Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Another scarf

Two scarves begin as some beautifully dyed madder yarn from The Natural Dye Studio in a 4ply weight. Because its a yarn suitable for knitting and crochet it does have quite a bit of elasticity but it's strong enough for warp.

The weave is plain weave with shots of a strong cotton supplementary thread placed every 6 or so throws.
I like the subtle shading in this orange yarn.
Off the loom the threads are pulled up and tied tightly and the cloth is then soaked for an hour in warm water.
This is the scary bit when I plunge the lovely orange fabric into an indigo dye. Whilst I've made a number of these scarves I'm always a bit nervous that the yarn is ruined. So I am always impatient to wash and rinse the fabric after dyeing and take out the gathering threads. The fabric above is actually a forest green because the indigo over the orange changes colour.
What will be revealed.
As I start to take out the threads a little of the orange begins to glow through the fabric. More snipping.....
And its like flames flicking and twisting as they 'burn'.
Hung out to dry and then gently steam pressed.....
Outside in all its vibrant glory. Inside under artificial light there are a few metallic sparkles like glowing embers which are impossible to show in a photograph.







Thursday, August 22, 2013

Eek another month passes...

I've neglected the blog but I have been doing lots of stuff as well as the day job. Warping, spinning and finishing scarves and blankets. Must take some pictures of the final weaving. Two looms have been busy whilst the one down in the Victorian precinct has been sadly neglected. This is partly because the shop has been busy with people.
I've run very short of my plain weave snugly alpaca boucle scarves which sell the best out of my line. The hand dyed yarns do all the design work for me.
Below are yarns and warps waiting their turn and a little of the new dyed alpaca and silk.