Dawn Chorus
Getting ready to warp “Brunhilde” for a rep hanging called Dawn Chorus.
Cobalt Blue, Wine and Garnet colors for the first few inches of the 3/2 cotton warp.
Sectional warping with 30 spools ready to wind onto the warp beam: 15 cobalt blue, and 15 pattern colors with a mix of wine and garnet.
30 warp ends in an inch are wound onto back beam from the tension box.
Finished warping nine inches … finished size of wall hanging will be 43 inches wide.
Industrial spool winder can wind two 80 yard spools in 30 seconds.
Progressing into the lavenders.
Peacock colors are in the middle of the wall hanging.
Reached the middle of the warp using Mineral and Peacock blues. 27 inches warped so far.
Will need to wind spools again tomorrow. Many of the spools ran out, yet there was still enough warp to go on the loom.
1,110 warp ends on the loom so far … coming down the home stretch on the 43” warp.
Finished warping the Left Border
Top photo shows lease stick taped to the back beam. Inch after inch of warp is pulled up and taped to the lease stick for next step.
Pulling the entire warp attached to lease stick over the castle of the loom.
Ready to thread tomorrow by following the warping charts.
Four blocks threaded, each block 6 ends pattern colored and 6 ends background colored
Two inches threaded late this afternoon, 41 inches to go.
744 heddles threaded with 540 to go to complete the threading of 1284 warp ends.
Passed the half-way point in the threading.
Finished the threading - view from the back of the loom.
1,284 heddles ready to start the weaving process.
All the threads “sleyed” in the reed … drawn through the reed.
One inch bouts “lashed” onto the cloth beam rod.
Ready to start the weaving tomorrow. Cobalt blue on right is the background colorway, warm tones on the left are the pattern colorway. How the two layers interact as eight threading blocks will determine the design of Dawn Chorus.
Four thick picks of weft and two thin “opened out” the knots so that the warp ends are in alignment and ready to begin weaving the design tomorrow.
The weaving has begun.
The progress made on Dawn Chorus this weekend.
The design, which represents a sonogram picturing the bird’s song, continues to develop.
Finished the weaving.
The thin pick header.
The knots are all lined up … this is the amount of “loom waste'“. However, weavers are very economical and can use these thrums in a myriad of other weaving projects, like “corduroy”.
Cutting the hanging “Dawn Chorus” from the loom.
The reverse side of the hanging is now revealed.
A closer look at the top of the hanging “Dawn Chorus” from the reverse side.
There was one warp end that had a knot in it near the top. I am pulling a repair thread through to the back side to take care of the knot.
Dawn Chorus on the living room rug, awaiting tomorrow when I make the thin pick header into a plack for the hanging hardware.
Dawn Chorus is finished and ready to be installed in its new home.
The rep hanging is 40” high by 43” wide.
Trying out its new location in Washington state.
The happy couple who commissioned the rep wall hanging.
Officially installed in dining area.