Tools Day: Let There Be Light!

Sunshine coming through the windows is marvelous for weaving. But my eyes need extra light to see small details. This is noticeably true with errors that I mend on the loom and off the loom. I turn on extra lighting at other times, too–when threading fine threads, sleying the reed with fine or dark threads, counting picks per inch on woven cloth, and checking the treadling pattern in a fine weave, for example. And sometimes I turn on extra lighting for no other reason than it’s a cloudy day.

Tools:
OttLite Task Lamp with Swivel Base
Handheld lighted magnifier

Broken weft repair.
Pin marks the spot where I broke a thin weft thread, 30/2 cotton, with the temple.
Repairing broken thread requires task lighting.
Repair area is flooded with light from my portable OttLite.
Replacing broken weft thread.
Illuminated stitches are easily seen. A replacement length of weft is needle-woven in.
Oops. A few skips to fix in handwoven cloth.
Series of errant floats are discovered after this fabric is removed from the loom. At 30 ends per inch, my eyes strain to see where to weave the needle.
Lighting and magnification needed for fixing threads.
Needing more than the bright OttLite, I add magnification. Pairing the OttLite with the handheld lighted magnifier does the trick!
Magnified threads for handwoven repairs.
Lighted magnifier, reflecting the OttLite just overhead, balances perfectly on a small sewing basket. Now I can actually see the threads I am fixing.

To further reduce eye strain, I am considering other lighting options. Have you had success with task lighting? I’d love to hear about it. Share your experience and recommendations in the comments.

My Lighting Wish List:
Full spectrum floor lamp
Adjustable-arm magnifying task light to clamp on table or loom

May you see what you need to see.

With a bright outlook,
Karen

Look Again

Black and white and a little red all over. Black and white just became classier. Thin red stripes appear to tunnel under long white ridges. Surely there is a designer kitchen for this towel. Right?

Black and white and a little red all over. Towels.
Fringe at the end of one cut weft thread peeks out, revealing the spot where weft threads overlap.

Since the slender red stripes are made with only two picks, I do not have to start and stop the color at the selvedge. The first pick goes all the way across, and the second pick has cut ends that are overlapped in the shed. If you are looking, you can see where the red threads overlap. If you are not looking, you would never notice it. And after the towels are washed, the join will be virtually invisible…unless you know where to look.

We find what we are looking for. If we want to see where a weaver spliced the weft, we study and examine the fabric as much as needed until we find that detail. When we look for signs of our Creator, we find that, too. His wonders are not hidden from us, they are hidden for us. What a delight when our search leads us to the Grand Weaver, Himself.

May your search lead to hidden treasures.

With you,
Karen

Warp Stamping Is Over

If I could do it over, I would put on a shorter warp for this experimental project. I enjoyed weaving plain weave, with the simplicity of one shuttle and one color. I did not enjoy, however, stopping every six inches to stamp the warp with paint. Clearly, I am not a paint person.

End of the warp is a happy sight!
Bare warp beam, with the end of the warp inches away from coming over the back beam for the final stretch of weaving.

You can guess that I was overjoyed to see the tie-on bar come over the back beam! That hope of finishing propelled me to the end. Of course, I still have work to do–fixing a few floats, wet finishing, and then sewing a tiered skirt. The root of my problem was not that this was long and slow. The root was my uncertainty. Isn’t that always the case? Is all this effort and mess going to be worth it? Will this fabric even work for the skirt I want to make?

Warp was stamped on the loom, using fabric paint, before it was woven.
Printed woven cloth, just off the loom, awaits finishing and sewing. The print was made by stamping the warp on the loom, using fabric paint, before it was woven.

When we are stumbling in the dark, we long for light. It can be discouraging when you are not sure where your decisions will take you. The light of God shines in the darkness, bringing hope. Hope dispels darkness. Much like the tie-on bar at the end of a long warp, when we see hope rounding the corner we know we can make it.

May your path be lit with hope.

By the way, if you are a paint person, I have a set of gently used hand-carved wooden stamps I will send to the first person in the continental U.S. who asks for them. Postage is on me!
Get in Touch to let me know you’d like them.
*UPDATE*
The stamps have been spoken for! Sandy O. is going to use them to experiment on her rigid heddle loom!

Happy plain weaving,
Karen