Phoenix profile draft

I spent some time tinkering this morning and came up with the following profile draft:

It still needs considerable work (the profile draft is on 24 shafts so I need to respace/resize it for 22 in order to weave it as a tied weave) but I really like the image – it’s obviously a bird and the spread-out tail suggests flight.  Put it against a flame-colored background and you have a phoenix rising from the ashes.

The plan is as follows:

1. Finish profile draft and convert to a turned double two tie weave structure.
2. Wind two 12″ warps, one for the 60/2 pattern warp and one for the 140/2 tabby warp.
3. Paint the 140/2 silk warp in orange and red.  Rinse out and beam on.
4. Paint 60/2 pattern warp in shades of yellow and gold and toss over trapeze (in lieu of second beam).
5. Thread, sley, and tie on.
6. Dye 140/2 silk weft skein in shades of orange and red.
7. Weave fabric.  Phoenixes should appear yellow/gold against orange/ red.

There is quite a bit of uncertainty in this piece, since I’ve never woven a turned tied weave before, and weaving with 140/2 silk has so far eluded me (lots of broken threads), so I expect lots of snags.  Still, that’s the plan.  It will be neat to see the sample!

First, however, I have to write a few more sections of the book.  I didn’t write anything while I was at Seminars, so I have less than a week of posts queued.  So I’ll spend some time working on that this week as well.  (Not to mention catching up from a week away!)

Speaking of the book, the latest post is up – this one on what to do if you’re missing some skills that you need for a piece.  (Very apropos, since I’m missing quite a few skills for this sample, but intend to do it anyway!)