Painted Warp

I've spent the last 3 days painting warps for a series of scarves that I call "Faith Elements". It is a long process of painting dyes onto the tensioned warps. As with most things the preparations take at least as long as the actual painting. Here are some pictures of the process.

The first step is to place a group of tables together so that the warp can be spread out, plastic drop cloths are laid down, and then a row of plastic wrap is spread the length of the tables.

I am using rayon chenille which has a tendency to curl back on itself when wet. To prevent this the yarn is tensioned and clamped at both ends of the long row of tables. It is also spread out and separated in the raddle.

After checking and making sure that everything is in place, the painting can begin. Here I am working on the Rainbow scarf which is part of the Faith Elements Series.

The dyes are painted on with foam brushes and then rubbed with my hand so that the chenille is painted all the way through and the colors are blended together. The dyes look very intense at this point but will be more subdued after they are rinsed. Plastic Wrap is used to cover the dyed section so it can begin to cure.

After the whole 10 yards is painted it is rolled up in the plastic wrap and then must cure for 24 hours before rinsing out the excess dye.

The first 2 warps are ready now to be rinsed and hung out to dry. Rinsing 10 yards of warp takes about 1 1/2 hours. They must be rinsed until the water runs clear.
I'll be rinsing today and hope to have some pictures for you of the beautiful colors hanging on the line.
As you can see this is a very labor intensive project.