I-Loominating! Scrapwood frame loom for under $2

The Idea

Weaving seems like a fun, low commitment, low pressure hobby. No deadlines, lots of potential yarns and fibers to experiment with. Let's build a frame loom! Even better, let's build a frame loom for almost free using scrapwood, some screws already on hand, and a box of wire brads that cost less than $2. Yeah.

The Creation

I had some easy-to-handle sized scrapwood pieces, so I laid them out on the floor to see how big my loom would be if I didn't make any cuts.  I thought it might be nice to have a wider piece across the bottom, so I just went with these pieces as they were and decided to make a 'vertical' (portrait orientation) loom.

Loom pieces

Not pictured in this post, but I happened to have a vat of indigo blue dye already on hand when building the loom, so I dipped the pieces in the dye bath just for funsies.  After the wood had dried for a few days I gave it a coat or two of shellac (already on hand from another project) because I wanted a smooth surface to minimize any yarn snagging.

Next step was the placement of small brad nails to hold weaving warp.  This stage is where I confirmed that I wanted to make a 'vertical' loom rather than a 'horizontal' loom. I laid out a piece of painters tape on each of the short pieces to make a straight edge and then measured 1 cm increments.  I then nailed in each brad at the marked increment.  I chose to use brad nails because they have a small head which seemed like it would make warping the loom, and later removing the warp, easier.

Tape measurements and nailed in warp supports

Tip: Do not nail your nails through the painters tape, nail it NEXT to the painters tape edge. The small space between each nail can make removing any stuck tape a bit tedious. I think I used tweezers at some point because I couldn't fit my finger between the nails.

Brads nailed in place

Once the brads were all in place I assembled the 4 loom pieces together, using two screws at each corner. If you only use one screw there is a possibility that the pieces could get 'out of square' with each other, and nobody wants a wonky loom.

Loom top with warp threads

Conclusion

The loom is heavier than if I had used MDF or some sort of thin plywood, but as far as a scrapwood loom that cost $2 and some time it works juuust fine.  Here it is with a test weaving showing that everything is holding together under the warp tension and (light) weight of the weft fibers.

Loom in action

Happy freestyling, or bargain creating if that is where the wind takes you!

NQF: How to dye an Ikea sheepskin in the washing machine

 Not Quite Freestyle (NQF)

How to dye an Ikea sheepskin in the washing machine

The cat is a pampered cat, as befits his status as undisputed apartment ruler. As he has demonstrated a fondness for fleecy and wooly things, his human servants thought he would appreciate a sheepskin.  The human acquired a RENS sheepskin from Ikea for the cost of approximately some-amount-that-the-cat-doesn't-care-about.  

Tag on back of Ikea sheepskin

Upon close inspection the cat commented that he didn't think the sheepskin coordinated properly with his eyes, so we decided to dye it purple as befits his royal majesty.

Inspection 1.

This was pretty simple, fill the washing machine with dye and hot water, but pause the wash cycle before it agitates. Put the sheepskin in, and swish it around with a stick every once in a while. While wearing gloves, pull it out to look if the color is getting any darker.

In-progress view

After a good bit of siting in the washing machine (maybe 2 hours), add some gentle soap, close the lid, and let the gentle wash cycle continue.

Once the washing machine cycle is done, DO NOT PUT THE SHEEPSKIN IN THE DRYER.  Instead, place it somewhere it can fully air dry, like on top of a bucket inside a bathtub.  Wait for the sheepskin to air dry, this could take a while depending on the humidity level.

Drying time

After the sheepskin has dried, fluff the wool generously, then present it to his royal majesty for final inspection.

Satisfaction

Conclusion

With its new purple wool the sheepskin passed inspection, and the sheepskin was granted a charter bestowing upon it the royal cat-nap privileges in perpetuity. 

After completion of this project, the humans ran an empty load in the washing machine to flush out any remnant dye, and all was well in the land.

Chair season - furniture finish comparison

Paint vs. Wood Dye

Earlier in the year I decided to refinish two different chairs, one using black dye on the wood and the other using sort-of-black paint named 'Wrought Iron'. The outcomes were very different, and I thought this would be a useful reference - for others or for my future self - when deciding whether to sand a piece of furniture down to bare wood in order to dye the wood or just paint it.  Sanding is an unpleasant chore, so sanding down a whole piece can be quite the investment in time and clean-up energy.

Here are the two chairs, the splat-back (left) and the angular colonial reproduction (right).

A little bit closer view, the left chair was sanded and dyed and finished with furniture wax. The chair on the right was painted with a variation in Benjamin Moore 'Wrought Iron' that I had to bring back to have more dark pigment added.  The hardware store folks were really nice about adding more pigment to try to get me to the 'soft black' color I had in my mind.....but I'm not sure it exists in reality.

The tricky part about sanding and dyeing is that you have to remove EVERY. SINGLE. PART of the old finish before dyeing.  If you miss any spots while sanding you will get places on the chair that resist the dye, and show up as light spots.  This shouldn't be a problem if you are working with raw wood, but for furniture makeovers it is something to consider if you plan to use any sort of chemical or mechanical stripper.

Conclusion

If I were working with raw wood, or wood that was confidently fully sanded, I would use the dye. The way the color sinks into the wood while leaving the grain slightly visible is a much more satisfying look. What's the word I'm looking for instead of satisfying: maybe authentic? aged? natural? organic? inviting? woody?  Something along those lines.   However, in the case of chairs with lots of spindles, if the chair already had a finish on it I'd try to get the right kind of paint to apply over the existing finish.  Sanding spindles sucks.

Happy freestyling!

Let loose the ceruse(ing)!!!

Ok, first of all, what the heck is 'cerusing' or cerused' and how do those terms relate to furniture? Let's skim through some language history at warp speed.

The Merriam-Webster definition:
Ceruse: white lead (Pb) as pigment

The Free Dictionary online definition:
tr.v. ce·rused, ce·rus·ing, ce·rus·es

To treat (wood or a wooden object) with a white pigment to accentuate the grain.

Another source notes that this furniture finish is called "liming" and that the "limed oak" is a term known in Britain.

What YOU need to know is that cerusing is freaking awesome, and I hope it helps people find new life for solid oak furniture that might otherwise seem too dark or even 'orangey' for modern tastes.

This is the first example I saw in the blogosphere that got me thinking about this technique, thank you Little Green Notebook for your design inspiration and useful tutorial!

Isn't this awesome?

More applause to the blogger at Addicted 2 Decorating, her dining table makeover and tutorial was really helpful.  It makes me want to try cerusing a large surface just to show off more of the amazing grain.

I read more about cerusing, but had nothing to ceruse, until that happy day came when I found an oak table that i knew immediately would make a good test subject.  

The start of it all

With my now acquired wisdom I would say it is easier to dye pieces of furniture before they are assembled, but that's a small point.

Raw material, saved from the trash

I stripped the old finish off the oak table, ot at least I thought I did. Surface prep doesn't lie, and it revealed some less than perfect areas when it came time to use the aniline dye.  These areas stayed lighter, or brown. Hopefully this adds to the handmade charm of a first try.

Table being stripped of original finish

Time to add the dye!

Table after two coats of dye

The top surface took the dye well, but keeping the dye-liquid on the sides and legs was more challenging, a gel might have worked better.  There was a bit of rotating the piece onto the side, waiting to dry, repeat repeat repeat.

After at least two rounds of dye I decided it was time to move forward towards the shellac application, then liming and finishing.  You have to rub the liming wax (aka lime paste) all over the piece, and at this time the grain is ' open' so it accepts the wax.

After applying the lime paste I used very fine steel wool to wipe away the excess. Below you can see the top is about halfway done being rubbed with the steel wool.

Obviously this is the most exciting step! So many unknowns the first time! Did your dye color choice work? Does it look weird with the lime paste in the wood grain? Did you *$&# up anywhere else and not notice it until now?  All true thoughts.

After the lime paste removal was complete, the final step was to use furniture wax (yes, another wax, but different) to seal the table.

Here is a close-up of the lower shelf. I think that section turned out particularly nice, with bold, even, color and crisp grain contrast. Swoon.

For me this was a multi-evening project, but each step was manageable time-wise. It probably took about a week of fiddling because of the dry time between rounds of dyeing.  Speaking of dyeing wood, it is different than staining, something I learned while researching this technique. Staining wood will supposedly obscure the grain to some degree, but dyeing the wood only adds pigment to the wood fiber and thus won't 'fill in' the grain at all.  The result is a vivid grain pattern that gets highlighted by the lime paste.

So there you have it, a completely unique piece that perfectly compliments the height of my sofa arm.  The materials cost was around $40, and most of that was the aniline dye powder which could be used for many more projects.

Happy freestyling, see the potential for transformation in anything.