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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Dye the Warps!

I have been working on a 'cell phone bag' design. This one will include some dark color beads, as well as light and white beads. Therefore, I had to make a decision as to what color warp and weft I should use. My decision was:
WARP - white cotton thread...it will dye perfectly
WEFT - white nylon thread....the dye will not 'run' into the weft color thread.

Let me show you what I am looming!

Notice the dark beads! See the white warps too? This makes for a very uncomfortable color design.

I correct this by 'painting the warps' with a Permanent Black Ink. Then, my warps are white for the light beads in my picture, and the back beads can be dyed without any problems. Here is a picture of the looming, before I dyed the warps:

Notice the white vertical lines of warps...in between the black beads. I used 'white warps' so the 'white bead' colors would POP! They do, but the dark colors looks 'inappropriate'!

To correct this, I take a paint brush and some 'permanent black ink'. I paint the warps above and below the looming, as well as bristle it inbetween the black beads, wiping each swipe with the 'inked brush'. I do not paint into the white beaded areas.

I knew I was going there, with this idea, so when I started my project, I warped my loom using a 'cotton' thread, which absorbs the ink very dark and very quickly. Then I made my 'weft' a Nylon thread. Nylon does not absorb wet very well, including ink. Therefore, the ink would not 'run' inside of the light beads, when I paint the warps in between the dark beads. This was well though out prior! You can also notice the warps, in the picture above, being half dark and half light. This shows where I started and stopped painting.

1 comment:

  1. This is a great idea! I have dyed my thread to match my beads before, but always just a single shade. This idea is perfect!

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