Color Gamp

Color Gamp on 15" Rigid Heddle Loom
Lunatic Fringe Yarn Color Gamp Kit (20 colors)
$82
​10/2 mercerized cotton 1.5 oz/400 yd cones
Need 50 yards of each color (you will have lots left over)
Plain weave
24 ends per inch (epi)

I think the most important discussion here would be to talk about what exactly a "color gamp" is. When I first heard the term, my reaction was huh? It is really quite simple, though, and is a great tool for anyone in the fiber arts. When you weave, there is a relationship between the color of your warp and the color of your weft. Unlike when you use paint, the colors of the warp and weft do not mix. They create what can be referred to as an optical blend. Think of it as tiny little pixels all butted up next to one another. You can pick out the individual hues, but step back, and they start to blend together.
This blend is really important as you plan your projects. Are you making kitchen towels? Would that blue color you chose for the weft look better on green warp or an orange warp? What would the difference be? Does it make any difference at all? That is where a color gamp comes in. A color gamp is a sampler, or a study in color, that you weave. It can be referenced again and again and is a very handy thing to have in your workspace. There are some really beautiful color gamps out there, and you can play around with patterns and colors. It's worth a google image search to see the lovely gamps people have created. However, for my little rigid heddle loom, I chose to follow the instructions of Inventive Weaving book by Syne Mitchell for a traditional color gamp in pure hues.
Another skill I was interested in learning when making this color gamp was weaving a fine cloth on my rigid heddle. For practical reasons, the heddles on rigid heddle looms can only go down to 16 ends per inch and many stop at 12 ends per inch. Does this mean an artist on a rigid heddle loom cannot achieve the look/feel of garment fabric? No, of course not. Brilliant weavers out there came up with a clever and quick fix- use two heddles. Then, with two 12 ends per inch heddles, you can achieve a 24 ends per inch fabric.

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There are resources out there that will show you what thread needs to go where in a two-heddle plain weave configuration.  When threading the two heddles, you will end up with one thread in each hole of both heddles and three threads in each slot.

For ease, I used rubber bands to fasten my heddles together and was able to lift and lower them as one, creating a shed in exactly the same manner as with one heddle.  I did not attach these rubber bands until I was ready to tie off the warp; it was much easier threading the two heddles with some space between them.  During the threading process, I put one heddle in the neutral slot and one in the up slot, making sure they were lined up exactly with one another.  The one snaffoo I ran into was when I was threading my heddles I could not manage a neutral position for my heddle very well.  I had no trouble creating the up and down sheds, but when I wanted all the threads even, my two heddles did not fit in my "resting" position slot.  This messed with my tension a little and I did notice this tension deficit in my weaving. I will need to make sure I do a better job next time creating the neutral position for my heddles, it is very important all the threads are at the same level when tying off the ends to achieve consistent tension.  If you think about it, if some threads are neutral and some are up, they are traveling different distances and even tension cannot be achieved for all threads.  It was a minor headache, but a headache nonetheless.

This project is small and works up very quickly.  Threading the heddles probably took the longest, as you end up with 360 ends that all need to go in their particular places.  Then, you do have to keep in mind that you have 20 colors that will need to be wound on to your shuttle stick.  There are only eleven passes of each color, but you still have to stop and start a lot.  I haven't yet washed my little beauty.  I'm a little nervous.  But really, I think it will look even better once it gets a good wash and I iron it out.  This is a tool I am very glad I took the time to make. 

And all of the colors make me smile to look at, so regardless of how much a use it as a tool in color theory, it makes me happy.