Three looms are active right now. The drawloom has the napkin project, with a wild turkey on this one.
Wild turkey feet and legs weave up quickly. There are only a few single unit draw cords to pull at a time, plus one pattern shaft draw handle for the side borders.Wild turkey feathers require many more single unit draw cords. Even the borders at this place in the pattern are done with single units. The cast shadow on the loom from the bell that hangs in the window makes a funny face at this time of day. Could be a silly turkey face? 🙂
The Julia has the wool goose-eye twill fabric that I plan to use for making myself a simple winter cape. Next winter should be here soon enough.
Last but not the least at all is the GlimÃ¥kra Standard with curtains for our remodeled bathroom. This is a big project and I will be weaving on this for a while. M’s and O’s is enjoyable to weave. I like the counting for the squares and stripes, and the trading off of feet that this project gives me.
If at first you don’t succeed, count, count again! 1984–I’m not talking about the year, nor the book title. I’m talking about the number of 24/2 cotton ends in this 8.5-meter warp. I made it excruciatingly challenging for myself by putting in narrow stripes of 8 ends that are irregularly spaced. It will all be worth it if these curtains come out as I envision them. Time will tell.
After beaming the warp I count all the ends into threading groups. This step is usually straightforward and quick. This time, however (because of my uneven spacing of stripes and because of the fineness of the ends), I miscount the ends once or twice, or three times… I am determined to get all the threads into threading groups before moving on, so I keep at it until all the numbers line up as they should. Whew! Finally!
Counting (and re-counting and re-counting) ends into threading groups.Threading four shafts in M’s and O’s is refreshingly easy after all the challenges of beaming the warp and counting ends.System of heddles holding warp ends never ceases to amaze and enchant me.Bring on the heddles! Two batches of 100 heddles are on each pair of shaft bars, just waiting to be called into action. There are more 100’s in a box beside the loom, which I will add as needed.
Now we are at the fun part. This is smooth sailing and I am caught up in the breeze of it, relaxing into the hours of calmly threading heddles. Before we know it, the shuttle will be flying in here! And I’ll have new curtains in the bathroom. I’m excited about that!
Nothing beats a new delivery of weaving supplies! Paper plans become active when tubes of thread arrive. First, the Julia is getting dressed, using plans I have written out for placemats. For the Ideal, I’m thinking of a new pictorial tapestry, with a rosepathdraft I’ve prepared for that. The imagined tapestry will move forward after I finish the double-binding rag rugs that are on that loom now. Another draft I’m working on is for the next drawloom project. I’m doing the math for napkins in a six-shaftsatin variation with three-shaft twill. There’s a lot of thinking going on around here.
Opening a box of weaving supplies is always exciting! Warp thread, weft thread, more 6″ quills, and one more set of 4-shaftshaft holders and pins.Linen for weft. There is always room for a few more tubes of linen.Warp chains of 22/2 cottolin are placed through the beater. I have added enough shafts and upper and lower lamms to have eight of each. Just about ready to beam the warp. Reed leaning against the wall will be used for spreading the warp, so it doesn’t matter that it is a bit long for this little Julia loom.
Ideas come and go. But if I can put ideas on paper there’s a good chance they will become something. Everything begins with plans on paper.
Butterfly wing is flittering away. This butterfly study is complete. I still have warp on the loom, so cutting off has to wait. There are one or two more pictorial tapestry studies yet to come. Stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy the visual review in the slideshow video at the end of this post.
Windowed corner is a good place to weave a butterfly wing.Making butterflies of yarn for the butterfly wing pictorial tapestry. My yarn gets spread out in the process, always grouped by color value.
This study reinforces several important concepts for me.
Rolled the warp back a bit to be able to view the complete Butterfly Wing tapestry study.
Warp sett determines the amount of detail the cartoon can include.
Edges in the design are defined by using high contrast in color values.
Solid tapestry techniques, such as meet and separate, provide a good foundation for confident weaving.
Above all, take your time and enjoy the process, grateful for the opportunity.
The contours of the face are more evident now that the lips are in place. Every cartoon line requires decisions. Shift the color at thiswarp end?…or, one over? Does this butterfly have too much pink?…maybe it needs more pink? The portrait image happens almost invisibly, thread by thread.
I step back often so I can see what I am weaving. Up close, the details are obscure. I step up on the loom bench (very carefully, holding on to the top of the loom) and look through the back end of my binoculars. A distant view of the tapestry comes into focus. It’s encouraging! I can clearly see that the details are working out.
View from a distance.Looking through the back end of the binoculars gives a distant view. I’m looking for distinct lines of contrast and smooth transitions.
We may be too close to our own circumstances to see the details clearly. We make decision after decision, and we hope against hope that things will turn out okay. How can we know what is right? Step away to pray. Slip away with the Lord Jesus to get His view on things. Only when we consult a higher view can we see the bigger tapestry that the Grand Weaver is creating. Prayer, as a conversation with the Lord, helps us see that the details are working out according to his purpose.
