Dying and preparing linen for weaving, step-by-step explaination

1. This natural linen will be died with indigo in preparation for a weaving project. Skeins from the cone need to be created. I also wanted variant dying on the linen and this effect is created by tying plastic around bundles of the thread. Where the plastic tie is located no dye should reach the linen. EKAT dying.

2. The linen had to be twisted and tied again at the loops to prevent tangling and then washed. I was using natural linen, which is different from working with bleached linen. It was dirty and required 3 rounds of washing.

3. Each skein laid out and untwisted in preparation for the indigo dying. I think the natural colour of the washed linen is pretty all on its own, especially against the light salmon colour.

4. Here is the vat of indigo dye with the 'flower' in the centre. Isn't it beautiful? This batch was just prepared the day before, which makes for a darker indigo.

5. Here are all 30 Skeins of linen after been dipped 4 times in the indigo bath. A close-up of the skein on the right. Art on its own, I think.

6. The indigo died linen needed to be wash thoroughly. They were left in buckets over night to make sure as much as possible, the excess indigo is removed.

7.  Once the linen was dried it had to be wound back into a cone or ball to then be wound onto a spindle for the weaving shuttle.  This was a slow process as each thread had many curly cues throughout.

8. I used a ball winder to create these beautiful geometric linen balls. Next is the weaving and I will explain that in another entry.  In the meantime check out the final weave.

Finally the warp is threaded on the loom and the weaving begins.