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Dye weft experiment
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  • Inspiration comes from: Christine Tsai https://www.instagram.com/p/C5tQOAurvk5/

  • This page is for documentation, not for teaching, there are mistakes, untried proposals, reflections, and regrets. I detailedly record every decision I made while making the weft dye project, which is not to teach you what to do, feel free not to follow any of my "advice" and just take away any information that will be useful for you. 

  • Thank you to all the weavers who researched and developed those technological heritage for me to learn. 

  • ​General  idea: tension-keeping mechanism + painted weft +weave the weft on a floor loom

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Part 1: Design of weft board

Sample board

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Front








Back

Part 2: Prepare Weft

Weft material: 

  • 5/2 mercerized cotton

  • 5/2 cotton

  • 10/2 cotton

  • linen

  • waxed linen​

  • polyester

  • wool


Wrapping methods

  • Spiral 2-sided 

  • Spiral single-sided type (use a board to force the back layer to be on the same surface as the front layer）

  • zig zag type

 

PPI (picks per inch on weft board)

  • 64 (4 picks every concave for 10/2 cotton)

  • 48 (3 picks every concave for 5/2 cotton)

  • 32 (2 picks every concave)​

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Part 3: Weft dye/painting/print

Oil-water transfer print 

  • Recipe: use a weft board to catch diluted oil paint floating on water.

  • Discovery: soil-based paints (yellow ochre) have better tension on the water to keep the shape 

  • Prepare the weft board before ​print

    • PVA size immerse

    • RSG (thinned) size

    • RSG (full strength) immerse

    • PVA sized

  • Print technique

    • Put the board directly on the water to contact and absorb the floating paints

    • Put the paper in the water to absorb the paint. Then, transfer the paint on the paper to the weft board

  • Notice:

    • When dried, RSG glue is very flaky. To protect your respiratory system, wear a mask when unwinding it from the board.


Acrylic Airbrush

  • Recipe: dispersion+airbrush acrylic medium 1:1 to make paint, use an airbrush to spray paint onto the weft board

  • Unsized

 

Dye

  • Recipe: soda ash+MX dye

  • More detailed dyeing procedure

    1. ​Soak weft board in condensed soda ash water overnight, dry overnight

    2. Put dye on it directly (brush/cotton balls/cotton swab/hand), leave the dye on overnight

    3. wash the weft board and dry it overnight again.

  • Concentration of soda ash water: technically the concentration doesn’t matter and the amount of soda ash used is according to the weight of the fabrics. I used 3 tbsp soda ash in 1 cup, this concentration is redundant, dye will totally work with a lower soda ash concentration.

  • Observation: ​

    • ​After the weft board is soaked and dried, there is a thick layer of solid soda ash on the board just like a piece of chalk board. In this case, when different dyes are applied on there with cotton balls, the dye seems to repel each other.

  • Alternative dying methods:​
    • ​Apply dye+soda ash water directly onto the weft board
    • Resist dye (sodium alginate, ikat, wax dye?)

 

Distemper paint

  • Recipe: dispersion+full strength RSG

  • Prepare the weft board before ​print

    • Unsized 

    • PVA size

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Watercolor paint

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Part 4: Unwrap the weft board and make balls of yarn

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  • Wax the yarn

    • No wax

    • Beeswax

    • Clear Wax

  • Notice:

    • ​Make marks on the side of the board to keep track of weft length during weaving

    • If the yarn is sized, it can keep its shape, then no need to make marks.

    • Transport the weft to the bobbins to make weaving easier

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Part 5: Weave

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Warp 

  • Color:

    • White warp​

    • Dyed Warp

  • Materials:

    • ​5/2 bleached cotton

    • 10/2 natural color cotton

    • Etc. 

  • EPI:

    • 10 for 5/2 cotton​

    • 20 for 10/2 cotton

    • For double cloth weave, double the EPI. 

  • Warp width:

    • If the width is the same as the weft board, the selvage will be too tight and it will shrink.

    • If the width is 1 inch smaller than the weft board, the selvage will look messy.

    • The best width is awaited to be tested and modified.

  • Floating Selvage ​

    • For a 10/2 cotton warp, floating selvage is very inconvenient because the warp sticks together. I don’t think floating selvage is necessary.

 

Beginning and end of each weave

  • ​Weave a few lines of plain weave with waste yarns to complete a hemstitch.

 

Weave pattern

  • Plain weave​

    • The front and back of the weft on the weft board will come together and blurs the image​

  • Double Cloth Weave

    • Weave pattern 1 > 132 >3 > 134

    • Ideal EPI is 40 for 10/2 cotton (20 per layer)

    • Works very well

    • Can be stuffed with filler like cotton, sponge, or paper towel. 

  • Patterned weave

    • Overshot weave​

    • Tapestry

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Part 6: Cloth finishing 

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Serger

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Stretcher bar

  • Recipe: Sew fabric onto the side of the weave, stretch the fabric to a painting frame

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