Ikat is the centuries-old art and technique of resist-dying pattern into individual threads before weaving. It is a complex and revered fiber process resulting in graphically elaborate and compellingly beautiful woven cloth. Ikat wrapped yarns, when dipped in vats of dye, instantly become timeless, immersed in an ancient partnership between intention, design, and color.
Participants in this two-and-one-half day workshop will design, wrap, dye, and weave a custom ikat scarf while learning the basic techniques of the warp ikat process. Each student will stretch a warp for an ikat scarf using warp yarns and a warping board they have brought to class. Four ikat warp wrapping methods will be demonstrated. The first day’s session will culminate in students dyeing their wrapped warps using Procion Mx fiber reactive synthetic dye and then unwrapping the ikat resist warp bundles. Yarns will dry overnight.
On Day 2 each student will dress & warp their loom with their dyed ikat threads. Yarn handling and different ikat warp shifting techniques and tools will be discussed & demonstrated.
Students will continue weaving on Day 3, learning further ikat weaving techniques and adjustments for creating many classic ikat designs and patterns.
Experience required: Student should be able to warp a loom and weave without assistance. No previous dyeing or ikat experience is necessary.
The student materials fee: $15, payable to the teacher, for ikat tape, dye auxiliaries, workshop workbook
Equipment and supplies to be provided by each student:
* portable warping board, or two radddles of similar size brought to class
* Two 3” c-clamps for attaching warping board to table, Four 3” c-clamps if using raddles
* warp yarns (registered students will receive a supply sheet with advice on selecting warp yarnns)
* portable workshop loom with reed compatibly sized for a dense warp sett -10, 12, or 15 dent
* 3 wooden dowel rods cut 2” narrower than the width of your loom: ½’, ¾”, and 1” in diameter
* 2 shuttles with bobbins + your usual weaving supplies & header materials
* wide eye steel tapestry needle
* pair of small sharp scissors
Table looms are available for rent from SCHG. Information is here.
Warp & weft yarn suggestions
Warp Calculation: Pick a natural fiber warp yarn that you are interested in working with and that you think will make a lovely canvas for your ikat wrapping/dyeing. We are striving for a densely sett warp dominant cloth, not a balanced 50-50 weave, to showcase the beautiful ikat that will be dyed on each individual warp thread.
Have your warp yarn(s) on hand & ready for this session but please do not measure & stretch your warp prior to this class!
Warp yarn suggestions for a 12 or 15-dent reed:
5/2 perle cotton, white or natural, 16 oz
20/2 silk, white or natural, 4 oz
8/2 Tencel, white or natural, 9 oz
20/2 Normandy Linen, white or bleached ivory, 6 oz
Weft yarn suggestions: Your weft should be a much finer fiber than your warp in order to create a dense warp-face weave. This will allow the ikat dyed pattern on the warp threads to be the showstopper. You will dye your warp with natural indigo or a synthetic indigo color using procion mx dyes. The simplest weft solution, which does not require the additional step of dyeing very fine weft threads, is to use a blue shade of commercially dyed 60/2 silk, 50/2 silk, 30/2 silk, 20/2 Pearl cotton, 10/2 Tencel, or 40/2 linen. You will only need 2-3 oz of weft.
Below is a hypothetical example of the math to figure out scarf warp:
Desired scarf length: 72”, not including fringe
Desired scarf width: 10”
Available reed size: 12-dent
Warp material on hand: 5/2 perle cotton
Knowing we want a densely sett warp, plan on 2 warp threads/dent, which will be 24 epi’s, ends-per- inch. For a 10” wide scarf you will need 240 warp threads. For a 72” scarf add 36” for loom waste and fringe = 3 yrd warp
The warp you will measure for your scarf will be a total of 240 ends @ 3 yrds. Add an additional 6-10” to accommodate warp shifting techniques.
About Mary Zicafoose: Technically and visually, Nebraska artist Mary Zicafoose takes inspiration from modern abstractionists, and draw upon their influence in her signature large, bold color fields juxtaposed against the toothy design edge of ikat. She creates textiles that aspire to more than grace museums, command public spaces, and decorate homes. Mary Zicafoose’s tapestries are woven metaphors that strive to tie the contemporary, the symbolic, and the timeless together, coded to become lyrical, if not timeless, works of art. Blending the archetypal with the innovative, her large-scale textiles and architectural installations span centuries of artistic tradition while being situated squarely within the contemporary visual lexicon.
Mary is the author of Ikat: The Essential Handbook to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth, published in 2020.
She earned a B.F.A. in Studio Art at St Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN, and pursued graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Nebraska. She has been a resident artist at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, a three-time USA Artist finalist, and a frequent contributor to the Art in Embassies program, with work featured internationally in sixteen US Embassy permanent and lending collections, as well museums around the world. She is co-director emeritus of the American Tapestry Alliance, board chair of the Omaha Union for Contemporary Art, and a former board member of GoodWeave USA, an international NGO dedicated to the eradication of child labor in the rug factories of Southeast Asia.
Visit her website at maryzicafoose.com.