Working with this muga silk was quite a challenge. It took more than a month to make the warp and get the loom threaded. The yarn is wiry but very light and wispy. Once under tension it behaved beautifully -- very strong and with enough elasticity that it held up really well. The weft is 2-ply silk that I dyed with natural dyes that grow here on my farm -- woad, safflower, tansy. I had many colors but not much of each, so I opted to mix wide and narrow stripes using randomly selected colors. I did a little on-loom embroidery at each end. The weave structure was a broken 4-point twill, and the sett was 36 (2-strand) working ends per inch. The warp was sleyed into an 18dpi reed, with 4 working ends in a dent alternating with an empty dent -- I have found that this is a great way to get good drape. The black photo shows the structure more clearly. I had enough warp to weave this second shawl using black Jaggerspun wool/silk as weft.
Beautiful subtle colours and I love the embroidery.
I too, have woven with muga silk. It was an extraordinary project and I enjoyed using the materials very much. The subtle color was so luminous and rich!
Beautiful work! Where did you get the muga silk? I can't find it anywhere nearby. Did you have to order it from India?
I appreciate each of you looking and commenting.
I bought the muga when I was in Assam last fall. I too have tried to find an on-line source, but no luck so far. I have contacts who might be able to get me some, but I'm not holding my breath. If I hear further about that I'll see if I can get more than I need and then I'll advertise it here.
Bonnie.
Lovely project. Beautiful colors and detail work.
Treenway silks has some thicker spun muga at 6800yd/lb, in case anyone is interested.
Nice work at the dyepot, so many colors, beautifully combined.
Now let me get this straight, you sleyed 4 ends and skipped a dent and sleyed 4 more? When you wet finish do you find most of the dent marks disappear? Or are you willing to live with them for the drape? I do not see dent marks in the cloth so I assume the cloth shifted. Neat solution for drape! Deb Mc
Hi Deb. The spaces where the empty dents were do close up a bit. You can see in the photo with the black weft that there are black pin-stripes running lengthwise -- these are the wefts floating over the spaces.
I fulled both of these by hand. BTW, the black weft is Jaggerspun wool/silk. When I washed it the water turned to INK. I was afraid the shawl would come out gray, but it seems OK. Still, for such expensive yarn that seems to be a big boo-boo.
Bonnie.
