Sample 2

Apologies for the shocking photo. Ben and I tried but I ran out of patience, so I've declined Ben's offer to bring out the heavy guns to shoot this sample.

I resleyed 108 ends at left selvedge at 42EPI (right in this pic) to see if it would solve the stripe problem, which it did marginally, but not in the straight twill part. It's so annoying, I have a whole bunch of barber shop poles in this cloth. I also investigated my reeds, and saw that Mom's Japanese reeds have skinner blades (?) than some of my non-Japanese reeds, but I couldn't tell if the 6-dent reed currently in use was fatter or about the same, nor do I have a Japanese 6-dent reed. I could resley the 2/20s at 40EPI and the thicker cottons at perhaps 30EPI, though I prefer not to. Undecided.     

Though instincts told me 88 picks would be about the right length for the longer rectangles, when I counted the first fulled sample it was more around 100, so I made drafts that changed after 100 picks. (Do you see one shot of pink in the dark purple rectangle? That's the 88th shot.) Both seems too long to me. What I noticed was that within the longer rectangles in yesterday's sample, I change the weave structure. So I could either have long rectangles with two different weave structures, or I can change colors at around 4cm; I'm leaning towards the first solution.

In addition, the alternate long and short rectangles appear so boring compared to yesterday's sample, so I might introduce another size. Or not.

I tried to create bright ribbons in horizontal damask, but I used a 5-end damask (!!) so I got some sheds where all the warps in a particular color stripe were up or down. Back to the drawing board, but if I can have fake-damask areas in 4-shafts, (I know I'm supposed to use strange numbers or some such; I read up on it years ago when I only had a 4-shaft and an RH,) it would create a nice contrast to the almost-all-twill cloth. I am happy with the horizontal ribbon being 8 picks each.

As regards weft colors, looking at the two samples, I decided pretty much all of my pink/red/purple yarns can be used in the larger rectangles as they tend to recede; all yellows and oranges, no matter how they look on the bobbin, must go into the short rectangles. Greens proved a little tricky and will depend on the colors preceding and following. There is one cream color which greatly displeases me for not fulling. At all. Though I cannot be bothered taking it out of the warp, it is not going in as a weft. 

I also made simple knotted fringes, and knotted the end as well to see if I could cut off the second knot to get nice, untangled fringes. It worked, even without the first knot.

With the combination of 21 inches at 36EPI and 108 ends at 42EPI, the cloth on the loom was 57.5 cm wide and 55cm long.  I put it through one cycle of regular hot/warm wash, but not in a net bag because though I have a bag large enough for this sample but not for the real piece. It is now just short of 56 cm wide and 47.5 cm long, (though they may shrink a bit more as they are still damp,) and the length required 440 picks.

I can't remember the exact term, but when I was a student I remember being offended by a term/phrase I believed to be originally scientific used in economic context; it was something like something of maximum return, and meant that after a point, no amount of additional investment would bring in more profit, so the implication was, no use investing in the products, process, staff or customers. I thought it was outright unethical not to always strive to make improvements, (and still feel that way to some extent.) However, as regards fine-tuning the drafts and the color orders, I think I have reached that point. Technically, I can go back and record the threading and plan each square, but I haven't got the time nor the will. I'll try to make interesting drafts, but I don't want to over-complicate my task, and I will still need four days to weave the woven part.  This is, after all, a combination of very simply structures woven at random as much as my setup and psyche allows.

With that in mind, I have only tomorrow to:

1) Decide on the sett and resley if necessary.

2) Create drafts containing designs around 60 picks, 20 picks and 8 picks, probably, keeping in mind that I can weave from the top or the bottom of the draft, so each draft, with directionality, (is that a real word?) could act as two. Sample and measure to see if I like the size.

3) Decide roughly what kind of a fringe I will made, to decide how much warp I need at each end.

4) Consider the weft color order; at this point I'm leaning towards putting bobbins in either the Long/Receding/Quiet or the Short/Loud container, and picking colors as I go.  The greens will have to go to a third box, but I like them, and hope to use them. The middle-sized rectangles, if I decide to use them, will depend on the context so I will choose as I go.

Also, I'm thinking of taking the samples to the dry cleaners and ask them to press one to see how that looks like, and possible ask them to press entry piece.

I'm by no means disavowing the other approach, of precisely (or, whatever adverb you prefer,) planning colors, threading and lifting so I know exactly what each rectangle would look like, as well as the whole piece, to create tighter and more precise kind of cloth. I happen to be the kind of person who does get a kick out of this kind of exercise. Sometimes.

I'm enamored by my sample pieces, though. Usually after a project is finished all samples go to my special samples basket drawers, but these two, I might just cup and make something for myself, overlong floats and all.

Hopin' and Prayin'

The reason why I haven't posted about Brisbane is, I finished threading the Prayer Shawl warp last night and have been sampling with gusto. (I also didn't skip drawing this morning.)

The weaving is going unexpectedly quickly, as evident in the size of the first sample. Overall, I'm pleased, but there are much minor problems that need investigating in the next two days, which add up to a non-negligible headache.

1) Strips: I weave 2/20 cottons in 36EPI, six per dent in a 6-dent reed.  With the swirly "Rococo" scarves, I never remember having had stripe problems, but in this sample it just didn't go away. I ended up putting it through two cycles of gentle wash in warm water, but especially in the simply- threaded and structured areas, it's bad news. I have one stripe towards the center where I threaded in undulating twill, and that dark purple disguised the stripes the fastest and best.

2) Though I used only two kinds of cottons in the warp, the skinner 2/20 from the same source are actually manufactured in Italy, Korea and Taiwan, I think, depending on the color.  They behave in different manners, but in this case, I'm having problems with the difference in fulling.

The thicker cotton, which Mom ordered for me in six reds in Japan a while back, is also threaded at 36EPI, so those strips are slightly denser and thicker, but I decided they give a nice lifted ribbon-y effect so I'm not changing the sett there. And other than plain weave, they don't present any beating problems.

3) I've been thinking I'll need to investigate some fancy fringing for this project, but I don't want the fringe to be too fancy they steal the eyes away from the cloth. And then I remembered I like the hemmed finish for my cottons; it's like getting bird's nest out of my hair. 

In addition to ironing out these issues, I must:

4) Decide on the order/combination of weft colors and the length of blocks. At first I planned to change colors every 4 to 8 picks for the most part, interrupted by longer areas, (ergo very slow weaving,) but looking at the sample, I now prefer either color changes at regular intervals, OR long rectangles (about 88 picks) interrupted by 4- or 8-pick "ribbons". Truth to tell, I was shocked and dismayed at how bright the warp was when I finished threading, and how parts of the sample looked like psychedelic Tartans. So at this moment, I think longer rectangles of darker colors and short splashes of saturated ribbons may be the way to go. 

5) Devise a set of structures consisting of desired number of picks, showing off some of the more noticeable color stripes, like the dark purple in the middle.

6) Experiment with ironing. I'm no Ironing Queen and I really wished Nancy still lived in Nelson.

Sorry, this is not a well-written post, (not that that's unusual); I wonder if I'm coming down with something, or if my body is hurting because I wove, ahem, around two hours in one go... But it's not the arm.

EDIT: This is by far the widest warp I made with my 2/20 cottons and I was worried about the feel/hand, as my narrow scarves feel a bit too harsh, but so far it's not been a problem for a shawl. 

* * * * *

Thank you, Dianne, for not being able to decide which one to send me. They are all lovely.

Wednesday

Hello, again. I got back last evening from Brisbane. And Brisbane was... big, bright, and expensive, but more about that when I get around to picking out some photos.

As soon as I returned, I found two more envelopes waiting for me. That's Margery's merino/alpaca/tussah silk and Gaye's Pukeko-inspired wool. And would you look at what New Zealand Post did to her return address?! Thank you so very much. And do please keep them coming; I could use some more.

I couldn't sleep last night, metaphorically speaking, because I realized there are only 29 days in February, and I wasn't going to make the March 1 due for National Exhibition entry paperwork. Thanks to technology, though, I scanned/emailed the form, and direct credited the Guild account so I ended up getting it in one day early! I was pleased the descriptions came so easily; I can only hope the weaving goes as smoothly.  

I can't read the description in the photo on my screen so in case you have as bad eyesight as I do, I'll add it here:

"100% cotton on 16 shafts consisting of 4 blocks of very simple structures.  Several people in my life have been gravely ill of have passed lately and though I am not the praying kind, I have latched on to the idea of prayer shawls and making this piece has been my prayer."

It's not exactly fluent writing, but you get the point, and well, it as a little more than the space allowed so I feel OK about it. 

Invigorated by having finished the paperwork, I went downstairs to continue threading. There were a few counting mistakes when I made the warp, alas, and after two of the three chains threaded, I'm short two ends, so it's a good thing I added four extras at the end of Chain 3, anticipating something like this.

I had a method to my madness in the way I changed colors; each color had a number of ends matching one of the schemes I had in mind; multiples of 4 for straight or Dornick threading, 7 for V- or A-shapes, etc., etc., etc. I changed my plans as I threaded so there are a few pointed threading blocks that isn't symmetric, for example, which might cause the selectors to reject the piece on grounds of "too many technical errors", (though Marlborough folks aren't that narrow-minded), but I'm forging ahead because life is spontaneous and you do the best you can in the circumstances you're given to the best of your ability, and I like that my approach is not contrived this time.

We'll see if I still feel the same once I start sampling.

Oh, I finished my wee project for February; it was to post one picture relating to my work every day. In August 2006, we joined the City Daily Photo group, (well, I did,) and solicited Ben's help, but I quickly got bored and Ben's been minding Nelson Daily Photo pretty much solo for the last five years. I wanted to get back into photography, so I tried this, and it was a good discipline, but I didn't feel the love for photography that I get once every few years. I'll explain this to you in depth in the near future. Time to concoct another wee project for March. 

So what have you been weaving while I was away gallery-hopping?

Thinking of Those Who Passed, Thinking of Those Who Remain

Wednesday was the first anniversary of the really big earthquake in Christchurch. (A bigger one took place in September 2010, but there was no casualty and the pictures were not as "dramatic" so you may not remember if it.) Japan's anniversary of the big 3/11 events is in 16 days. I feel humbled when I think of these places and especially the people living there, while the ground continues to shake underneath them all the time. I didn't forget you, how could I, but didn't want to write a flippant post in my usual flippant style.

Wednesday night, however, I found a draft I made when I first bought the draft software, one I thought I had deleted and was lost forever. The meshing of patterns and threads in this piece seem to tell me now about meshing and interlacing of people and our fates. And somehow it looked appropriate for the occasion. So here it is. (It is a square gamp, but the software couldn't shrink the view any further.)

All Wound Up

This could be the most cheerful warp I ever made, which is interesting considering the seeds for this project came from such places as illnesses, death and prayers. But I like what I see, and I'm glad I made an 8-meter warp. I think it reflects my attitude to life. 

I was hoping to start threading today, but I dithered and dithered and vacuumed the stash room, among other things.  No excuses, just procrastinating, in the same way I used to eat my veggies first because I disliked veggies as a child.

Is there a psychologist in the room?

* * * * *

Two in one day! Cally's handspun, Navajo-plied tussah silk, and Mette's lovely autumnal silk.

New Warp

We went to see Tim on Saturday and I gave him his 50th birthday present. We joked that it's only three years late, (actually, three years three months,) but he liked it so I was glad. Then we talked about work, and I told him how I decided to go to Brisbane in a heat of excitement, and how I had precious little time to weave my National Exhibition piece. Very little indeed. Suddenly I wanted to come home and start making the warp, and that's what we did.

I brought out all the cones above the white line. I'm going ahead with four-end blocks, but changed colors and width of each as I went. At the start, I felt guided by Doni's latest piece, my favorite Rachel Beckman work, and the recent writing by Gavin Hitchings, but none dictated my path.Then I started reflecting on the fact there are a few folks around me affected by serious illnesses and death lately, and I kept seeing colors I associate with Tibetan Buddhism. I used some of these colors on the sides. The middle part are some of my happy colors.

100% cotton, in two widths; 868 ends, approximately 24 inches wide on the loom at 36EPI.

I have the theme of "prayer shawl" in mind. 

65538

I spent the week to-ing and fro-ing from the living room to the stash room, and from one idea to another. I tried to explain what I was doing to Ben filling in squares in a grid notebook, but it was hard to put into words, because I didn't know what I was doing. I'm still unsure, but the paperwork is due in 13 days and the pieces due in 24 days from today, and of them I'm away for five days, so I need to light the fuse at the end of my unsmall right about now. What am I going on about?

In the course of trying to decide what I want to weave for the National Exhibition, I wanted to see how the sizes of the silks on spools compare to 2/60 cottons, and the "red" cottons to 2/20 cottons.  From time to time I throughly enjoy working with fine yarns, and even though my silks on spools were thicker than 2/60 cottons, this week I thought I must be deranged to want to weave in this scale. That eliminated one problem: I'll go with the "red" cottons.

Then, I wanted to see how these cottons, (they being slightly thicker than 2/20, they look yarn-y as opposed to 2/20s looking thread-y,) would work color-wise with 2/20s.

This is how the colors look. Though my stash room is impossible in terms of photographing true colors, a couple of days ago by fluke I was able to better than ever before. (No color adjustments in this one, which is unheard of of anything from this room!) So here, a closeup of the orange ball sitting comfortably.

I kept going back to see them in different lights, and by Friday morning, I decided I'm happy to work with any/all, with the possible exception of the dusty peach, (top ball in middle right, below,) in combination with everything above the white line. I also remembered I had three short warp chains in purples and pinks, (top left) in reasonable width, (12 inches wide on the loom, from memory), and I could edit/expand these quite easily.

So in terms of colors and thread/yarn selection, by Friday morning I was pretty happy. Bright, eh? I know spring is almost in the air for many of you up there.

The issue I've been combating for longer is the structure. Various ideas I had for "Professor, Father, Patient" stayed with me, so I had in mind something irregular, most definitely asymmetrical, something that "develops" in the course of one piece of cloth. For no particular reason, I was thinking more network rather than tied unit weaves. As I thought more about this project, not as an iteration of PFP, Doni posted this, which lead to one of my old favorite idea lifting its pretty head: using simplest structures to weave complicated-looking cloth. Then I started filling in squares in a grid notebook to collect idea seeds on 2-, 3- and 4-shafts, which lead me to try to remember how to calculate mathematical possibilities of combination and permutations on 4 shafts, which lead me to fill in squares in different combinations in a 4x4 squares. And before you go off trying this, I can tell you that in a 4x4 square, there are 65538 combinations, (I think in English this is expressed as 2 to the power of 16,) of coloring the smaller squares.  In weaving terms, if you see this as a 4-end/4-pick square, it includes the option of living all shaft or none at all, but with fine weaving in blocks, i.e. if you see the 4x4 as a profile, it's still valid. Which reminded me to the most fundamental truth in weaving: a thread is either above or below. And it links nicely with Ben's earlier life, (Ben can practice as a sparky in Japan as a result of majoring in electrics/electronics in his industrial high school,) that the power is either on or off. (He can also count in binary codes and do other weird stuff.)

This was a nice philosophical place to end up on a Friday afternoon, though I', no further in my project planning.

* * * * *

And then while gazing at images late last night, I found this Etsy store, and thought if I ever have an Etsy store, I'd like to stock it with pieces like these. Except I'm not sure if I can, because I grow tired of styles, or material, or scale, easily and would want to try something else.

At least I have something to do while waiting at airport terminals next weekend.

* * * * *

Yesterday was the due date for submitting paperwork for Changing Threads, Round 4. Best of luck to all who did!

Tick. Tick.

It's always nice to cross things off my To Weave list, but two in one day was great, since it's been a long time since I last crossed anything off that list. I'm talking about Tim's and Mom's cashmere scarves.

Tim's.

Mom's.

Bad:
1) This was the first time I put on cashmere on the big loom.  Because the yarn is spongy, it was harder to get a consistent tension; weave more and learn.
2) There is so much loom waste on the big loom, and I wonder if I can be more innovative at the warp beam end to reduce this.
3) Wonky arms, 15 minute increments, no rhythm, makes for even more inconsistent beating, and some dubious selvedges.  Let us pray.
4) I remembered I have never learned how to hem ends properly, but learned by looking at other weavers' works and unpicking a couple of them.  I must get someone to show me so I can improve; Tim's piece's hemming is something shocking.

Good:
1) Wefts in singles and doubles both work well in different ways.  Singles have room to breath and fulls nicely; the resultant scarf is airy and light.  Doubled, the scarf has meaty and hangs nicely, like grownup cloth.   Interestingly, they both feel as if they weight about the same. 
2) The silk in Mom's have a lovely understated shine, but the values of the gray and the burgundy are so close the piece shimmers.

Tag, label, deliver/post.  Go watch someone hem and figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Boy, it's good to get pieces finished, though. Both around 8 inches wide; Tim's is around 210cm long, Mom's 180.

Right or Left?

So, the results.

As you know I didn't learn weaving from a live human being per se; I taught myself from books, and a few then-Majordomo list members helped me. No YouTube back then. I just did what came natural to me; I'm right handed, so I start from the right. But I found this an interesting question to ask, as we never seem to talk about it; do we all assume others do the same as us, or because it doesn't matter one way or another? Any thoughts?

Thank you for participating in the survey!

Waiting for a Sign?

I vacuumed the basement almost like there is no tomorrow, (first time this year), and cleaned, (first time in about six months,) and waxed, (first time in two years? I heard creaky noises from an unfamiliar direction,) the big loom, while trying to feel, rather than think or plan, the next one. Two sets of yarns have been at the forefront of my thinking: the sewing silks and rayon and nylon sewing machine embroidery threads, OR a set of six reds in cotton, mill ends Mom sent me a few years ago.

I've never woven with either.  I can't see what kind of pieces I want to weave.

Meanwhile, Connie Rose sent me a little bit more than a yard! Thank you, Connie. I've already cut off one meter to put into the project; the rest into another piece.