Thanks to all the people who emailed and commented about my friend Edna. She passed away this morning. I like to think that she is still pedaling her bike somewhere, in a place where all the hills are downhills and all the winds tailwinds. She was a great and generous spirit, and I will miss her.

Weaving-wise, I’m now planning out the shadow weave warp in earnest. I’m about 1/5 of the way through winding the warp (2800 ends), which means it’s time to think about how I plan to dye it and what color combinations to use. Also what dyes to use – and there’s the conundrum. I could use Procion MX fiber-reactive dyes, Cibacron F fiber-reactive dyes, or Lanaset acid dyes. All have pros/cons. I have a large collection of predyed samples in Lanset acid dyes, so can mix up colors quite precisely. But I would have to steam the painted warp, a process fraught with potential screwups, and the colors won’t be quite as bright or as colorfast than fiber-reactive dyes. I could use Cibacron F, in which I have a slightly less extensive sample collection. Or I could use Procion MX, which is what I used for my cloth samples. However, I don’t have any precision samples for MX dyes, so I’d have to mix using my best guess about proportions. (While keeping careful records for next time, of course.)

In addition to deciding what colors to dye, I also need to decide what combinations of colors to use, since there are two warps and two wefts. I think I will start with black and blood red, then go to brick and scarlet, and shade from there through orange and gold. I will have to do some more color simulations in Photoshop, but in the end the only way to really know what happens is to weave it. I hope I get it right!

I also need to think about the draft. Each of the flames will be quite narrow (3″ max) and will run along the diagonal. This means that, with my current draft, the “heat waves” will appear to run vertically. This would look awkward in a wider strip, but will it make a difference in such a narrow strip? I don’t know. Another thing for which I need to sample.

Another thing to consider is the spacing of the colors. Here’s the sketch I made on my iPad Air yesterday:

It shows a color-gradient fabric cut on the bias. I want a 24″ strip of fabric for the longest flame, which means I need a color gradient from orange to reddish black that happens over a space of twenty-four inches, when cut on the diagonal. Doing the math, that means I need a square 17″ x 17″, which will produce a 24″ diagonal. A bit more math suggests that each color transition should be about four inches long.

There is more math to be done, none of it hard, but in the end it boiled down to seven yards of warp: one yard each for five color-gradient sections, plus one for loom waste and one for sampling. Once I have it all wound, I will have to stretch it out and tie it in the precise and convoluted method I used for the color study. I am not looking forward to that, but it will have to be done.

And once that is done, I will need to knit blanks and dye the weft! This is truly going to be a labor of love.

I am, however, looking forward to the weaving part. I received two more Bluster Bay Honex-tensioned end feed shuttles last week, and they are truly gorgeous. Curly maple and bocote:

The grain and figuring are beautiful – the bocote reminds me of tiger eye, my favorite gemstone. And of course they are joy to use – I’ve tested them out already!

That brings my stock of Bluster Bay end-feed shuttles to six, which is way more than any weaver needs. But they are such beautiful shuttles, it’s hard to stop collecting them!

And, finally, here is a picture of Fritz the Mighty Warrior, engaged in mortal combat. Is it possible to look adorable, fierce, and downright silly at the same time? Maybe not for an ordinary cat, but the inimitable Fritz does it with ease.

Okay, the chocolate was fun. Back to weaving!

I spent yesterday morning trying (unsuccessfully) to get the auto-advance and the fly shuttle mechanism onto my loom. To get the auto-advance on, I had to remove the rolling temple, which required removing the beater to make room to work. And then I couldn’t get one of the screws on the sandpaper beam off. And so on, for about an hour and a half. Very frustrating.

In the evening, however, I got B. to help me, and we managed to get the auto-advance onto the loom. We also figured out how to get the rolling temple back onto the loom (we need a half-inch block under the bracket to give us some extra clearance) and how to keep the fly shuttle from hanging up on the shafts, which requires a block or two to move the beater forward. Once all that is done, hopefully the loom will be working again! The next several yards will be testing out the fly shuttle and learning to use the auto advance. I feel bad about wasting that laboriously-made color study warp, but better that than trying to debug the fly shuttle on a 140/2 silk warp. One shudders to think what an out-of-adjustment fly shuttle would do to that warp! And perhaps I can continue weaving the color study in appropriate colors.

In anticipation of getting the loom working again, I have been working on drafts. So far they have mostly been doodles, but I’m starting to like them! Here is a shadow weave draft with the color gradients applied:

I really, really like this. It is a really complicated weave, though – two warps painted in different color gradients, and two wefts, also painted in different color gradients. I would need to use a pair of knitted blanks for the painted wefts. In 140/2 silk that is apt to take quite awhile to knit. But what price beauty? I think it will be gorgeous – if I can pull it off.

The fabric will be cut on the bias, however, so the diagonal pattern will run vertically in the finished flames. I don’t think that will be quite as attractive, though, so I’m considering making the flow vertical rather than diagonal in the fabric. That way the pattern will appear diagonal in the flames.

On the other hand, the flames are only an inch and a half wide, so the pattern may disappear if I make it diagonal. There’s only one way to find out: weave it and see! I love trying new things.

Speaking of new things, there was an alien visitor to the household recently. Two friends came over and brought their adorable babies. Here is Fritz’s “E.T. moment” with the visiting alien and its spacecraft.

I have started thinking about the fabric for the skirt. It needs to be very, very light, so it flows like fire as the wearer walks. That suggests very fine yarn, like 120/2 silk or maybe the tram silk I bought from John Marshall. Looking at the Fine Threads Study Group samples I’ve amassed over the years, and at my own samples, it seems that plain weave or a plain weave variant is the best way to go. Plain weave is considerably thinner than twill, and is beautifully floaty.

I also want more interesting patterning than plain weave. I believe a piece should offer something to the viewer at all distances. From thirty feet away, what you see is color, shape, and movement; at ten feet, you can make out details of the garment; and standing up close, you can see the details of the handwoven fabric. Plain weave can produce beautiful iridescence, but I want a little more than that in the skirt.

At the same time, I want the patterning to be quite subtle, so it doesn’t call attention to itself at the expense of the flames and the color transitions. It is not the main character, it is a bit character in the supporting cast. So I want it to be more or less invisible (except as a tiny bit of visual texture) from more than five feet away. It should reward the close-up viewer, but not interfere with the enjoyment of the ten-foot viewer.

I am still experimenting with structures, but I am increasingly liking the idea of shadow weave. Woven with colors relatively close to each other, and in fine threads, it should produce just the subtle pattern I’m looking for. I created a quick example this morning, in about five minutes. Here it is, in yellow/orange (top of the flames) and in red/black (bottom of the flames). I really, really like the way it flows, just like fire, and the subtle movement it adds to the fabric.

But that is not the only possibility. My friend Sandra sent me a most intriguing draft – it’s a crackle threading woven as lace, and is beautiful as well. I want to experiment more with this structure before choosing a draft to sample.

Designing the cloth – I will probably want to weave it about 30″ wide, and cut it on the bias to reduce raveling. This means that design lines should probably run diagonally in the cloth, so they appear more or less vertical after the cloth is cut on the bias. That will let it run up the flames so they don’t look like a men’s necktie.

The plan is to create a more carefully designed draft, and start with a 12″ wide sample at about 80 ends per inch. That is 960 threads, a manageable number, and will give me practice in setting up a warp in 120/2 silk. After I determine whether it will work, I can move on to adding color and width for the final yardage. I plan to weave about 6 yards, 30″ wide, which should be more than enough to do the flames.

That, however, will have to wait for a few weeks. I still need to finish getting the fly shuttle onto the loom and to install the auto-advance; after that I need to weave a few more yards on the color study warp to make sure I have everything adjusted properly. Then I can cut it off and start on my sample.

Meanwhile, of course, there are the feline “helpers”. I was getting ready to cut some china silk for more experiments, and left the room for some reason. When I got back, someone had tunneled between the layers of cloth, giving me this utterly adorable sight:

She loves tunneling under the sheets on the bed, too, but that’s somewhat less adorable. Especially when she does it at three in the morning and then starts pouncing on your feet! But we love her anyway.