For more posts about how I prepared this weaving project please read the following posts:
– Warping the Loom
_ Sleying the Warp
_ Weaving begins
Extract from notebook made 6 May, 2026
Feeling slightly underprepared for today’s studio time. I am at a crossroads with the warp and the fear of messing up the dyed portion of the work is freezing my progression.
So many variables to contend with in natural dying, not using the right combination can result in disappointing results. Worries include:
- The warp is 10/2 mercerised cotton. Mercerised means the thread is treated and has a silk-like sheen to it. Research says this makes it less absorbent than unmercerised cotton (used typically for items such as tea towels), but it is hailed as superior for dyeing, including natural dying, as the swollen fibres allow the mordants and dyes to take better. (ellistextiles.com)
- It will need an alum mordant to ensure the dye fixes to the fibres. Having already warped the loom I am going to need to employ and painted on method for this. I am worried this will not work well, but it is better than not doing it at all. According to research into printing on fabrics, this is a method used instead of immersion in some cases.
- As the loom is already warped, I don’t want to disturb the fibres and make them sticky, and therefore difficult to continue weaving. Mercerised cotton should help with this though. This is also the method I saw used by an artist who was painting an image in India ink on the warp.
Today I bit the bullet and decided to paint the warp. I protected the loom with some paper underneath the warp, this also gave me a surface to pounce the brush against.
With a paper circle as a guide I marked my circle, and then kept working the line thicker and thicker, adding more ink to saturate the warp with the ink as much as possible. It seemed to be soaking in well, but I think next time I would do a quick sponge soak of the area with warm water to help the ink to soak in better.
My regret was trying to extend the image beyond the circle with ink spatters, which simply didn’t read well. When I attempted to get the ink to saturate the warp, the splatters just looked like messy smudges. I am really regretful of this move, but feel it is something I should try and work through.
I now intend to remove this work from the loom and still have a similar amount of warp left on the loom to weave a second project, which I may try and dye differently. I can hopefully improve on the process and learn from the mistakes I have made with this first piece.