Thursday, February 25, 2010

Warp Painting: So Far So Good

Today I painted a tencel warp long enough for 4 scarves.


Kitchen dye setup

Even though this is my first time warp painting, it went pretty well. No major dyeing disasters - no damage to my kitchen. (Previously I've always dyed outside....but it's February here in New Hampshire, plus it's absolutely pouring rain. Outdoors is not an option!)

I wound this warp in 1 inch segments that I chained separately. I'm not sure if I needed to do that or not, but it gives me a lot of flexibility.


Waves
(Purple, Red, Wisteria, Intense Blue, Turquoise)

Jim figured out this stretcher that I clamped the warp to, but I'm not sure whether I needed it. The wet warp on the tubes at either end of my setup was weighty enough that things might not have rolled around if they hadn't been clamped.

Of course, the proof of the painting is in the weaving. (Or something like that).


Askew
(Pale green, pale apricot, turquoise, purple, intense blue)

The warp is curing overnight. Tomorrow I hope to rinse this warp and to paint my giant pillow sham warp.


Numbered tags of individual warp bouts
(Just in case I need to see them later!)

Two tendencies that I really noticed today:
  • I like doing things I've never done before
  • When I'm doing something complicated that I don't understand, I like to just dive into it and try it, rather than understand it first. For the longest time, every time I dressed my loom, I couldn't connect all the steps mentally. I just did one after the other. Today, I didn't fully understand how to dye the warp until I did it. (And I'm still not totally sure I understand it!)

Seeing Spots
(Black, yellow, red, turquoise, green)

I definitely leaned heavily on advice from:

Garden Path
(Pale yellow, pale green, pale blue, pale pink)

Fun stuff!! I'm excited to see what tomorrow's warp will look like!

Related posts:
Interrupting my studio progress to do some warp painting
Preparing warp

20 comments:

Theresa said...

Very very cool! Love the spots. As I saw your set up in the kitchen I was wondering if you had a basement.
Dharma Trading is a nice company to deal with from my limited experience in years past.
It all looks to be working out beautifully.

Life Looms Large said...

We do have a basement, and that's where I planned to dye. But I'm under the impression that I have to apply the dye in a room that's 70 degrees, and there's no way we could get the basement that warm.

So I got far down the path of this project before deciding I had to risk our kitchen floor a little. It actually worked out fine. The dye was well-behaved - and Bailey was barred from the kitchen all day!

Sue

PS: The spots were kind of a test for the pillow sham warp I'll do tomorrow. I'm glad they worked and I think that will be a fun scarf. I actually like the pale warp a lot, but it's hard to see in these pictures.

Hilary said...

You are very brave. Can't wait to see the final results.

Sharon said...

Dive in - yup, yup, yup. That's the school that I follow. I have to try it for myself, just in case.

Cindie said...

Oh boy - I can't wait to see these woven up! I hope it's not too long a wait. I still have a few painted warps waiting to be woven - will need to get to those in the near future.

UliB said...

I really like your setup, the stretcher is superb. I don't think, you actually need it for dyeing, but it should help a lot to keep the threads apart. Very cool.
I'm anxious to see how it will look warped and woven

Marion B. said...

This promisses a lot. I am curious to your next steps and pictures of them.

Delighted Hands said...

Wow! I loved the cool designs you picked! It should be an amazing weave!

Tina J said...

So what I am seeing is one long warp, dyed in sections and rolled up as you go. How cool is that! I never would have thought to do such a thing. I will be sure the Tuesday Weavers take a look at this.
Happy Weaving, Tina

Anonymous said...

that looks like quite a project! Am looking forward to the weaving part. ;)

~ The Jolly Bee ~ said...

So I guess you won't be cooking anything for a while....No more food shots today, huh? At any rate, it all looks good.

Jennifer said...

This is soooooooo cool!!! What fun and the patterns look great! I also love your sharing the observations about yourself. I can't wait to see these woven!

Deanna said...

Very interesting! We've done dyed warps at guild meetings before - but just laid the warp on plastic and painted - your method is much more orderly, and gives you much more control over where the color goes.

charlotte said...

This is so exciting! The warps look great, I like especially the one with the filled circles. I've never done this, but it is very tempting.
I feel the same way about doing new stuff. I have to do it in order to really understand it
Have a nice weekend!

Sharon said...

I haven't dyed a warp so am curious to see how yours turns our and what I can learn from you. I too dinto things - why not?

Gangai Family said...

Really cool to see your dyeing shots, Sue! Can't wait to see the scarves.

Julie said...

Wow those are going to be so pretty!

Annie said...

When I dye long lengths of yarn I use a piece of gutter. That can be laid on the table in my kitchen. Put your plastic in the gutter (fastened with pegs, if you like) Paint the first part of your warp in this gutter. wrap it in the plastic. Lengthen your plastic for the next bit in the gutter, while your painted part is waiting wrapped up next to it. No mess, Standing or sitting upright, which is not so tiring as working on the floor.Trouble is you won't be able to oversee everything, because part of your warp will be wrapped up before you finish it all, but with the right amount of planning that shouldn't be a problem.
Looking forward to seeing your warps woven up!

man and van in London said...

Intriguing topic you choose to write on. I like the way you express yourself, how you underline, so to speak, specific areas, on which you want the reader's attention. Great stuff, thanks for sharing.

Peg Cherre said...

I'd love to see how these warps turned out when woven, but couldn't find the follow up blog posts. Did you weave them? Did you blog about it? If so, can you tell me when, or provide links?

Thanks!