, one small wall with a window (shown above) and a long wall (shown below).

I then took off the tape, loving the crisp lines.

Now I taped off the middle/ third stripe.  I decided to vary the thicknesses of the stripes just minimally, making the yellow slightly smaller and the pink slightly larger.

Filling in and voila.

A bold vibrant statement.  Change up these colors to neutrals and you can tone down this bold statement but still have a great pattern.  Monochromatic neutrals in an ombré progression would look really nice.

I don't always use tape but when I do, it's to create awesome chevron patterns. 

Be Inspired. Be Bold.

peace&love

Rebecca 

The Rug.. Final Product

I am so pleased with how this turned out.  It took me about 7 hours to complete the weaving.

Now to finish the hem and the fringe and it's complete!

Be Bold in your Designs.

peace&love

Rebecca

The Rug.. Beaming the Warp.. Starting the Weave

Beaming the warp.

Love seeing the pattern roll by.

And the weaving begins.  

As stated earlier.. this rug is warp faced.  Warp faced is where the warp yarns doubled, so there is twice the amount of warp to weft.  Since I had such an intricate dye pattern on the warp, that was the only thing I wanted to show.

A plain weave was all I needed to show off this beautiful chevron Ikat pattern.  

Ikat occurs when there is a pattern on the warp yarns and when they are wound up, the warp yarns shift slightly.  A unique, random, beautiful pattern occurs right before your eyes.

Stay tuned for the completion of the rug.. hopefully later this week!

Be Bold in your Designs.

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