I finished weaving Haleakawa and am halfway through the sister wrap, Awakea (Hawaiian for morning). I hope you enjoy this video of the middle markers.
Janet is busy winding the warp for the next wrap, Dreamland. Here is a photo of the mock up she completed.
The next video will be Dreamland being beamed onto the loom. I'm looking forward to being snowed in on Monday so I can get more weaving done. Planning on finishing Awakea and hemming and wet finishing (washing) both wraps.
This was the view at sunrise. Perhaps it will be a baby wrap one day. For now, it's inspiration to get dressed and go walk.
On To baby wraps. Here is my Glimakra Standard warped up and working hard to complete Hale Akala, the wrap inspired by an Hawaiian Sunrise and an African painting depicting the Masai at the beach. You can see both photos in my previous blog post.
I have moved beyond the center and wanted to share the middle marker since it's a bit unique. The idea for this tactile center marking came from the mama who will be receiving this wrap.
I did a short video so you can see it more clearly. I have a few important comments to make following the very brief video.
After removing the middle markers and trying once more to place the supplemental weft for the middle marker, I realized that the effect I am hoping for is best done by needle weaving over the weft at the center of the wrap once it is off the loom. The weaving has continued and the middle marker will be added later.
When we agree to weave a custom wrap, we work closely with our client(s) to create a wrap from a photo or painting or idea they want to see in cloth. We have been working with a mama in Hawaii and she chose these two inspiration photos
This is a photo of the Hawaiian sunrise. It's a favorite from our client and she wanted us to use the color scheme in this photo along with...
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This one which is from a painting she purchased while in Africa. The first mock up expressed what Janet saw when combining the two photos. The mama indicated she wanted a graduated color scheme using yellow, pink, salmon and purple. So, Janet did another mock up which our customer liked and we wound the warp.
Last week, I showed a short video of threading the loom with the warp our client named Hale Akala( house of the sun in Hawaiian).
This week I have a video of the first foot of weaving I have completed using a light gray weft. Prior to beginning the weaving, I sampled 6 different weft colors including natural, black, light and dark gray. Our customer chose the one she liked best and off we go.
The first wrap to be woven is the custom wrap which is 4.6 meters long. I plan to weave 182 inches which will allow for take up in the weaving and shrinkage after wet finishing. I checked my calculations by measuring the sample off the loom before and after wet finishing and found I needed to beat less firmly. My ppi (picks per inch) were greater than my epi (ends per inch). Plain weave structure requires an equal number of each or the web or cloth will be either weft or warp faced if you have too few or too many picks.
Here's the video:
I'll be back with the middle marker early next week. Back to the loom for now!
Here is a short video after beaming Hale Akala (Hawaiian for house of the sun)
Once beamed, the threading begins. From there, it's sley the reed and start the weaving! This is the first warp we have done that is totally Brassard yarns. The beaming went beautifully and the threading is going very quickly. I'm looking forward to weaving this warp and trying a couple of different color wefts to show off the gradient.
The name Hale Akala mean house of the sun in Hawaiian and is pronounced "holly ah kah la". It was named by our customer who lives in Hawaii and provided this photo as the inspiraiton for the wrap
I could stare at this photo all day and dream about how warm and lovely it must be in Hawaii right in this photo. Certainly beats the 12" of snow we got this week. Hmmm.
I enjoy weaving baby wraps and feel lucky we have a waiting list of mamas who want custom wraps from Lotsaknots. We have worked out our own little "production line". Janet, who has an amazing innate sense for color, does the initial design and works on a mock up of the wrap. The mama chooses a photo or picture for inspiration and Janet works with her on the warp design. Here is an example of a mock up and the final wrap.
Janet winds the warp and together we beam it onto the loom.
I take over and thread the warp, weave a sample and consult with the mama on the weft color. I do the weaving and the finishing. Janet jumps in at the end to correct any weaving errors such as a skipped thread, and I do the wet finishing and ironing. We have it worked out and it's going well.
I was recently asked to add blessing threads to the wrap that is currently on the loom. It's the sister wrap to the Wizard of Oz Competition of Weavers wrap. This one is called "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". Here's a video of the wrap and the blessing threads.
In my last post, I removed three baby wraps from the loom. It took a couple of weeks to complete the repairs, sew the hems, wet finish, iron and repair again all three baby wraps. Two wraps were 3.7 meters long and one was 3.4 meters. We go over each one very carefully, several times to be sure we find and repair all weft skips or weft threads that erred in the path from one side of the wrap to the other. It's tedious, time consuming work. But our wraps do not leave here until they are as perfect as possible.
Well, the Sedona/Solace triplets were boxed and sent to their homes yesterday. Here is a short video of one of the completed wraps.
In addition, we entered a Facebook Competition of Weavers where everyone wove a wrap inspired by the Wizard of Oz movie. We chose to make a fibonacci sequence representing Dorothy's trip along the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. Janet wound the warp while I was busy weaving the previous 3 wraps. We beamed Yellow Brick Road and I finished weaving the day before the wrap was due. Thirty three people entered the competition in the fall and we were 1 of 11 who completed their wrap in time for the anonymous judging on the Loom to Wrap page on Facebook.
Here's the completed Follow the Yellow Brick Road:
We've been pretty busy and now the loom is prepared with the sister wrap to Yellow Brick Road and Janet is winding the next custom wrap. I'll be posting about that one as it goes on the loom.''We have a new system for beaming the warp and it's working much better. Ten years of weaving and I'm still learning!!
It's an exciting day in the Lotsaknots Studio as I removed the baby wraps that once were warp strings on my loom.
Here is the mock up for the warp called Sedona. The first wrap was named Solace by the mama who ordered it. All the wraps on this warp were inspired by a painting we saw in Sedona, Arizona when traveling in late fall 2013. Here's the original inspiration.
and here's the video of the wraps coming off the loom.
Wait until you see what's next! Ir's a big surprise and I won't be able to reveal anything until after January 17th. Stay tuned, we'll publish a few hints.
