Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Shadow Weave - The Next Warp

This warp is ready to weave. I was happy with the way the weights and over-the-castle winding on technique worked. It beamed on without difficulty and I'm hoping that it will be my tightest and most evenly tensioned warp so far. Time will tell.

One thing which I definitely want to do next time, is add more weights. I used two half gallon milk jugs because two is all I have, the reason being that we don't use much milk. But, with DS living at home this semester, we will use more milk, so I foresee plenty of jugs for weights next time.

I have to admit that the particulars of beaming on this warp were not my only challenges. I had previously decided on the undulating shadow weave pattern on page 80 of Margaret Windeknecht's Color-and-Weave II, and there was the challenge of translating this into a draft (more on that later.)

handwoven shadow weave swatchDetermining the sett for my yarns was another challenge. I considered several types of yarns and was leaning toward chenille, but finally decided to use the yarns pictured on the left, from a previous sample session. I had the idea that they would make a nice jacket front to match a skirt I recently made from the background fabric in this picture.

My problem was that they were different size yarns: the green is a 16/2s cotton, and the black is 8/2s cotton. I wasn't sure how to decide what sett to use. For that first sample, I had somehow chosen a sett of 24 epi (don't ask me how I decided that. I'm sure I had a reason at the time but I didn't record it so I can't remember. On the other hand, at least I recorded something!)

I thought the fabric at 24 epi was a little stiffer than I wanted however. I mulled over the various formulae available for calculating a more appropriate sett, but wasn't too thrilled about doing any math. Then, I remembered my new Peggy Osterkamp book, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle. It has an appendix loaded with sett charts, among other things. I took the average of the two setts and calculated 22 epi.

So that's what I have on the loom now. The header is woven and my bobbins are filled.

Warp for shadow weave jacket panels.
Hopefully all the challenges for this warp are behind me.

Next - Undulating Shadow Weave 1 - Weaving

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

 Related Posts:
Shadow Weave: Doing the Triple S - my introduction
Shadow Weave Profiles- how to interpret
Shadow Weave Samples 1 - Begins the series of samples

4 comments:

Charleen said...

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I've never done shadow weave but it has always intrigued me. Thanks for your kind thoughts about my mom.

Cathy said...

Hi Leigh - Did you attach the raddle to the castle as you mentioned you might in your earlier post? I'm curious because it appears I have the same loom, and I love the idea of weighting the warp. I'm not sure how I'd attach the raddle up there though.

Leigh said...

Hi Cathy, I have a Schacht Might Wolf, is that what you have too?

I haven't tried attaching the raddle to the castle yet. When I do, I think I will try to attach it with c-clamps. My raddle was made by my husband, who fixed a way for me to put it onto the back beam. However, if attaching it to the top of the castle works, then he'll have to figure out a way for me to secure it there as well!

Cathy said...

Hi Leigh - yes I do! I thought yours looked the same :) I have the raddle made for the loom which attaches a couple of pieces that fit over the backbeam and have pegs for the raddle to slide onto. When you attach yours to the castle, be sure to take a picture!