Ok! Have you ever wondered what’s involved in creating one of these beautiful Handwoven pieces? This month I’m going to be going through the whole thing from start to finish. This is the first in a series of posts to describe the process a little bit. This will take us from conception to a dyed warp. 
First step in creating a warp is picking the yarn! Sometimes I want to use a certain yarn and then I select a color inspiration….and sometimes I have a vision of what I’d like a piece to feel like as a whole, based on an inspiration I’m already set on.
Either way, the first step in measuring is yarn. I source all my yarns ethically, from a few trusted yarn suppliers, who work with fair trade mills and ensure all the fibres that pass through here are of the highest quality. This contributes to the price point of my pieces….things done right are never cheap! And I don’t compromise on my base materials.
My yarn comes already on large cones…or sometimes with more rare blends, in bundles called Skeins. These are what you typically see in yarn shops. Those need to be wound into balls before starting.
I measure my warps out onto a table top yarn mill. This gives me the best set up for the dye process, for the style I prefer to dye my warps.
This is one of my favourite jobs….only because I can watch Netflix while I do it…In reality it’s pretty Monotonous, it’s also my go to job if the kids want to borrow money for something and need to get some hours of work in to pay it off, lol.
I try to get enough cones and/or balls together to measure at least a half inch at a time to minimize the amount of trips around the mill. The thickness of the yarn determines the number of strands per inch across the loom. 
Now for the fun part!
Inspiration can start with a photo or an idea….then I put together a collage of photos that reflect the color combinations I’m hoping to achieve. Pinterest is an invaluable source for these and I could spend hours creating new inspiration collages if I had them. 
Because I like to use a variety of colors, I end up mixing so many custom colors to get my exact tones….I have never counted the colors of dye I keep in the studio and I definitely have my favourites…but there’s most certainly over 100! And I still rarely use one on it’s own. Sometimes I’m mixing 3 or 4 factory colors to get those exacts.
Aaaaaaaannnndddd cue the sampling. So.Many.Samples.
Sometimes I sample 40-50 Color blends for a warp! Some warps consist of 20-30 different Color blends, to achieve those depths and tones. It’s all in the magic.
Then the warp goes in to soak….depending on fibres, it will get an Acid or a Basic bath and then I’m ready to lay it out and dye it up. Sometimes on the table, sometimes on the lawn if it’s nice…pretty much anywhere I can really. I dye on average 4 or 5 warps a month! So switching it up’s a little nice sometimes.
I mix up litres of beautiful colors and get my artistic vibes going.
The style each gets dyed is basically just how it feels as I go along, like painting. This is actually my favourite part….by this point I usually have some ideas about what colors and designs I might add and have a picture of the finished pieces in my head. Doing Custom pieces are always fun for this….some of the pieces I’ve created are color combinations I never would have thought up on my own!
The warp then gets baked on low in the oven and left for 12-24 hours. A rinse, a hot wash and then a hundred rinses later….well maybe not 100…but it feels like it, bent over the tub, lol…We have a finished warp!
It’s hung to dry and then it ready to wind onto a Loom….but that’s a story for another time.
Step one complete!
Look forward to bringing you all along for the next step in this blog series.
