Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Baby wraps, and unexpected gifts from the dye pot


Here's how the prototype baby wrap turned out, modeled by the lovely lady that was the inspiration for the project. Is that not just the most adorable baby ever??

Now that word has gotten around that I can do custom wraps, my project list has rather exploded. Given an estimated time to complete a project of two weeks, I'm booked until...lets see...some time in April currently. Time to get to weaving!! Next up on my to-do list is to figure out how to squeeze in more time in the studio, around family, day job, other projects, and my historical recreation activities.
"Just keep weaving...just keep weaving...."


This is the wrap that is currently on the loom. The client picked out 4 colors of grey fiber reactive Procion dye, and requested warp painted stripes that alternated the grey and white, set off by thin stripes of black. When you dye your own yarn however, you're never quite sure what you're going to end up with. In the hand painting process, the greys diluted down a bit and their undertones really came through. Also, the dye wicked down the way unexpectedly in some places, and didn't take up in others. So we have green, blue, teal, etc versions of grey, with sparkles of the original white left to shine through. I not sure it was what exactly she had in mind, but I love it! (I'll be writing her in just a bit here to get her opinion.) I'm crossing this wrap with black weft, to leave the colors intact. I should have enough yarn on the loom for a second wrap. I'm thinking of a teal weft for that one, to pop out the unexpected gift of color. 

And now, back to the loom.

7 comments:

  1. What an incredible art you do! I love your loom and so happy for you that your business is booming and blooming.

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  2. what kind of loom do you use? would you recommend a certain loom or weaving baby wraps? Thank you

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    1. I have a four harness Pendleton floor loom. But, any loom that can do plain weave, and can weave a wide enough strip of fabric (about 26-28" after take up and shrinkage) ought to do the trick. I prefer floor looms for speed, since I like working with foot treadles rather than flipping levers by hand.

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  3. How do you figure out how much yarn you need for a wrap? I'm new to weaving & want to make myself a wrap but can't figure out much yarn I'll need.

    Congrats on your business doing so well btw!

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    1. You can find yarn calculators in a couple of places on line. For instance: http://weavolution.com/weaving-calculator http://www.haleystudio.com/yarn_calc.html

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  4. Fantastic,well designed and balanced in all respects.love handloom

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