Dyeing to Weave

I decided I would like to be doing a little weaving again. I got some lovely Pima Cotton a little while ago when someone was destashing. I didn't want to work with just one color . . . so I decided to use some of my cotton dyes (Jacquard Procion MX).

Here are a couple group pictures. I attempted to dye: red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and green. I have only red, yellow, and blue powder dye so the secondary colors had to be mixed.


It's a little difficult to tell the orange and the red from each other in the pictures. In this second one, the orange is in the middle.




I only had a small annoyance in the dyeing process. I think there might have been something wrong with my blue powder mix. It was used to dye the blue and then mixed with either red or yellow to make purple or green. All three of these have a variegated look. The red, orange, and yellow all dyed perfectly. Otherwise all of the dyeing process was the same for every color. I will try again in the future . . . buy might order different bottle of blue first.













All of these colors are going to be worked onto the loom, which I have just barely started dressing:




The warp is the same Pima Cotton, but not dyed by me, color is natural.

I figure I will make one or two practice kitchen towels.

Crochet, Basketry, and Felting 5/11/08

This started out as yarn . . . that had a ball band that I can no longer find. I believe it was a Lion Brand wool. Any who, I held three strands together and crocheted them into one long strand. I felted the strand and then using a needle and thread coiled it into a basket.

Click thumbnails to see a larger pic.

The Yarn





The Chain (before felting)





The Basket








I actually really enjoyed this process and will definitely try it again. I will post pictures later of it blocked, because my coiling was a little off. I think this might be a little more interesting with a finer yarn and a larger basket.

Fall Basket 8/21/07

Here is my first attempt at coiling. I used embroidery floss to coil around hemp. I thought it turned out quite well, but is very time consuming to do all that wrapping.

As always, click the pics to see larger ones.















It is very relaxing and learned that this method is really done more effectively if the baskets is circular rather than oval as it doesn't stack perfectly on top of the previous row very well when making the sides of the basket.

First Basket 6/14/07

So many new posts to make, I have been slacking on posting here. Since most of the stuff is very different crafts, each new thing is going to be a separate post tonight. First off we have basket weaving. I have gotten a few books from the used book stores and have been attempting to learn basket weaving.

I made a tiny basket just to try it out and see if I could make it look like an actual basket. It actually looks like a basket so I am very pleased. I have started on my second basket, but that is quite a bit more complex, since I don't want to jinx it, pictures will have to wait until it is complete.


As always, click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture.



Side View



Top View



Angled View


Basket was made with hemp rope. The coiling part was a thick one and the one used to sew each round to the previous is a much thinner and less scratchy hemp rope/thread. All was purchased at Wal*Mart in the jewelry section.

Definitely going to be an addicting craft.