warp ready

a hack to force the sections into their corresponding places.plus a moveable crochet chain to secure all  just in case as the warp is winded. it worked  ＼（*▽*）／

this week is going to be weaving . after so many years i have come to terms with some weaving related stuff .the main one being the relationship between the height of the pedal, the length of its cord and the width of the shed. after so many years suffering from a seriously narrow shed ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯

the other one is that if you forget to mark the tie up with a single lift  per shaft there's no power in the universe which will make the computer talk to the loom. DUH. all the anxieties thinking that the electronics had problems, or worse had fried, amount to that crass operator error.    (シ_ _)シ

now i need time to crank on this as i am cooking a project using kami ito. another long process .

neki desu

 

the process

it was with a faint heart that i unwinded the warp,yes after it was so nicely winded,and started painting .

was using some left over extracts bcse i had no heart to discard them after all those plants and bugs had worked so hard to produce color. the background was a faint alkanet . 

the dots and color fields were brazilwood,

madder

lac

it is a slow process bcse  it's paint, dry advance warp and all over again.

enjoyed using my japanese background coloring brush. those trips are the trips that keep on tripping as i continue to make use of all the tools that i have collected. i am also enjoying putting to practice what was learned in the maiwa workshop.if you have the chance take any of their online workshops.pure delight.

this piece will need proper finishing once it is woven .all at its due time.

neki desu

 

toying with the idea

of putting my newly acquired knowledge from the maiwa course and doing some warp painting.

the above is a somewhat crude try.the only thing i have clear is that i want some splotches in broken twill, not so regular though.

the colors are going to be madder and lac leftties from the course and occupying half of my fridge. also some leftover logwood from the weft dyeing ( mind the spelling)

the weft is going to be bourette silk dyed in logwood and toned down with a ight iron solution.it's more aubergine in person.

still need to do more design work and then start the  threading.

neki desu

 

the importance of simple things

like a guide thread. always overlooked,but warping sectional w/out a warping wheel makes all the difference.arrogant me was teaching herself to warp sectionally with the fine silks i use AND no guide string. the results were painful. warp chains twisting and no reference  to which side was the  good one.

working with thicker threads is also easy, it facilitates the learning process without stress. although the yarn  looks like  mop yarn it is silk which was bought in japan on my first trip so 

it almost qualifies as vintage. (￣ω￣ ) it has been the cause of debates among weaving friends over the years. silk?? nahh!

 it's going to weave nicely no doubts .

all the sections nice and tight were warped in a relatively short time.devising the hack to adequate the tension box to my loom was kind of fun  too.

neki desu

 

mottainai-big time

"pride always brings along the less welcome humbling guest of the fall from grace"

in the life's too short dept.cut and trash. threads kept breaking at an alarming rate even after sized.mostly the purple ones so i gathered it was a factory defrect. or maybe they were left in a damp environment and they weakened.then i wasn't too crazy about the warp design  so a push to cut and trash happened almost automatically.

really a waste of all that cashmere  ¯\ ( ツ ) /¯  but,it was not going anywhere no matter how hard i tried.

sometimes one has to take a deep breath and be brave.

neki desu

 

furoshiki

a bit lopsided bcse i did not want to cut the fabric to square it. heavy -according to my standards-cotton yarn indigo dyed and tied kasuri style.pleasant and pleasing all in all. just in case pattern here

on to giving use to  the furoshiki.

neki desu

 

songs of debbuging

focusing on process has taken the anxiety and urgency off my practice.if i have to spend two weeks debbuging,so be it. this baby's ready at last to start growing. 

curious to see the development.

neki desu

 

a beatles song

this has been a long and winding road.warp has patiently waited for a year to be threaded and reeded.

that was  a  piece of cake  because none of us was doing anything, but once i started mishaps also started. in my kaizen mode i did something every day trying to improve the previous day. and it went so so.

then problems with the electronics began ;the loom was not speaking to the laptop, an ancient number running on win xp. to sum it up it was a combination of the magnet placed with the wrong pole up and me opening the program and then the loom ⋋__⋌  that's how ancient the OS is.

hurdle  overcome on to next. had to re thread re reed from the center out towards the left. still not getting proper lifts.to make it short there was a yarn twisted on itself and attached to the cord that moves the pedal. three days threading and re threading! and as it always happens it wasn't near the selvedges.

(>人<)

 the warp is 48/2 cashmere weft  42/2 merino and cashmere.

finally all set now weaving the color blanket, narrowing down possibilities.thinking of a project with paper yarn which has to be made but enthused about it now that i was able to locate kudzu locally.

neki desu

    

on weaving

for over two years the warp has been silently and patiently waiting its turn to be acted on. machine knitting was taking precedence over it. weaving is a multi process, slow and painstaking, and it requiers concentration and willpower. however, concentration as well as reading comprehension have been covid  casualties imo.

so between heat waves when too much movement is a no-no the preliminaries of the weaving event become relevant. one sits and designs, sits and threads, sits and reeds.

i have also become aware that once a kamikaze weaver, always a kamikaze weaver. still learning to warp sectional yet, instead of using heavier threads until i get the hang of the technicalities, i am still using my frog hair yarns  ¯\ ( ツ) /¯

i have also postponed the stress of having to deal with the loom electronics. that would have triggered ugly actions and thoughts during covid. the combination of old laptop, old program and serial port adaptor are killers. i'll eventually get to that and i always-knock on wood-get it up and running but this is like a.a. one day at a time.

neki desu

 

concerned about offending buddha

everything about this is perfection. 

the warping process was effortless, 

 

debugging presented just 

one crossed thread

in the reed.

the weaving ,albeit on a table loom is going  fast and pleasant.

and to round out a two year old unattended ai vat was revived successfully. ai is much tougher than what we are inclined to think.

neki desu

 

goth beauty

for weaver in particular and textilians in general.

have a good weekend

neki desu 

 

the world is full of options

generative weaving

have a good weekend

neki desu 

 

if it's fabric

it can be stamped on.this was a sad lampas weave that was lying around aging quietly.of course this won't do at the workshop for various reasons, but mainly bcse it's too freeform. and i'm thinking about doing some stitching on top of all !

have missed the last two classes and the way things are going i don't think i'll go back. the good news about it is that it got me on my feet and going again.

visited tiger shop on the weekend and bought a watercolor pad and a regular drawing pad.yes, on my feet and going.  (* ^ ω ^) 

neki desu

 

beyond precious

all of them come together to create a sublime work. heian kyo splendor and  mono no aware all together.

please enjoy.

have a good weekend.

neki desu 

 

an exerise in awesomeness

i will eventually get to weaving on this post,bear with me. but what has really captivated me today is the awesomeness of photoshop which i have been using since before the creative suite ensembles.

mine is cs6 ,the last before it went to the cloud. good enough for me.yet i had not discovered the color look up feature in the adjustments tab.it's another way to treat photos and create a mood without having  to use actions.i am a big fan of actions but the color lookup feature is more straightforward. the looks can be pushed further by changing the opacity mode.  it begs to be explored.

now on to weaving.

managing 3 shuttles is not really troublesome provided your concentration doesn't go astray. i am actually having fun.  ＼（*▽*）／ age is such a great advantage.

ready to finish this warp and start another  this time working with 4 layers.

neki desu

    

beloved nishijin

my favorite hood in my favorite city.

have a good weekend

neki desu

 

omamori

おまもり　talisman sold at temples to guard off evil spirits or protect you from illness or other misfortunes. they are also very popular souvenirs for those at home. 

can you see where i'm going?　

neki desu 

 

the ever mathophobe ⋋_⋌

numbers hold no interest for me, actually i see numbers and instantly phase out.don't even take the time to memorize  a sequence  bcse i've always thought that i needed that mental space for other stuff.

however after being seduced by an article on the latest complex weavers journal i've been putting my ganbaru club💪 efforts into that area.

to visualize how 3 layers work i warped in 3 distinct colors and it stopped being numbers. enter color, totally understandable.

after weaving the 3 permutations she suggested i went back to paul o'connor's seminal book on double weave to try out his 6 shaft  multi layer weave. what i found is that the threading suggested by melanie olde in her article is much easier to control and weave. more readable as well. 

however i had to substitute o'connor's blocks and  tie ups for olde's.i won't say that this was effortless,  colors were a great aid for me and my phobia.

look at those pretty little layers.

this is block B on top A in the middle and C at the bottom. and getting ready for CAB .permutations, make way.

neki desu 

 

in between gigs

weaving the second layer. first layer is white,second red and third black therefore it is techically extremely easy to see which one is weaving.until now i had woven double weave in a play by ear fashion without actually seeing what was going on. as of now weaving three layers has become clear.and fun if juggling 3 shuttles is overlooked.

next permutation will be colors. then hanging layer order. going from the easy towards the more complex while interiorizing how three layer weaves work.

neki desu 

 

still waiting

for the needle retaining sponge bar for the k machine. however, the frugal weaver had saved a 10/2 cotton warp waiting for better times and the time is now.

it all came together with the arrival of the latest complex weavers journal and  a very exciting article on 3 layer weaving actually 3d weaving. having tried some 3 layer weaving ages ago but not having achieved a total grasp of it, i decided to give it a try.

warped 2 colors for the two other layers for an easy short experimental warp. 

look at those two colors  nicely  separated at the cross.

another big achievement after trying numerous tomes to warp using a paddle with scant luck.

 another chapter in self study without either sufficient or unclear instruction lines. ಠ ಠ

eventually one gets there, but the time spent is disheartening.

feeling totally validated as the other day on insta one of the big girls was warping using  k machine weights.

（＾▽＾） playing in the big girls league.

                            ＼（＾▽＾）／

turning a page. waiting has also brought me back to studying japanese at home  again.

watching some vids and doing the grammar exercises. listening comp courtesy of the doramas i'm watching. win-win!

neki desu