Friday, October 10, 2008

To Block or Not to Block

Hi, everyone. I've been sporadically playing around with point twills, but some of the medication puts me to sleep and I can't stay on one thought long enough to... ahhh... complete the thought. I'm so over this tooth thing, I can't wait to life a normal life, and get ready for my next wall. Besides, draft posts are clogging my space, and in fact, there's a draft post better placed before this one, but that's the way the cookie crumbles in life sometimes, isn't it?

Anyhow, this is what I've been wondering this morning: what's the difference between dividing 16 shafts into four sections of four shafts each vs. using the entire 16 as one set. I got the sense I was looking at block weave from the other side of the standard learning process.

The loom is, for argument's sake, 16 shafts, 16 treadles. The tie up is a combination of 4-shaft 1/3, 2/2, and 3/1 twills.
I'm threading a 9-end point twill, 9 being completely arbitrary. On the left I threaded in what to me is the normal manner, using shafts 1 through 9; on the right I'm using only four shafts, Shafts 1 though 4, to create a 9-end twill.
Perhaps one of the experienced weavers can tell me what constitutes a block weave, because I'm thinking it's either in the tie up, or in the threading, or both. Anyway, tromp as writ, you get either the top right cloth, or the bottom left one.
Now I'm advancing the twills by 4 shafts, (because the tie-up is in 4-shaft units) and trope as writ, we get these. In top right, it's obvious I have used point twills in different proportion of warp and weft, therefore the different colors. At bottom left, because the threading already breaks the the 4-shaft "rule" of the tie-up, the change in color is a little less distinct.
Finally, I'll advance the twills by 1 and weave as drawn in, they look like this. Here, both threading breaks the 4-shaft tie-up rule, so the changes in colors are gradual in both instances.
You really didn't expect me to analyze the difference between 9-end point twills today, I hope; perhaps you could do it for me. I hope you enjoyed the wee slide show, though, and I've got a start of a gamp draft!

4 comments:

  1. That looks like an interesting experiment, although somewhat hard on the eyes. Some of those patterns look really fun, and Id be interested to see them woven up...

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  2. Hi, Sonya. It is over in Nelson that true insanity looms. Hard on the eye? Try staring at the computer looking at these drafts for days. No wonder I'm so cross-eyed!!

    Of course I won't be weaving them in B&W, but I think I know what I'd like to do with the first warp for my wall.

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  3. I think black and white would look spectacular. I am especially intrigued by those in the third row from the top. Now, go to bed. Please. And stay there.

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  4. I get bored of being sick, Peg. Usually by about Day 3, I'm itching to get back to my normal life.

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