Tien Chiu

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You are here: Home / All blog posts / Unexpected results
Previous post: Working on the larger phoenix
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November 21, 2013 by Tien Chiu

Unexpected results

I uncovered and rinsed out my warp yesterday morning. Here’s what it looked like before rinsing:

stenciled warp, before rinsing
stenciled warp, before rinsing

I was worried about backstaining (getting black dye into the white areas while rinsing), so I did the first two rinses in ice water. This removes the soda ash, so the dye can no longer bind to the fiber. The ice is to lower the temperature, preventing the dye from reacting before the soda ash is removed. Then I did two more rinses in hot water to remove the unbonded dye. Here we are, going from the second rinse (ice water) into the third (hot water).

washing out the warp
washing out the warp

This worked remarkably well, and here’s what the warp looked like post-rinse:

stenciled warp, immediately after rinsing
stenciled warp, immediately after rinsing

No backstaining at all! (The darker spots are from the stuff underneath the warp, not backstaining on the phoenix.)

I was also pleased with how well the sacrificial weft held the warp together – no clumping or tangling.

As the warp dried, however, I was astonished to discover it was not actually black, but a deep maroon tending towards eggplant:

stenciled warp, half dry
stenciled warp, half dry

Here’s a closeup of the color, once fully dry.

stenciled warp, color closeup
stenciled warp, color closeup

I was racking my brains, trying to figure out the problem – had I not kept it warm enough? Did it need longer to react? Then I remembered that I was using a black dye meant for cotton on silk – and Procion MX mixed colors shift on silk, because of changes in reactivity and dye uptake between silk and cotton.

On sober consideration, however, I decided that the change was not a bad thing. The redder tinge would warm up the piece, making it more fiery, and enhancing the feel of a phoenix rising from death. Of course, we’ll have to see what it looks like in the Real Thing!

So I set it up and got ready to weave:

 

stenciled warp, before being woven
stenciled warp, before being woven

I had quite a few loose threads, and pulling them forward would have distorted the image, so I weighted the ends instead. Here is a look at the back of the loom (pardon the mess on the floor; I never was tidy!):

weights on stenciled warp
weights on stenciled warp

Then I started weaving. Much to my surprise, every fourth thread (in some areas) got pulled forward by about half an inch:

stenciled warp, half woven
stenciled warp, half woven

I tried to figure out why. It couldn’t be the threading, because there was no consistency across shafts. While it was more prevalent in some areas, it was fairly uniform across the warp. What would cause a change every four threads?

Then I remembered. When I wound the warp, I had intended it as a sample warp. So, I used three cones of yarn from one supplier and one cone from a different supplier, figuring I could use up the last bits of the yarn from the second supplier. Apparently the tension or the stretchiness of the oddball cone was different from the others, resulting in feathering when woven. (I do run the threads through a tension box as I wind them on, but perhaps the difference was too great to even out via tension box.) I took a closer look at the threads and realized that the oddball threads also took the dye slightly differently – so yes, they were almost certainly a different yarn. Object lesson: not all 60/2 silks are the same!

Still, I like the feathering, so this is not a problem – though I do wish the feathering was more random.

Due to a number of other flaws, this will likely be another sample piece. But that’s not a bad thing; it will give me freedom to embellish (or not) with abandon, testing things out before doing the final piece.

Finally, I leave you with this image of domestic bliss:

Fritz and Tigress, cuddling together
Fritz and Tigress, cuddled together

They went to the vet on Tuesday for their final vaccinations and a health check. The vet pronounced them eminently healthy, and said we didn’t need to come back for another year. I’m sure that will make the kitties happy.

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Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, dyeing, surface design, weaving Tagged With: phoenix rising, phoenix rising wall hanging

Previous post: Working on the larger phoenix
Next post: Squee!

Comments

  1. dsare says

    November 21, 2013 at 9:26 am

    I really enjoy your posts about the phoenix and weaving in general. And I love the addition of pictures of your two lovely kittens. My husband and I (plus a little dog and a very old cat) are experiencing many of the joys and mischief brought by our two kittens, Zoe and Jonas.

  2. Sandra Rude says

    November 21, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    I’m betting that the odd cone has a different amount of twist (either in the singles or in the plying) which resulted in a difference in shrinkage or stretchiness. It might be the same count as the other 3 cones, but the spinning or plying could be much different since it’s from a different mill.

  3. Marion says

    November 21, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    thank goodness for serendipity… I love the feathering, but agree it is perhaps a little too uniform. Todays mantra: I WILL experiment, sample, and try to remain open to what comes off the loom.

  4. katimeek says

    November 22, 2013 at 6:43 am

    Thank you for sharing your amazing experiments, Tien. Is there any reltionship between the loose threads and the ‘every 4th thread’? As for the feathering, it is almost as though those 4th threads are a different fiber, at least partially.

    • Tien Chiu says

      November 22, 2013 at 6:48 am

      I don’t know if the 4th threads are looser than the others, but that’s a good thought! I’ll check once I’ve got it off the loom and can see the woven header. And yes, the 4th threads are behaving quite differently – though I’m told that differences in spinning (tightness of twist) and the type of silk can make a huge difference.

  5. Ladella Williams says

    November 24, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    We learned to use the yarns from the same manufacturer as the grist and twist was slightly different. Also learned in our coverlet project that the darker (wool) pattern wefts (overshot patterns) caused the project pieces to be longer than the lighter pattern wefts. Presumably due to the amount of “dye” in/on the yarns. See that also in other project where cotton yarns from different manufacturers was used: some areas sort of bubbled (like pique).

    I had warp dyed for me and later found out that the color wicked into the white areas. I liked the effect. Juror said it was a bad effect. All in eyes of beholder. I do like the feathering of your project.

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