Q&A

In a comment on yesterday's post, Jill asked, " I am curious how the weft colors are used. Is your draft set up so that you throw the three colors in order, over and over? Or, does the computer draft tell you which color each pick needs to be?"

The first part of the answer is "Yes." My draft assumes that the shuttles are thrown in rotation, A, then B, then C. Ad nauseum, or until I reach the top of the weaving. :-)

I visualize the fill pattern I create in Photoshop as if it were the tie-up part of a draft for a shaft loom, times three. Lines 1, 4, 7, etc. represent the shaded satin that color A is weaving. Lines 2, 5, 8, etc. represent the shaded satin that color B is weaving. Lines 3, 6, 9, etc., represent the shaded satin that color C is weaving. I weave from the bottom of the image toward the top, so the first row of pixels in the image is always either black or color A. The second row of pixels in the image is always either black or color B. And the third row is always either black or color C.

[P.S. Maybe a better way of phrasing that last bit is that in the first row of the file, each pixel is either black or color A; in the second row, each pixel is either black or color B; and in the third row, each pixel is either black or color C. Clear as mud, right?]

Here's an example of one of the combinations I might use as a fill pattern. The colors on the left are a visual cue for me, not part of the fill pattern. In this example, A is weaving 1/8 satin and both B and C are weaving 8/1 satin.

And the second part of the answer is "No." The file that I take to the loom has only black pixels and white pixels in it, just like a black-and-white drawdown for a shaft loom. It has no color information in it at all. Here's a screenshot of part of the file I'm using for the lobelia:

I hope that if you click the image, Blogger will display the full-size image so you can see each pixel.

As you might imagine, the most important part of my process is the Word file in which I record for every design which hue is color A, which is color B, and which is color C. Otherwise, the image might come out very strange-looking, with a "wrong" color showing up where I expected the "right" one.