![]() 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. 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.
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.
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