Making heat waves

I’ve now wound three-quarters of the warp, which means it’s time to think about threading. While the bulk of my sampling will be in a simple 3-1 twill or broken twill, I’m also considering trying out a wavy background design to see if I can get the effect of a bird flying through heat waves. So here is the preliminary draft I’m considering:

The turquoise line divides the two threadings I’m considering- a straight draw on the left and a very lightly networked threading on the right. The networked threading is generated using straight lines of varying angle, from shafts 1 to 24. I wanted a little variety in the spacing between lines, but not so much variety  as to be distracting.

I’m debating which I want to use. The straight draw is more versatile for some other things I’d like to try, but I think the networked threading looks more dynamic. In both cases I suspect that the lines will just muddy up the phoenix (unless I can get the curves to go parallel to the curves in the phoenix – which would take considerable calculation and fuss), so I’m not inclined to spend too much time setting up the trial. I’ve got another half-day or so to think about it, though – it will take me that long to wind and beam the warp.

Finally, I have apparently been using my paper pirns All Wrong for the last several years. Here’s an educational video from Tigress, to show you the proper way to use a pirn. (She likes it so much, she’s been carrying it around all day!)