Paper weaving

How “That” Warp Turned Out

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This post is about “that” warp I thought about giving up on in my last post. I got 3 pieces out of that 5-yard warp so far and am working on the final one still. They are pinned on the wall for now. You can see I’ve tried to use up the warp in all 3 pieces. Use this link to see the last post. HERE

For this three-some I wanted dark, medium, and light squares and I wanted to use the grey for the medium. I spent a lot of time trying different lights and darks that would work.

Funny, but I thought it would be easy to pick a white, but white didn’t suit. Hence, this odd but lovely fine thread was the right color.

The grey is a fine, hairy yarn I’ve had for over 25 years probably and I’ve tried many times but could never find a place where I could use it. I got it from my mentor, Helen Pope and had lots of fond memories while weaving with it.

The black took some searching, too, but finally I found something fine enough and by weaving a twill, the weft threads would pack in to completely cover the warp. I had been thinking I wanted the warp to be invisible except where there wasn’t any weaving.

This piece was woven with Japanese account book paper. I like this a lot, maybe the best piece I’ve made with this paper weft.

Here is a close up of the account book paper woven.

This is how the twisted silks section turned out on its side. I want to weave more of this idea for the last piece on the warp. It really is like the first pieces were samples. From them I decided what I could do for the end of the warp. I would say this happens a lot to me. I don’t know where I’m headed at first and this 5-yard warp was not going to be easy to weave—thus I did know that there would be areas of no weaving.

 My Vest Went to CNCH at Asilomar

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The vest complete with its button! It was on a stand beside my display at Asilomar.

Here’s my display table.

Next to my vest I had this handling piece so people wouldn’t touch the vest. Notice evidence of the 2-stick heading I used so I could cut off the 1st piece before the warp was finished. Read about this technique that I use over and over. HERE

I had posters to sell—the steps for setting up the loom. These are in a pocket in the new edition of my Weaving for Beginners. For people who already have the previous editions, we made these posters. One for Back-to-Front and another for Front-to-Back. They sold for $10 plus $15 if one wanted the “rails” for hanging. Email me if you’d like one—plus shipping. Be sure to say which poster—which way you set up your loom.

I had  2 copies of the “printer’s dummy” of the new edition of my book to show. Besides the pocket with the poster, it is  updated with a chapter on the trapeze, and  the Metric system is given as well. Soon to be available. Pre-order on my website under “Books/DVD” HERE

I also reminded people that my video is only on YouTube now—and for FREE! HERE

Here is a close up of what the actual fabric I wove is like. It was pretty flexible, so we ironed on interfacing as well as put in a silk lining.

I attached the draft. I threaded in a point twill and tried different treadlings to highlight the comic paper wefts.

So many people asked if the fabric was washable that I had to try it when I got home. I swished a scrap of the material in warm water with a bit of Dawn and rinsed it in warm water. Looks good as new. I will not be washing the vest, however.

Here I’m all packed up to go home after 2 ½ days. The conference was very good. It will be in Asilomar again in 2026!!

My Vest is Finished! – Ready for CNCH: Conference of Northern California Handweavers

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I got the cloth woven after much spinning of comic papers for the wefts. 3/2 pearl cotton was the warp. The pattern was one of my experiments in my point twill sampler  (4 shafts).

My friend who did the sewing  is laying out the pattern. Silverware holds down the pattern replacing pins!!

The first cut! She did take a piece of the extra fabric to stitch a seam and a curve before the actual cutting—just to check how it would stitch up.

Making sure we cut two different backs—not two right sides; but one right and one left.

She took extra pains to be sure every stripe matched for the center back seam. However, the sewing machine had a different idea—but it looks OK.

Interfacing stabilized the cloth and was a good idea.

Stitching the back seam. Now it felt we were really doing it!

Laying out the fronts—again making sure we had a right and a left.

Cutting out the lining.

Choosing the button. We decided on this one, but I’ve changed my mind. I want to find one that doesn’t stand out so much.

Here is the front! The button not decided yet.

And here is the back. I’m happy with it!!

 From the Comics to the Unknown

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I wanted color in my newspapers, so the Sundy Comics are providing it. Now, all I have to do is improve my spinning of it.

My first skein had so many knots because whenever my “yarn” broke I just tied the pieces together and went on spinning.

Fewer breaks and knots for my 2nd skein using the comic section. This is how I’d like the yarn to be (no knots). I’m thinking of making a vest if I can get good enough and comic sections from my neighbors.

I decided to take a chance and ply 2 yarns to make a stronger yarn. I like it a lot but it means spinng twice the amount! Maybe I will only have enough for an accent wefts.

Here’s the spinning wheel I’m using, and I like it a lot—a Louet. My teachers like it for their beginning students.

This is my own spinning wheel. It would draw in too hard and I never could get a thread that wouldn’t break. I thought it would be good because it is known to be a good twister. I guess one still has to have something strong enough in the first place. I bought it in the 70’s before I learned to spin because I loved the look and the large orifice.

A Dishtowel After All and More Experiments

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Introduction. Happy New Year. I took time off to spend a lot of time in my studio. I finished two warps inspired by my paper threads over the holiday period. There will be more photos. I wove about 25 pieces since Thanksgiving. Small pieces, (8″ wide warp and about 10″ long) but very different. I’m thrilled they are on exhibit in my retirement community.

I put 4 strands of my spun paper for the wefts in this piece. (I’m not sure why I thought of doing that.) Notice that the twill direction goes in the “Z” direction. It’s called that because it is the direction of the center of the letter Z. Whether you turn it upside down or not it will still be in the Z direction.

Here is the back side of the previous piece with 4 strands for the weft. Notice when you look at the reverse side the twill direction is the opposite: in the “S” direction. I like that both sides are interesting.

The wefts are silk made from the stems that the silk cocoons when attached to twigs in nature. This is used for matting under rugs and other non-silk-like purposes. However, I thought it was interesting so got a few small skeins of different sizes of the yarn. I wove with both tabby threads but one slipped under the floats and only the other shows on this side of the piece.

Here is the reverse side (known as the “back side”). Here, both tabby wefts show.

Here is my dish rag as woven that I showed in my post on November 11, 2024. You can see that post HERE.

Here is my dish rag after about 8 weeks in use around my espresso machine. The white threads are where I’ve mended it. After putting it in the dryer, several thin and weak wefts broke and I’ve been mending it a little bit after each of its weekly washes (I put it in a net bag in the front loading washer).

And, here is my almost-first pieces off the loom. Looks like it’s big enough to be a dish towel after all! It measures around 28” x 7” . It’s mostly plain weave with a bit of 1/3 twill. I am not ready yet to begin using it, but it does feel smooth and very nice.

Paper Warp with Gold

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I took several of the gold leaf on paper strips and laid them in the same shed. I was thinking of the artist Agnes Martin!

I used two shots of tabby in between the gold floats. The1&3 shots were hidden under the floats and only the 2 & 4 tabby shots actually show.

Here is the other side which I think is interesting, too.

This time I twisted the gold leaf strips and wove a 1/3 twill (1 up and 3 down) so that the gold wefts would show up.

Here is the front side of the piece with the twisted wefts. When I soaked the piece to wet finish it, the gold strips bled pink!

Here is the other side of the twisted piece. Here the pink really shows up.

This might be my favorite piece. I just laid in a group of gold leaf strips in a twill weave.

Again, the other side. I had a plexi glad box made for this piece so both sides can be seen. It will sit on a pedestal in a show at the O’Hanlon Gallery in January.

Paper Weaving and 2-stick Heading Updates

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Introduction:

A few years ago, we visited a yarn shop that advertised that they sold paper yarns. I was so disappointed that the threads were all uniform and none had the slubs which I think of when spinning paper for thread. But that didn’t stop me from buying several skeins! Now I’m really glad I have them and I realize even hand spun paper thread, ideally should be uniform with no bumps.

Another paper experiment. I wanted to see what I could do with maybe looping ribbon-like paper thread. The looping was a pain to do so I didn’t make much and in one of the rows, I just cut each loop.

Here again is a close up of the sample with the loops. I tried some other structures and paper threads as well. Also, notice again the 2-stick heading. For all the years of making these headings I’ve always used “junk yarns “  or left-over bobbin threads. It never occurred to me to use some “good” threads until my neighbor looked at this piece and said it was beautiful—she was thinking of the colorful heading!

So, for the next sample’s heading I used good paper weft, and I like it a lot—and the unwoven warps are interesting, I think.

A close up of the previous sample shows the plain weave structure (over one, under one) and the unwoven warps in the heading. More experiments with their headings are on the loom, almost ready to cut off. One has threads made of gold leaf on paper. See a previous post about gold leaf on paper. HERE

Paper Weaving Update

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Here is my first sample in use for a little over a week as my daily dish cloth (we called it a dish rag when I was growing up in Ohio). Since I live in a retirement place and don’t cook (not for 14 years), I use a dish rag to mop up around my espresso machine with spots of coffee grounds and drips of coffee. It’s not showing a bit of weakness or falling apart. It only lost ½” in length and 1/8” in width. I initially soaked it in hot water, then scrunched  it up daily and wetted it to do its job, and finally it went in the washing machine. Next week I’ll put it in the dryer too.

I first tried plain weave with my spun paper weft and wasn’t very happy with the look. As  a dish rag, it’s just fine.

Next, I tried weaving broken twill but instead of weaving with 12, 23, 41, 34 to make a balanced broken twill, I just lifted one shaft at a time for a 1/3 broken twill—more weft dominant. With 1 shaft up and 3 down I was  lifting shafts 1,2,4,3 in that order. I like it a lot better. It shows the paper that I spun better. Notice the red dot.

I used paper from this Japanese account book. They were used all over before credit cards. Each customer had a page and when the bills were paid, they were crossed off in some way. Sometimes a red stamp would appear. These books were readily available in the flea markets when I was travelling in Japan.

Here is a photo of a page for a customer. You can see where the black comes from in the weft. See my previous post showing making the thread of the account book paper. HERE