Tag: cotton

What Our World Needs

Karen

I would rather not stop in the middle, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Now, I am picking up where I left off at the halfway point on the towel. After a week away, I am happy to be back at my weaving loom. Project planning, loom dressing, and weaving. It’s a satisfying perpetual cycle.

Cottolin and cotton for a pretty and thirsty modern towel.
Long pattern blocks create ribs across the width of the towel.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly approaching, I am prepared to face continued interruptions. But I will keep coming back to my looms, sneaking in as much weaving time as possible. It’s no secret that I love to weave.

Thick and thin cottolin hand towels on the loom with interesting patterns.
As towel four rolls up on the cloth beam, towel five nears completion.

I feel the same way about praying. It is something I keep coming back to. For someone who loves to pray, prayer itself provides a welcome respite in troubled times. God responds to our heartfelt prayers. He hears and heals. Our world needs that now, more than ever. Perpetual prayer to our Prince of Peace.

May you keep coming back to what you love.

With Christmas in mind,
Karen

Warp Stamping Is Over

Karen

If I could do it over, I would put on a shorter warp for this experimental project. I enjoyed weaving plain weave, with the simplicity of one shuttle and one color. I did not enjoy, however, stopping every six inches to stamp the warp with paint. Clearly, I am not a paint person.

End of the warp is a happy sight!
Bare warp beam, with the end of the warp inches away from coming over the back beam for the final stretch of weaving.

You can guess that I was overjoyed to see the tie-on bar come over the back beam! That hope of finishing propelled me to the end. Of course, I still have work to do–fixing a few floats, wet finishing, and then sewing a tiered skirt. The root of my problem was not that this was long and slow. The root was my uncertainty. Isn’t that always the case? Is all this effort and mess going to be worth it? Will this fabric even work for the skirt I want to make?

Warp was stamped on the loom, using fabric paint, before it was woven.
Printed woven cloth, just off the loom, awaits finishing and sewing. The print was made by stamping the warp on the loom, using fabric paint, before it was woven.

When we are stumbling in the dark, we long for light. It can be discouraging when you are not sure where your decisions will take you. The light of God shines in the darkness, bringing hope. Hope dispels darkness. Much like the tie-on bar at the end of a long warp, when we see hope rounding the corner we know we can make it.

May your path be lit with hope.

By the way, if you are a paint person, I have a set of gently used hand-carved wooden stamps I will send to the first person in the continental U.S. who asks for them. Postage is on me!
Get in Touch to let me know you’d like them.
*UPDATE*
The stamps have been spoken for! Sandy O. is going to use them to experiment on her rigid heddle loom!

Happy plain weaving,
Karen

Tools Day: Hand-Carved Stamps

Karen

I need only a few simple shapes to stamp the warp. Fortunately, my woodcarver husband agreed to make the wooden stamps for me. Steve asked me to draw the shapes on white paper, and said he would take care of the rest. The result? Superb wooden stamps for making painted designs on the warp while it is on the loom.

Carving wooden stamps for warp stamping.

Carving wooden stamps for warp stamping.

Supplies for stamping the warp on the loom.

Stamped warp.

May you be the recipient of hand-crafted love.

Simply,
Karen

Weave in the Midst of Beautiful

Karen

Thread on a carefully wound quill comes off effortlessly. I love the feel of the boat shuttle chasing back and forth between my hands, with no resistance whatsoever from the unwinding thread. I wind a few quills at a time and drop them in the loom basket that hangs on my bench. Then, when I empty a quill, I simply reach into the basket and quickly replace the thread in my shuttle, and continue weaving. It is satisfying to do something as enjoyable as weaving, and have it end up as lovely cloth.

Stamped warp on the loom.
Freshly-wound quill in the boat shuttle replaces an emptied quill. The new weft thread will overlap the end of the former thread, and be secured with the swing of the beater, and changing of the shed.

I do hope to make beautiful things, but it’s more than that. The weaving procedure, itself, seems beautiful to me. Such strategy. Such alignment of movement and function. There is a deeper satisfaction than merely being pleased with the final results.

Beauty serves a purpose. Beauty points us to our Maker. Yes, purple mountain majesties and intricate iridescent hummingbird feathers do point to a masterful creator. But I am also talking about the beauty of how things work, and how people are responsive to love, and how everything in our solar system fits together. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. What a Grand Weaver we have!

May you find yourself surrounded with beauty.

With amazement,
Karen

What If it Is Not as You Expected?

Karen

The stamped fabric print is subtle and ethereal. The print goes through to the reverse side, too, which shows that the color is saturating the threads. Thankfully, there is more than just surface color, which means I can expect the woven-in print to last for the life of the fabric.

Printed warp on the loom.
View from below the woven fabric. The face of the fabric is seen rolling onto the cloth beam.

I had hoped for brighter colors, but with this fabric paint the intensity of color fades as the paint dries. And then, when the weft crosses the print it reduces the brightness even more, of course. That said, I am not disappointed. It is different from what I expected, but it will still make a pretty tiered skirt.

Stamped warp on the loom.
Stamped warp is transformed as it crosses the fell line.

Prayer can be different from what we expect, too. Believing and praying brings amazing results. It’s not always the results we had in mind, though. The truly amazing thing is this: The prayers of believing people are somehow combined with the power of God to bring about his will. It’s his good will that gets printed deep into the fabric of our lives. Disappointment gives way to thankfulness as we see results over time that are more than just color on the surface.

May your disappointments be few.

With you,
Karen