Hand-Loom Weaving Part 5

Celluloid strips may be treated in the same way. Leather and celluloid strips can be woven free-hand like the paper strips.

[Sidenote: _Raffia_]

Many beautiful articles can be made of raffia, which is a palm fibre brought from the island of Madagascar. It can be obtained in the natural color at most of the department stores, the kindergarten supply houses, and the florists. The cost is usually 20 cents or 25 cents per pound, although the florists will sell a few cents' worth. It can be dyed easily, and with little expense, with Diamond or aniline dyes. It should first be washed. Care should be taken, in the selection, to obtain long, smooth pieces which will be at least one-half inch wide when wet, and of an even color. Some of the raffia is musty and badly spotted. It is well to wet all of it first, then straighten and allow it to dry. While weaving, keep the raffia moist by dipping the fingers now and then in a cup of water. Experience has proved this method to be more satisfactory than to allow the raffia to remain in water and become thoroughly soaked, particularly the colored raffia. If one cares to expend money instead of time and trouble, the raffia can be dyed in very beautiful colors at the dye houses.

[Sidenote: _Shetland wool_]

Blankets for Miss Dolly can be made of the soft Shetland wool and Germantown zephyr. For bed blankets, cream color, with stripes of two or more colors, are very attractive. Carriage blankets made with white centers and colored borders, or with a tone for the center and a shade for the border, are a great addition to the carriage, as well as a source of comfort to the little occupant. Bind the edges with ribbon and run a narrow one through the beading formed by taking out the extra rods. This ribbon can be run all around the center part by leaving out a few woof threads at the top and bottom.

[Sidenote: _Knitting silk_]

By stringing a close warp of knitting silk and extending it the required length, shawl-straps, suspenders, belts, and garters can be woven. The rods should be adjusted for the desired width. Finish at each end with pieces of silk elastic of the same color, and with buckles.

[Sidenote: _Angora wool_]

Angora wool makes pretty Tam O'Shanters. Initials can be woven in any article.

[Sidenote: _Books of patterns_]

Small books containing cross-st.i.tch designs can be found at the German and French embroidery stores in large cities--sometimes, but rarely, at the art counter in department stores. The "Kindergarten Guides" can be obtained at most public libraries, or a kindergartner friend will be glad to loan one.

Chapter Six

DIRECTIONS FOR DYEING

[Sidenote: _Diamond dyes_]

A few hints with regard to dyeing raffia, cheese cloth, white cord for hammocks, and other materials, may be found useful. For raffia use the Diamond dyes which are intended for wool or silk. Wash the raffia first.

The color will be improved by soaking the raffia a day in alum water, one-half pound to the gallon. Dye once used can be kept in an air-tight dish and reheated whenever needed.

[Sidenote: _Vegetable dyes_]

Should one be interested in vegetable dyes much information can be obtained at the public libraries. Dr. Washington Matthews speaks of Indian dyes in his article on the Navajo weavers mentioned in this book.

"How to Make and How to Mend" also contains some good suggestions about dyes.

[Sidenote: _Mrs. Candace Wheeler's pamphlet_]

In her little pamphlet, _Home Industries and Domestic Weavings_, published by the a.s.sociated Artists, 115 East 23d Street, New York City, Mrs. Candace Wheeler has an interesting chapter on "Rag-Carpet Weaving."

Her suggestions for dyeing rags apply equally to yarns and to other materials which may be used on hand looms for children. Through her kind permission I am allowed to quote the following suggestions:

[Sidenote: _Uses of the indigo tub_]

"In the early days of this present century a dye tub was as much a necessity in every house as a spinning-wheel, and the reestablishment of it in houses where weaving is practiced is almost a necessity; in fact, it would be of far greater use at present than in the days when it was only used to dye the wool needed for family knitting and weaving. All shades of blue, from sky-blue to blue-black, can be dyed in the indigo tub; and it has the merit of being a cheap as well as an almost perfectly fast dye. It could be used for dyeing warps as well as fillings, and I have before spoken of the difficulty, indeed almost impossibility, of procuring indigo-dyed carpet yarn.

[Sidenote: _Blue universally used_]

[Sidenote: _Green_]

"Blue is, perhaps, more universally useful than any other color in rag-rug making, since it is safe for both cotton and wool, and covers a range from the white rug with blue warp, the blue rug with white warp, through all varieties of shade to the dark blue, or clouded blue and green rug, also, upon white warp. It can also be used in connection with yellow or orange, or with copperas or walnut dye, in different shades of green; and, in short, unless one has exceptional advantages in buying rags from woolen mills, I can hardly imagine a profitable industry of rag-weaving established in any farmhouse without the existence of an indigo dyeing tub.

[Sidenote: _Red_]

[Sidenote: _Copperas_]

[Sidenote: _Dull green_]

"The next important color is red. Fortunately, red warps can be bought which are reasonably fast, but the only way to procure red rags in quant.i.ty is to dye them, and, although the dye is somewhat expensive, there are two colors, turkey red and cardinal red, which are extremely good for the purpose. Probably these could be bought at wholesale from dealers in chemicals and dyestuffs at much cheaper rates than by the small paper from the druggist or the country store. Copperas gives a fast nankeen-colored dye, and this is very useful in making a dull green by an after dip in the indigo tub.

[Sidenote: _Domestic dyes_]

[Sidenote: _Nut stains_]

[Sidenote: _Leaf stains_]

[Sidenote: _Iron rust_]

[Sidenote: _Ink stains_]

"There are some valuable domestic dyes which are within the reach of every country dweller, the cheapest and best of which is walnut or b.u.t.ternut stain. This is made by steeping the bark of the tree or the sh.e.l.l of the nut until the water is dark with color, and setting it with alum. It will give various shades of yellow, brown, dark brown, and green brown, according to the strength of the decoction or the state of the bark or nut when used. If the bark of the nut is used when green, the result will be a yellow brown; and this stain is also valuable in making a green tint when an after dip of blue is added. Leaves and tree-bark will give a brown with a very green tint, and these different shades used in different rags woven together give a very agreeably clouded effect. Walnut stain will itself set or fasten some others; for instance, pokeberry stain, which is a lovely crimson, can be made reasonably fast by setting it with walnut juice. Iron rust is the most indelible of all stains, besides being a most agreeable yellow, and it is not hard to obtain, as bits of old iron left standing in water will soon manufacture it. It would be a good use for old tin saucepans, and various other house utensils which have come to a state of mischievousness instead of usefulness. Ink gives various shades of gray according to its strength, but it would be cheaper to purchase it in the form of logwood than as ink.

[Sidenote: _Vegetable dyes_]

"There is a strong and well-founded preference among art producers in favor of vegetable dyes, and yet it is possible to use certain of the aniline colors, especially in combination, in safe and satisfactory ways.

[Sidenote: _The variety of shades_]

"Everyone who undertakes domestic weaving must know how to dye one or two good colors. Black, of course, and the half-black, or gray, which a good colorist of my acquaintance calls _a light black_. Indigo blue equally, of course, in three shades of very dark and light. Here are seven shades from the three dyes, and when we add white we see that the weaver is already very well equipped with a variety of color. The eight shades can be still further enlarged by clouding and mixing. The mixing can be done in two ways, either by carding two tints together before spinning, or by twisting them together when spun.

[Sidenote: _Carding and twisting_]

"Carding together gives a very much better effect in wool, while twisting together is preferable in cotton.

[Sidenote: _Blue_]

[Sidenote: _Pink_]

[Sidenote: _Gray_]

[Sidenote: _Clouding_]

"Dark blue and white and medium blue and white wool carded together will give two blue grays which cannot be obtained by dyeing, and are most valuable. White and red carded together give a lovely pink, and any shade of gray can be made by carding different proportions of black and white or half-black and white. A valuable gray is made by carding black and white wool together, and by black wool I mean the natural black or brownish wool of black sheep. Mixing of deeply dyed and white wool together in carding is, artistically considered, a very valuable process, as it gives a softness of color which it is impossible to get in any other way. Clouding, which is almost an indispensable process for rug centers, can be done by winding certain portions of the skeins or hanks of yarn very tightly and closely with twine before they are thrown into the dye pot. The winding must be close enough to prevent the dye penetrating to the yarn. This means, of course, when the clouding is to be of white and another color. If it is to be two shades of one color, as a light and medium blue, the skein is first dyed a light blue, and after drying, is wound as I have described, and thrown again into the dye pot, until the unwound portions become the darker blue which we call medium."

[Sidenote: _Mrs. Albee's manual_]