chuffed

merriam webster :British

: quite pleased : delighted

woven without any issue in a broken twill.

he outcome was quite spectacular. crinkly irregular texture.

 

sections of burnt orange and navy blue wool stainless brought out the colors in varied ways. effective simplicity . warp silk dyed with madder  walnut and water based tannin.

eki desu

 

pondering

 it's already december and still pondering.

warp silk dyed with tannin , walnut and akane. weft wool/ stainless dark blue and terracotta from the much beloved and now defunct avril in kyoto.

 2 cms of plain weave 4 -5 cms in broken twill, nice soft furrows. the question is re-sley at a more open 8 ends   x cms for more drama( and possibly less stable cloth) or keep it as is at 10 ends x cm what to do ??

this is the back colorwise much more subdued. like the two for one effect  unlike double weave it's  minimum effort.

on a side note life now became hollywood. mayor computer overhaul,changed hard disk, added more memory and did a big deep cleanup.all functions became instant. .feeling virtuous because instead of getting a new one i repaired the old one.the dumpster won't see me for another stretch. ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )   

neki desu

 

a week of ganbaru

although i do have a life i managed to thread and reed last week. i need to debug and decide on the weft: two possibilities in wool/stainless steel.more collapse fabrics. then on with the show. the warp is silk dyed with madder, walnut and food grade water soluble (?) tannin .really counting on the japanese class hiatus.

neki desu 

 

a three year predicament

finally going forward. color blanket ; there are 3  mistakes, seems like one for every rethreading. albeit the gross mistakes it holds a promise. not rethreading again no matter what. silk warp natural dyes, madder, ai, safflower. silk weft ai and cochineal.

i'll repeat this structure,networked rosepath, in  less taxing warp yarns.

already sourcing.

20/1 venne cotton in glowing colors. after a hair thin silk warp this will go fast.

the plan: one layer of solid color across the whole warp, the second layer the colors shift harmoniously.

and with this project we cap  the month of september.

neki desu

 

another episode of the frugal weaver

thrums from this project too godd to throw away. gorgeous japanese silk dyed with natural dyes.motainai nai. had kept them and finally have found a niche. 

the scarf is going along great will be finished this week.still reveling in how pleasant this weaving has been.

with the leftover warp i am attempting a japanese style  drawstring  pouch. plan on weaving a simple crepe and then dyeing the resulting fabric a 30x30 silk square.

 the silk thrums will be braided and used as the drawstring.kind of a fun project. all after i heal from a

&%** tooth ache.i'm on antibiotics and waiting to see the dentist.

on another note thinking about weaving a crepe yardage to make a top if i survive the dental issues.

stash busting strategy, need around 5 mts for a top with sleeves counting that the loom is just 80cms wide.

neki desu

 

sampling

 weave structures. so far seems that the third one's the winner. like the contrast between the fine cream warp and the  slubby sand colored weft.

washed and pressed. the winner is nº 3.

pondering whether  re sleying instead of 2x dent in a 10 x cm reed doing just one per dent. wondering if the extra work is worth it.

all summer long, heat and visitors  permitting,  i've been going to the park doing the walk, mainly uphill and then doing some weights . afterwards sitting under a tree and studying kanji. muscle and mind training (￣ω￣ )

neki desu

 

on the other loom

already warped, as it was just tying in. testing an ancient silk bought in lyon at the canut museum.they are probably defunct now. want to do a dw on straight threading, not  much adventure here. need to concentrate on the other loom and the threading which is pretty complex. one day at a time.

neki desu 

 

almost

finished. this project has been wall to wall fun.i am really enjoying seeing how all the irregularities of the yarns weave and show up on the surface. a well tensioned warp, just a few bugs and broken threads.

straight draw which is always a piece of cake. as the japanese say: simple is better. let's see what becomes of this crepe weave after wet finishing it.

already planning the next warp .a beautiful tightly spun silk bought in france but from brazil,of all places.didn't know until then they traded in silk.

i bought kilos and kilos of silk years ago from a mill in france now sadly defunct. bought organzine, s and z twist crepe yarns and this one. that's how i ended up concentrating on weaving fine silk.

anyhow when washed this silk relaxes and becomes almost silk floss . weft is still to be sourced from the stash. taking advantage of the debugged warp and will tie on to it.

neki desu 

 

opportunity cost

in this method is high not very economical as there are extra steps and movements.the reed hung on the back has to be threaded. once threaded the wind up starts.the advantage is that the threads warp in precise order as they were picked up from the back  cross.no twists ,no breakage.once beamed the  front cross is passed behind the reed and secured, then the reed is taken out and the threading commences. after that the rest is standard procedure,threading,reeding and tying. 

 look at my faithful knitting weights working hard.

albeit the extra steps i like it,kind of, as

all those threads wind in their corresponding places. it is especially adequate for thin silks whether springy or not.

beauty shot. i have another warp in mind and will repeat to ,as a knitter friend says, proof the concept.

neki desu

 

sourcing from the stash

 for a weave. silk dyed in walnut and i believe chesnut water.the blues were a gift from a dear friend.

think i'll also use the akane dyed silk.plan is something simple to highlight the yarn colors.

have to decide on the structure but it needs to be simple, notice the operative word again, as it will be on the table loom. the dobby is still with the dead warp on bcse gutless me can't bring herself to cut it, trash it and liberate the loom.

the last hellebores.they were white but this year they came out pink.not complaining.

it's a holiday here so happy may day to all!

neki desu

 

the sleep of the righteous

8 thread satin from way back and i mean way back. it was my satin weave period when i dedicated some time to undersatnding the structure. the silk was an amazing quality, bought in a warehouse in new jersey, a quality not to be found now. not even willing to pay lots of money for it.

something about the whiteness of it and the colors was a put off ,to me it looked  too much like a prayer shawl. went into the drawer and resurfaced some days ago.

in the midst of my present dyeing frenzy i opted for a walnut taninn dye post treated with ferrous acetate.

pleasant outcome. colors toned down and blended with the background.indeed a wearable.

neki desu

 

not in this lifetime

i'll be able to get lavenders or purples from alkanet. i always get browns or tans no matter how i process the dyestuff.had high hopes bcse i left the  raw material soaking in alcohol for over a week and the liquid was red, yet the outcome was camel color. ⋋__⋌

contemplsting ferrous acetate to darken it.

on the other hand i'm binge-knitting with silk bourette, as i have enough to last two lifetimes.

i can make all the mistakes,which i do, without panicking bcse i'll run out of yarn.

about the knitting program i love to hate, it's unbelievable that you pay a good price for it  and then you end up ignoring the program's directions and  figuring out the decreases yourself. HELLO? ಠ ಠ    ಠ ಠ    ಠ ಠ   

neki desu

 

no tangles

the tools are fascinating, the procesess mesmerizing.

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

getting....

pretty silk, dyed with an unrememberd natural dye. perhaps shikon aka gromwell with an alkaline modifier.who remembers,who knows.

the section is already done madder orangey and this blue.

going to warp this section front to back and then  weight it individually in the back. asking for trouble? maybe.

one thing i know it is too difficult to thread from the yarn coming from the back because it is way too thin to be discernible. add frafile points to it and what do you get? the warp from hell suspended in a limbo for one year.

neki desu

 

an exercise in stubborness

i lack the courage to cut this warp and trash it.it's good silk all dyed with natural dyes. mottainai

so it's been relegated again and again, but have kept me from getting on with life,actually.it's been a year with a fully unusable loom.

 therefore new years resolution is to tackle this %#] warp and move forward. will i succeed? we shall see.

so far the offending section has been takenoff and re,reded using one of my vintage japanese reeds.

and i've started winding bobbins to make up the section. i wonder why the japanese don't use sectional beams working with such fine silks. sectional seems to be a western sort of hit. it seems you dont graduste into the major leagues if you don't use sectional warping.which with all due respect it is a royal p*i*t*a. would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

neki desu

 

odd but not bad.

 waru kunai. after 2 dips it came out this cornflower blue color, more of a faded jean number.it's not unpleasant so instead of correcting it i'm going to leave it as is.

the vat is doing well but i am going to dye 3 more skeins and call it a session.need to rethread the loom again, no excuses i have the weft yarns  already dyed.thought i could swing it as it is threaded but fearing unneeded issues it's better to re thread. ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯ 

neki desu 

 

questioning the adage

the one which says ignorance is bliss. found this number in the proverbial drawer i think it is from the 90s when i first got the dobby loom. it's not that i am sage now but i was much less then,lots of silk has been burned since then   (* ^ ω ^) was hung  up on satin weave then and since i didn't know as much i thought everything was possible.from those times the kamikaze weaver emerged.

i felt no constraints trying all wild imaginings.

like color bands with color removed at certain places

or combinations of color wefts and painted warps in specific places .

or painted warps creating a pattern on pattern.

studying this now  it has some good points/ideas yet it lacks unity as a whole.it suffers from  neophite over enthusiasm.

present day me aka the frugal weaver  is thinking that it's  good silk, the one which is impossible to source now,  the weaving is sound and it's a shame to trash it.thinking about dyeing it to bring it together and highlight those satin ovals.

cutch? walnut? indigo?

thoughts?

neki desu

 

chilled white and summer nights

even though at some point my finger joints and wrists threadened  collapse this was enjoyable and relatively simple to weave.the warp behaved beautifully althoufh there were 2 errors which were purposefully left so as not to offend the buddha ( ¨¨ ω¨¨ )    

textiles are a chore to photograph, you need pro equipment for them to show properly.

there's a slight shift in weft colors from brighter to duller .you have to trust me on that one.ntural dyes glow in the silk yarn like wanna be fireflies, at least in my mind.

waiting for those summer nights.

neki desu