fartsandcrafts

[fartsandcrafts]

I'm absurdly pleased with this

it feels so sturdy and it's shiny with a cute little delicate pattern and I don't know what I'll do with it but I need to make more. luckily my loom is free now.

[fartsandcrafts]

Band weaving! I had a hankering to do something narrow (and avoid the 36" warp on the big loom that you can see in the background and set up a backstrap.

These are warp floats on a backstrap from Laverne Waddington's blog and do you see the tiny bone folder I'm using as a pickup stick?! Isn't it adorable? I think it's officially going to move from my bookbinding tool box to my weaving tool box because it's such a good size for bands.

I also wanted to do card weaving so I stole back my inkle loom (my friend who had it was willing to accommodate an inkle loom emergency, which is why you make fiber friends who understand these things), made myself some cards and started this. I think it's super cool how when the twist builds up you can see the pattern repeating itself in the opposite direction.

I regret warping up with such fine thread, because I can't try anything new until it's done unless I make another loom. Which might be this weekend's project.

[fartsandcrafts]

You want to look up the supplementary weft technique! It's what batbetbitbotbut explained, worked on a base of plain weave, and between picks of plain weave with your normal weft, you'll pick up the threads in your pattern, insert a shed stick, and run through your pattern yarn.

But since overshot generally refers to this technique controlled by the loom's threading, searching for supplementary weft will give you some more useful techniques for doing it by hand.

It would be kind of a pain as an all over pattern if you aren't used to it, but it's great for borders or scattered motifs. You have complete control over the pattern, and can do any number of different designs.

It's fun! Try it! I don't have any links because I'm on my phone, but one of the top Google results was a tutorial for doing this on a rigid heddle loom.

okokokok, so I have a weaving idea, would live it if smarter people would comment on how feasible it is but note: I do Not promise I will listen if you say that this is impossible

But I want to make something cute with hearts on it. I found handweaving.net and I've been scrolling through it's patterns and all of the heart patterns want a) 4 or more shafts and b) not the biggest fan of them, this is purely a personal taste thing.

So I doodled a little chart

just for a little band that I can put at either end of the piece, probably with a few columns of plain weave on either side. idk if the pattern makes sense but the plan so far is to use separate colors going either way, make sure everything is nicely batted down to keep everything separate, and instead of using the usual shuttle, pull the string through with a needle. Then top and bottom will again be a plain weave before going into sampling different basic 2 shaft weaves that I've found and like. I expect to lose my mind a little bit while working on this, but its still like physically possible? on can I make it possible? I just want cute hearts man 💖💕💖💕

[fartsandcrafts]

My cat vs. my warp tension. A story in many, many parts.

I have honestly just accepted that I will not weave with a delicate warp for as long as Mouse is alive.

He also teaches bad habits to babies

[fartsandcrafts]

YOU ALSO HAVE A CAT NAMED MOUSE? HERE'S MY CAT NAMED MOUSE

They look so handsome and polite!

Always great to meet another Mouse-cat!

[fartsandcrafts]

[fartsandcrafts]

So I'm really, really, enjoying the circles

[fartsandcrafts]

okay, so I went and stalked the artist's insta, bought a little set of the paint she uses and some art boards... and I made a thing, just like I said I would!

I think I am a fan of this category of art that looks really neat with my glasses off! Also I really don't know anything about painting-painting since I figured I'd never do it, so I have many things to learn. But it was fun! I'm going to make another one.

Yes, I am much more proud of my wobbly circles than the marbled paper I'm using as waste paper. That skill/taste curve is a hell of a thing.

So cool to see the growth!

[fartsandcrafts]

Okay. So they look great

The color is a little uneven but very bright. But. They are cotton. And I washed them on hot. And now they are smaller. Plus I wrecked the hell out of the heel stiffener when I rinsed them out too vigorously.

So... I'm going to have to try again. And find someone with slightly smaller feet than I who likes bright shoes. I did learn things, though!

Boring details for posterity

Whitin barefoot size 40 shoes from amazon. Dyed when (too) wet. Dharma dyes dragonfruit, blue violet, and turquoise mixed per their tie dye instructions. Processed 2 days in the cold garage.

please work please work please work

They're supposed to sit for a day before I rinse the dye off and I really really want them to be absurdly bright

[fartsandcrafts]

please work please work please work

They're supposed to sit for a day before I rinse the dye off and I really really want them to be absurdly bright

[fartsandcrafts]

you have to make bad art if you want to make good art you have to make bad art if you want to make good art you have to make bad art BUT IT SURE WOULD BE NICE SOMETIMES IF THE RATIO WAS A LITTLE MORE EVEN

Anyway I made 44 papers over the last few weeks and I like maybe 6 of them. I think my paint's possessed.

[fartsandcrafts]

Did some dyeing last weekend when it was warm. I bought a EIGHT POUND fleece last summer and washed and dyed a bit of it. I was aiming for a kind of worn denim color and I actually think I got it right! The fleece dyed very unevenly but after a run through the drum carder it got really nice and heathered. It was so easy to clean! I just used the hottest setting on the kitchen faucet and a few squirts of soap and it came out so nice!

The blue is Jacquard's Brilliant Blue, and a bit of Lilac for vibes. I didn't measure or anything, so we'll see how well I can replicate it.

The original brown is nice and all, but the idea of spinning EIGHT POUNDS of just brown made me decide I need to color at least some of it.

[fartsandcrafts]

Swirls and wiggles!

Peacocks and thistles!

[fartsandcrafts]

What's this shadow in my shed?

Oh. It's Mouse, the helpingest cat. Thanks.

My littlest weaving assistant.

Not pictured: her nipping at my toes when I try to treadle, like the worlds pointiest game of whack a mole lolllll

[fartsandcrafts]

3 out of 5 strips done! I had to rip out a whole strip and re-sew because I couldn't handle the helices twisting different directions.

[fartsandcrafts]

So while I wouldn't say I recommend using a table saw to cut through paper rolls, it works better than you'd think. This is for marbling, so the rough edges will be trimmed off anyway. But now I have 3 rolls of paper exactly the width of my marbling tray! I will never need to buy paper again!

[fartsandcrafts]

So if you are lucky enough to get fleece from a mill this is what it looks like. It's SO charming and SO fluffy and SO nice to spin.

This is shetland from a sheep named Merlot.