A bonanza of packages landed on my doorstep yesterday: the cotton-covered polyester thread I’d been waiting for, five silkscreen frames, and a starter package of disperse dyes (to dye the polyester post burnout).  I am unblocked, un-bluesed, and ready to create!

I’ve started winding the warp for the devoré samples.  It is going to be 16 yards long and 22″ wide.  I am going to use a mix of “natural” and “eggshell” colors because the eggshell is virtually the same shade (cream) as the natural, and I needed more thread than I’d ordered in natural.  I had originally planned to warp up a 12″ sample but eventually decided that the warp was so long, I might as well put it on wider and weave the actual fabric off the same warp.  16 yards ought to be plenty to do samples plus a long vest!  And if not, I’ll just put on another warp for the “real thing”.

I have two colors available for the weft: white and “ecru”, which to me looks more like taupe.  I will try both, but since I am looking for a relatively low-contrast fabric, and the ecru/taupe is quite dark, I will probably go with white.  The idea is to do a subtle, network-drafted pattern in cream and white, wavy as the drift of an autumn leaf, and place the “leaves” in strategic spots around the pattern so it looks like they’re drifting downward with the wind.

I will definitely try out different wefts, however, as well as surface design in antique gold paint – subtle designs in white on white are great, but they are only visible up close, and this garment is designed to be viewed across the room and on the runway.  So something higher-contrast will be needed to “establish the line”.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that my silkscreen emulsion film is too old to use, so I have ordered some more.  It is labeled as “not suitable for water-based inks” but I called the distributor, and they said that for a short print run, it should be fine.  Since I am only planning a few copies in any print run, I think I’ll be fine.  This weekend, in between putting on the new warp and finishing dyeing the cross-dyed samples, I will prepare the frames (seal the wood, attach the polyester mesh, and seal the outside with duct tape).  Once the photo emulsion film arrives, I’m going to attach the film to the screens and then do another exposure test.  Hopefully this one will come out better!

Off to wind some more warp!  Today and Friday are fairly booked with other things, but I’m hoping to have the loom fully warped and weaving by Sunday afternoon.  I can’t wait to see how the devoré comes out!

Finished beaming the warp this morning:

It turned out I had enough thread to beam on 24″ wide, at 60 ends per inch, so that’s exactly what I did.  I wound 2-3 sections at a time on my AVL warping wheel, which sped up the process immensely.  I also used a 4×4 cross, 4 threads in each bundle, which made things even faster.  I don’t know yet whether that will work out well, but I sure hope so!

Now, of course, I’m somewhat stymied.  Before I can start threading, I have to design the threading!  Which means I need to settle on at least some aspects of the design.  I’m currently contemplating an expanding advancing twill threading, with an expanded advancing twill treadling that goes back and forth in curves, like this:

Unfortunately, I don’t like this (yet).  I added some variation in the length of the advancing twill “runs” on the right-hand side, which helps, but it still feels stilted and repetitive.  It’s nothing like the complex, organic feel I’m looking for.  I think I may try a long curvy line in the threading, network drafted on a 6-end initial.  Mumble, mumble, throw up hands, try something new.

While I’m debating the threading, of course, I can keep my hands plenty busy by finishing off the cross-dyed samples, preparing silkscreens, and so on.  I also have to finish off my article for Complex Weavers Journal, get an article proposal to Handwoven, and study up on a big pile of stuff for work, so it’s going to be one seriously busy weekend.  (But ain’t they all?)

I played around some more this morning.  The problem in yesterday’s work was that the threading “lines” were too similar in length and slope; I made some adjustments, did some simulations, and arrived at a combination that I like:

Here the lines, while still parallel, have enough variation to still be interesting.

Curiously, my white/cream combination did not come out well in Photoshop:

And here is a darker brown background:

In the cream background, the wavy effect gets lost, and in the high-contrast background, it dominates.  A light brown seems to be just about right.

Of course, that’s a Photoshop simulation, not actual fabric.  I still plan to weave up a white weft, to see if the effect is different “in real life”.

Equally “of course”, I don’t have a pale brown weft.  So I will take some of the white weft and try dyeing it in different intensities of brown.  I might have a previously dyed sample of Cibacron F in brown, or I might have to mix my own.  Either way, it’s time to mix up some stock solutions and start messing around.

Have I mentioned how complex this project is?  It’s going to involve at least eight or nine techniques by the time I’m done, many of which are new to me.  It’ll be a miracle if I get it all done by next spring.

But, needless to say, I’ll have a lot of fun along the way!