Part of the beauty of the warp used in Frida Hansen’s transparencies was due to the natural variation of yarn that was woven from dyed fleece. The irregularity that occurs when slightly different colors of fleece are spun together give a lively feel that is sometimes missing when the yarn is spun and then the skeins are dyed.
I am constantly amazed at the inventiveness and interest and enthusiasm of the students in my workshops. Angela Kalmus, a student at my Philadelphia workshop, wove her sample with the assigned Rauma åklegarn, but immediately started mulling over how to use her handspun for the technique.
Soon after the workshop, Angela shared some handspun warp with me. She wrote, “I’ve just spun up some white Leicester Longwool that approximates the åklegarn nicely, it also has a similar toothiness, also it is a strong, long staple fiber which will stand up to the tension of a tapestry loom, will spin to the same thickness for an eight ends per inch warp. I also have some light tan and light gray longwool fiber that I can spin in here and there for subtle variation. Is that what you had in mind?” Perfect!
This super-close-up photo from Angela’s test handspun warp shows all the small wooly hooks along the plied warp. So sticky!
Angela achieved beautiful variation by plying together beautiful neutral shades. She asked about what I would like: “Here are the tan and gray colors with sections of white. The tan is very pale, was dyed with walnut, the gray can be made darker or lighter by carding in more or less white. I could ply all the colors together, or ply the colored single with a white single— wasn’t sure what you were imagining. I could also spin and ply white, tan and gray separately and you could introduce the colors as you warp your loom.” Wow! Those were fun choices to consider. I responded that I was especially fond of the striped effect.
I was excited to test the yarn, and also excited to test out the Mirrix loom I was given. The majority of my students come to workshops with Mirrix looms, but I had never woven on one. During my Vesterheim Folk School workshop in September, all the students and I warped up Mirrix looms on day one. I warped with Angela’s handspun at 8 ends per inch. The subtle changes in color made a beautiful array across the loom.
Back at home the next week, I added the leashes and attempted to change the shed. The warps clung together in their wooliness, refusing to part. I solved that by carefully unwinding about an inch and a half of warp and then tightly tying the spring at the top of the loom on either side of the wound warp. I squeezed the spring together to make the spacing between the warps larger. In the end, the warp set was about 7.75 ends per inch, and I was able to use the shedding device. Still, each time I changed the shed, I needed to strum my fingers on the warp to encourage the threads to separate.
My take-aways about weaving with the lovely Leicester Longwool yarn for my warp?
The stickiness of the yarn for holding the weft in place was super, no problems! The magic of Frida Hansen’s open warp technique is finding the right combination of warp and weft that will allow you to easily cover the areas that are woven — meaning that you can tap the weft threads into place without a lot of beating. You want enough grip between the warp and weft to hold the edges of the woven areas in place. This warp worked well.
Angela’s variation in color and the creativity of her plying makes it so pretty. Within the piece the subtle color changes are interesting, but the variety of color and twisty-striped spinning in the fringes are especially eye-catching.