I’ve never painted a warp before. I’ve admired Margaret’s and other people’s, drooled over pictures in handwoven, watched a weaver do it in England, dreamed about it, but I’d never tried myself.
So, last weekend, I rummaged in the cupboard, found the cone of fine white wool I’ve had for years, and wound enough warp for 2 scarves. Then I gathered up the warp, cling wrap, towels, bag of dyes and miscellaneous stuff, and attempted to lay out the warp outside on the ground.
Okay, so that was a mistake! I just had the warp laid out, when along came a gust of wind, resulting in fine white warp blown into the potted plants, and 4 metres of cling wrap clinging to itself.
I decided instead to make the trip into town, and dye the warp in the Guild rooms, on those wonderful, long, plastic covered tables. Once I had it all laid out again, the painting went fairly quickly. I just used primary colour Gaywool dyes, and painted the warp from red through purple, blue and green and back to red again. Then I wrapped the warp up and popped into the microwave – and yes, I wished I had Jenny there to advise how long it should be cooked for. (Although she would have shrieked at how unscientific my dye measuring process was!) I settled for 2 4-minute bursts on medium high, then another 3 minutes or so on high. Some of the dye leaked from my insecurely-wrapped ends, but otherwise it went well, and I now have a dry warp in wonderful crimson rosella colours. I shall probable weave it in a twill pattern – as soon as I find time to get it onto the loom and decide on the pattern and the weft colours.
Posted by armidaleguild 
