Tien Chiu

  • Home
  • About
    • Honors, Awards, and Publications
  • Online Teaching
  • Gallery
  • Essays
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Dye samples
You are here: Home / Archives for autumn splendor

March 31, 2011 by Tien Chiu

Unblocked!

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!

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: autumn splendor

April 1, 2011 by Tien Chiu

Ready to thread!

Finished beaming the warp this morning:

cotton-wrapped polyester warp, ready to thread!
cotton-wrapped polyester warp, ready to thread!

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:

Curvy advancing twill threading/treadling
Curvy advancing twill threading/treadling

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?)

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: autumn splendor

April 2, 2011 by Tien Chiu

Drafting and redrafting

I’m getting closer to a draft I like.  I’ve been playing with network drafting, setting up a basic line in warp and weft and then redrawing it on various networks to see how that affects the line.

Here is my basic line:

Basic threading and treadling line, establishing the basic pattern
Basic threading and treadling line, establishing the basic pattern

And here it is, redrawn on three different networks:

Same pattern, warp and weft redrawn on a straight draw six-end initial
Same pattern, warp and weft redrawn on a straight draw six-end initial
Same line, redrawn on a straight draw four-end initial
Same line, redrawn on a straight draw four-end initial
The same line, redrawn on a four-shaft, six-end rosepath initial
The same line, redrawn on a four-shaft, six-end rosepath initial

This is instructive.  The shape of the line, not the chosen network, determines the overall shape of the result.  The network chosen affects the smoothness of the edges and the texture of the overall piece, and the tie-up determines how it is shaded in.  (I think.)

I’m not 100% happy with my results yet – the parallel snaky lines are too similar/parallel, I’m looking for something much more organic.  I think I will either have to change the shape of the line a little more radically or else introduce some reversals into the line…more fiddling is needed.

I was really hoping to get the threading completed this weekend, but given where I am and the rest of my weekend to-do list, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.  Well, take things one step at a time.  Hopefully I can get my draft finished and the loom threaded by the end of next week.

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: autumn splendor, network drafting

April 3, 2011 by Tien Chiu

Got it!

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:

favorite simulation of leaves against a network drafted backdrop
favorite simulation of leaves against a network drafted backdrop

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:

same simulation, cream colored background
same simulation, cream colored background

And here is a darker brown background:

same simulation, darker brown background
same simulation, 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!

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: autumn splendor

April 3, 2011 by Tien Chiu

Hard decisions

Well, I finally did what I should have done at the very beginning, and did a burnout test on the thread.  Here is the result:

burnout test - devore on cotton wrapped polyester yarn
burnout test - devore on cotton wrapped polyester yarn

The burnout section is visible as a line down the center; the right side has been burned out, the left side has not.

This is pretty neat, but it also shows clearly that the polyester will be somewhat translucent, but definitely not transparent, once it is burned out.  This means it won’t work as intended for this piece.

So: what now?  Do I go ahead and thread all 1440 threads, then weave off something that won’t work for what I had in mind?  Or do I cut my losses and take the warp off the loom so I can design something that will work?

Well, actually not that hard a decision.  I don’t have any better alternatives to put on the loom, so I’m going to go with this warp, using it as a sample warp to experiment and learn whatever I can.  And there is plenty to learn!  Like how to use devore paste to burn out an image; how to do transfer printing polyester with disperse dyes; how to create and use silk screens to apply devore paste to fabric and disperse dyes to paper.  And, um, stuff.  Lots of stuff.

The last thing I’m working on this weekend is a proposal for a series of articles for Handwoven.  I opened my big mouth at exactly the right (or wrong?) time, and it’s looking like I might have an opportunity to write some articles on fabric design!  That would be really exciting.  So I am cobbling together a more concrete proposal, basically a list of article topics and outlines, to send to Madelyn.  If there’s a subject in fabric design that you’d want covered, leave me a comment; I’d like to know what interests people, and where I should start.

Filed Under: All blog posts, textiles, weaving Tagged With: autumn splendor, devore

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Information resources

  • Dye samples
    • Procion MX fiber-reactive dye samples on cotton
    • How to "read" the dye sample sets
    • Dye sample strategy - the "Cube" method
  • How-Tos
    • Dyeing and surface design
    • Weaving
    • Designing handwoven cloth
    • Sewing

Blog posts

  • All blog posts
    • food
      • chocolate
    • musings
    • textiles
      • dyeing
      • knitting
      • sewing
      • surface design
      • weaving
    • writing

Archives

Photos from my travels

  • Dye samples
    • Procion MX fiber-reactive dye samples on cotton
    • How to "read" the dye sample sets
    • Dye sample strategy - the "Cube" method
  • Travels
    • Thailand
    • Cambodia
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • India
    • Ghana
    • China

Travel Blog

Entertaining miscellanies

© Copyright 2016 Tien Chiu · All Rights Reserved ·

 

Loading Comments...