Finished

The Shibori scarves are done now and I'm really happy and I'm sure I'll do some more later.

The 2nd scarf was a bit short, I left the fringe on one side long, no warp waste and a longer scarf. You can see the wavy pattern in the 2nd scarf and I'm happy how the colours have come out. You might spot a lighter patch in the fringe. I had unknowingly left a warp knot in when I was dyeing.

More Shibori

I wove up the warp with another Woven Shibori, this time adapting the pattern to just one repeat and 4 plain weave in between the pattern thread. It's not fully dried yet, so I cannot pull it open to see how the pattern is on the inside but I think that the intended pattern shows up better overall this time.
I also died the woven scarf first in a turquoise bath and only then pulled the pattern thread tight and died again in a darker colour, a mix of 20% red and 80% turquoise.

Here the woven scarf from the loom and after the first dye bath.

Close up of the woven cloth with clearly the pattern thread visible.

Almost finished with pulling the pattern threads.

Scarf after second dye bath, not yet dry.

Scan of the scarf, I like the colours together. Just have to wait a while before I can have a look "inside" the scarf when it is fully dried. But I like it as it is.
Lesson learned, not to start to complex.
My first trial there was to much going on and no clear pattern is seen there after weaving, though the scarf is ok and looks nice. Just not what I had in mind when I wove it.

Empty loom again, so have to think of the next warp.

This date used to be a special date, now no longer. Weird.

Dyeing the Woven Shibori

Last night I dyed the woven Shibori. It took a long time for the cloth to dry and you are supposed to wait with taking the pattern threads out until it is dry. Well, I speeded the drying up a bit by putting it in the dryer, but I did not want to use to much heat here. I even put the heating on for a while so that I could use the radiator for drying :-) I'm happy with the result, though difficult to see the network pattern in it. You can see differences but that is all.
Now, showing the result is quite a challenge as you need to spread it open to see what has happened. Scanning is what is needed.

Here is the warp after drying but with the pattern theads still in

Here a close up, with the pattern threads still in

Here, after taking out the pattern threads

This is what's left of the pattern threads......

 Here a scan of part of the scarf, where I spread the cloth out for the pattern to be seen

Here a scan of all of it but not spread out, so the pattern that comes with the dyeing is not clearly seen.
I still have some warp left on the loom, I will do a bit of sampling with what is left over now. I had woven 3 plain weave rows overall in between the pattern rows, may be I should do a bit of experimenting with this and see what happens. I would like to see the network pattern back after the dyeing.

Woven Shibori

My local Guild held an outdoor day today. Our last meeting before the Summer and holiday season. We were going to dye our woven Shibori. But it rained all day, so no dyeing done but we had a good time together. This is the first time that the weather was against us on our outdoor day.
I made a warp with 8/2 Tencel and used all 24 shafts on the Magic Dobby on a network draft.
On the left is how the woven warp came of the loom and on the right it shows how it looked after I drew the pattern weft yarn tight. For the pattern I used a polyester yarn that I bought at my local store, it's really a strong sewing thread. I was able to really pull hard, only once did the threads brake when pulling. I left it and hope that it will hold ok between the other threads. I'll find out after dyeing.

Here is a close up of the cloth, and you can see the thin pattern threads on top. I wove 3 rows of plain weave in between the pattern thread.

Here a start with tightening the pattern threads.

Here the whole warp with all the pattern threads tightened up.

Here a close up of this.
This warp is now soaking in the water and I will dye it tomorrow by myself with Procion.
It is the first time that I have woven a Shibori and I'm keen to see the result after dyeing.

Here is the draft of the warp. You can just about see the difference in the treadling. I just used the colour to make a difference between these treadlings and between the plain weave (blue) and the pattern weave.

Warm weather

What do you do when it is hot outside (30C+) and want to cool down?

This and that, reflecting time

It is so nice to get positive feedback. I'm very much up and down, lately a bit more down than up. So encouraging words really do help. Thank you all who have given me feedback.
And my granddaughter's reaction on the photo says it all. That is what keeps me going. Skyping with the grandchildren is also really lovely. Blowing kisses and giving a cyber hugh.

This month OnLineGuild workshop is by Isabella Whitworth: notebooks. I'm really looking forward to this and intend to take part and get the creative juices flowing again. You can only take part in the OLG workshops by being a member. Members do get The Journal each quarter and if you want to take part in Summer School, you are entitled to the special Guild rate.
There have been some great OLG workshops already this year but I have not managed to take part in any yet. The beauty of these workshops is that you can always do it at another time, when it suits you better. But that does need some discipline...... Doing it at the time they are given you get feedback when you post about your experiences. You can still post at a later date if you want, but that is different.
And talking about Summer School, I have enrolled at the last minute and will take part in the Digital Photography Course. David had a lovely camera and I want to be able to use it well. Also, we were married just around the corner from where Summer School is being held. So, it will be nice to revisit and look back, reflect AND go forward.