Today was an exciting day as I reached the center of Dreamland, the wrap that is currently on the loom. It always seems like the first half goes slower than the second half, especially the first wrap of the warp. This warp has 2 wraps on it. The first wrap is for our client who provided the picture that Janet used to create the warp.
Janet has this amazing ability to translate photos into warps. I love what she has done with this one. It captures the colors and the feel of Dreamland. She saw this as a dreamscape and named the wrap Dreamland based on that.
I have a video of the middle marker for Dreamland. The client chose to have a weft change as the middle marker. It's more subtle than I expiated. The colors in the video are more intense than in person.
Have a great weekend. I'll be back next week with finished wraps.
We wished a fond farewell to Haleakala and Awakea. They are both off to new homes far, far away. One is taking a long trip to Alaska via Ohio and Michigan. I encourage everyone to keep their address on their Paypal account current. It helps businesses, like ours, to send your purchases to the correct address.
The sample is completed for Dreamland which is the next wrap on the loom. It will have one sister wrap. After completing the sample weft for the client to choose her favorite and decide on a middle marker, we ran into several problems. The most difficult issue was the front apron bar which had
gotten caught in its own strings which run over the knee beam and attach to the cloth beam on the front. This caused all sorts of tension problems and the 2 feet that had been completed were removed, the apron rod was attached more effectively and weaving has begun again today.
We hope to make good progress now that all technical difficulties are repaired. We lost a few inches of warp which means the sister wrap will be 3.3 or 3.2 meters in length. We'll do a hand embroidered middle marker on the sister wrap.
I'll keep you posted on progress. I get wrapped up in weaving and don't get to the computer to post very often.
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...
.
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.
Today was an exciting day as I reached the center of Dreamland, the wrap that is currently on the loom. It always seems like the first half goes slower than the second half, especially the first wrap of the warp. This warp has 2 wraps on it. The first wrap is for our client who provided the picture that Janet used to create the warp.
