More on Painted Dyed Yarns

The silk scarf (on the left) was the result of a workshop I took in Gibson's Landing, British Columbia. Several years ago I had played with painted warps and have always wanted to find the time to do some more. Two summers ago Doug wanted to take his Level 1 Spinning and I decided to take the dyeing course that was being offered. Our instructor Kris Abshire encouraged us to move out of our comfort zone. I am usually someone who plans and loves structure, so this scarf was a depart from my usual ways. The colours were randomly painted on the warp and the scarf is woven in a 1/3 twill so that each side has a totally different look. The random painting was a struggle as I kept finding myself trying to create some sort of guidelines to follow.

When I came to the Dye Your Own day I had a plan and am quite pleased with the results. I wanted the weft yarn to be a turquoise and a rose colour that blends into a shade of purple where they meet. This yarn will be used in a surface interest weave (picture on the lower right).

My plan for the warp yarn (upper right corner) is to have bands of a solid colour between the painted bands. It is painted in shades of green with touches of yellows and pinks. Painting yarns encourage me to work freely and to enjoy the unexpected! (even though I have reverted back to having some sort of plan)