DianeHamillFiberArt

tie a knot and hang on!  Warping the loom is not my favorite thing to do, however it is absolutely necessary if you want to weave something.  Warping a loom consists of steps like “slaying the reed” and “threading the heedles.”  It sounds like a foreign language!  The warp  is the lengthwise yarns on the loom and the weft is drawn through, over and under the warp to create fabric.  Warping a loom takes some time and patience and it and has to be done correctly before you can weave.  Sometimes a new warp can be tied onto the loom using the previous warp.  It’s still a tedious process.  Like many things in life, when done correctly, warping the loom and weaving the fabric produce order out of apparent chaos.

I created the painted warp in these photos at the Artesian Gallery in Sulphur, Oklahoma about a year ago.  Part of the delay to weave this was just being busy, but part of it was savoring the anticipation of creating something from this beautiful warp.  I dyed or “painted” enough warp to weave two scarves.  It was amazing to see how different each warp looked and wove.  The colors changed in beautiful gradients as they blended.  I love the way the colors bleed into each other.  Putting this warp on the loom and weaving it make me hope there are more painted warps in my future.

You can see by comparing this photo with the previous one of the work on the loom, that the color schemes change mid-warp.  In other words, there are two completely different projects in this warp.  One is blue, reds and greens; while the second one is blue, red and purple.

After warping the loom, the weaving has begun!  I’ve added some solid black stripes to add width to the finished fabric.  Other weavers at the Mahota Studios, where I weave, tease me about always adding “a touch” of black to everything I make…..it’s mostly true!  I can’t wait to get this fabric off the loom and do the finishing.  There is still lots left to do before this will be two garments, but now that I’ve anticipated and savored, the process has begun.  Hopefully the finished products will be worthy of the wait!