Experiments

 

I took these last night and the colour isn't great, but I did an 'experiment' and have been documenting the process.

These 'samples' are scarves, one at 24 epi one at 25 epi (2/dent in a 12 dent reed on the left; 5/dent in a 5 dent reed on the right), woven in huck lace at one end of the scarf.

The warp has areas of plain weave threaded in (the black stripes) and the issue when combining two different weave structures with vastly different take up rates is that the tension goes 'wrong' very quickly.

However, a short section of huck doesn't distort the cloth too much and can make a nice effect.  So these scarves are woven huck in a symmetrical presentation, colours and lace reflecting the threading, with the balance of the scarf woven in plain weave.

By the end of the square, the fell looked like:

The black stripe is threaded to weave plain weave at all times which means the maximum number of interlacements while the huck lace areas shift and move and take up less than the areas of plain weave.  If this is done over a long length, it can actually cause tension issues in the warp, but over the 12" or so of the 'gamp', the threads soon equalized and the rest of the scarf wove off with no problems at all.

The 24 epi version with 2/dent in a 12 dent reed wove off very nicely with few issues while the 25 with 5 per dent needed a bit more coaxing.  The reed marks in the 5 dent sample are much more obvious but should lessen during wet finishing.  OTOH, they are consistent so I won't be too bothered if they don't disappear entirely.

Both required careful attention to the difference in beat required for the huck lace areas, but the enduring plain weave stripes helped keep the beat even in the lace areas.

There was a slight difference in the width, of course, but very little difference in how 'lacey' the cloth is, even before wet finishing.  I put a piece of white paper underneath the cloth so that the transparency can more easily be seen.

The yarn is 2/10 mercerized cotton and at this point it is very stiff, but after wet finishing it should develop a nicer hand and more drape.

I didn't feel like messing with twisted fringes, so these scarves will be hemmed.

All Things Being Equal

 

huck lace boxes, not wet finished (loom state)

This morning I am about to go do a Zoom presentation on lace weaves.

Coming to understand how lace weaves work, the challenges involved in weaving them, the dynamics of how the threads move and shift, were a watershed time for me.  I spent hours and hours doing drawdowns - by hand on graph paper because there was no weaving software at the time and if you wanted to have a graphic representation of how the threads would move through the cloth, that was how you did it.

I learned a lot.  Like a *lot*. Way more than I expected when I set out to do the drawdowns.  The more I did, the more I learned.  

The photo shows something that people frequently don't understand - how the number of interlacements will affect the beat.  The areas of plain weave do not beat in the same as the areas being woven in lacy fashion.

Another thing that people don't seem to understand at first is where the 'holes' actually form.  It was only after doing countless drawdowns, then weaving the cloth and comparing the two that I really understood the dynamic of threads moving to areas of least resistance and having those holes form.  

While I can explain these things, I do believe that each person needs to do some drawdowns, then weave the draft and then after wet finishing compare the two.

Lace weaves are one of the categories that really depends on the wet finishing to bring the cloth to it's final state.  While I advocate that weavers wet finish all of their webs, some just have to be wet finished because they depend on the threads deflecting from their rigid straight lines.  They need to deflect from the grid.  Like waffle weave, honeycomb, deflected double weave, and so many more.

Lace weaves will beat in unequally - unless the weaver exercises care in how they place the weft in the web.  I will sometimes ensure that there are areas of cloth that will weave only plain weave and then use those areas to monitor my beat, to make sure it is as consistent as possible.  

I won't claim that my lace weave fabrics are always 'perfect' - ie equal epi/ppi.  But if you can't be perfect, be consistent.

Lace Weaves

Huck lace 'boxes' with plain weave

Swedish Lace

Many people find lace weaves confusing, not least because there are so many different ways to write the threading/treadling draft.  When the sequence looks so very different, people can get confused about what is the 'right' way.

Well, the 'right' way is which ever sequence - threading, tie up, treadling - that will give you Huck (or Swedish, which is a derivative of Huck) interlacements.

Lace weaves consist of floats on a plain weave foundation.  You can have warp floats, weft floats or warp/weft floats.  

Bronson Lace differs from Huck/Swedish in that the foundation threads are only on one shaft with a tie down on a second shaft.  In Huck there are two shafts for the foundation threads and no tie down.  Swedish Lace has two shafts for foundation and a tie down where a unit is repeated.

Confused yet?

Can I recommend my webinar to help bring some light to the subject?  I tried searching for the webinar on their website but nothing came up so hopefully this link will work for anyone interested.

Lace/Texture

Huck lace on the diagonal

Swedish Lace

Spent much of today preparing the webinar Power Point presentation.  The above are a couple of images I will probably use to show that lace weaves don't necessarily need to have holes.  (Loom state above, wet finished below.  Click on photo to biggify.)

The above fabrics were woven of wool and in both cases fulled.

Now why would anyone want to weave lace in wool and full it so that the holes close up?

Hmm - maybe I should tease and say, sign up for the webinar?

Or maybe I'll just say, because lace weaves can also produce a nice texture and the warp/weft floats can provide warmth.  We all know that trapped air provides insulation, and where there are weft floats on one surface there are warp floats on the other making a little 'pocket' where air can become trapped.

This and other information will be provided in the webinar scheduled for July 27.  Just saying...

Currently reading Omen by Kelley Armstrong

A Little Spinny

The weekend was spent exploring spinning yarn.  Now it is back to weaving it.

Monday I need to finish the Power Point presentation on lace weaves for the webinar at the end of the month so rather than actually weaving, I will be taking photos, generating drafts, trying to sort out how best to explain the differences and similarities of the three main loom controlled lace weaves.

A bit of a challenge that may leave me feeling just a tad spinny!

So far we haven't explored beyond the town.  On Tuesday we will go for the 'historic walk' downtown, something I keep meaning to do but never have until now because I have out of town company!  The perfect excuse...

This week there will also be live entertainment at noon at the downtown plaza so we will no doubt enjoy some music on Tuesday as well.

The two weeks of Mary's visit is whizzing by all too quickly.

Concentration

Concentration was pretty thick in the air in the guild room this weekend!

Eight enthusiastic students, exploring the nature of lace weaves.  The guild room was stuffed.  If there had been one more person, I think the room may have burst.  As it was we were, um, cozy.

Such a delight to see people understand the concepts and even go beyond to design their own patterns.  Looking forward to seeing what they do with this knowledge.

Lovely Lace

Don't forget to biggify for a larger picture...

A friend came over one day, early in my career, looked around my house and wondered where all my weaving was.  I told her I couldn't afford my own weaving...

Over the years I have made a few things especially for me but I have kept very little.  Many of the hand woven textiles I have in my home were actually woven by friends - mostly tea towels.  I always recognize who made the towel du jour and I feel they are close to me, even though physically they may be very far away.

I did keep most of the textiles woven for the master weaver certificate, although even those in some instances have found other homes.

The silk scarf pictured above is one of the things I have kept.  It was woven from 2/60 silk in Huck Lace.  The butterflies (or moths - I can never keep them straight in my mind), flutter across the cloth as they will.  The cloth has areas of spots, lace and plain weave.  It isn't perfect, but it's pretty close.

It was a nice ramble down memory lane as I pulled examples for the workshop this weekend...and for the contract...more news on that once everything is settled.

I know, I'm such a tease!  :^)

Lace Weave Workshop

One of the things about procrastination...it makes critical deadlines happen.

I needed to have at least one draft ready by the guild meeting tonight so I started out by selecting the warps for the workshop, then wound the silk warp for one of the two people registered.  The benefit of teaching locally is 1) the guild looms can be used and 2) I get to decide how many - or few - people I'm willing to teach.

I had hoped for more than two, but on the other hand, guild members who weave haven't had much in the way of programs or workshops lately, so I decided that I would run it with just two people.  If nothing else, those two will learn more about lace weaves.

During the times they are weaving and don't need my assistance, I can be knotting fringes on the shawls I've gotten woven.

Not to mention that I am very likely 'retired' from teaching outside of my home town - or at least western Canada, so...

It was a tough decision but I think I'm pretty comfortable with it now.  I've applied for both (tiny) pensions I'm entitled to which will give me a monthly income - something I've not had in pretty close to 40 years and I made the decision to become a full time weaver.

It's been an education, being self-employed.  One of the first things I learned was that I was not going to have a 'regular' income.  The cyclical nature of the feast/famine economy of a self-employed artisan has been challenging, to say the least.  I won't miss the struggle to find income to cover the bills.

I will miss teaching, the personal interaction with new enthusiastic weavers.  But I can still take private students and from time to time, run a local workshop.

Anyone want to come to PG in April?  Spring has finally arrived!

Currently reading Winter Moon - a collection of three novellas by Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee and someone else whose name escapes me at the minutes (and I'm too lazy to walk all the way to the other end of the house to check...)

Bronson Lace and Spot Bronson

Spot Bronson in a point progression.  The weave structure will 'pivot' so do not repeat the final block when repeating the threading or treadling.

Bronson Lace.  Half of one repeat shown.  Again, do not repeat the 'pivot' blocks at the centre and end of the repeat.

I usually don't like lifting a whole lot of shafts so I tend to weave lace or spot weaves so that fewer shafts would be lifted.  Compare the above draft to this:

By weaving the cloth as mostly lace with just some plain weave, you lift a lot fewer shafts.

But that much lace might be too much for the cloth desired.

What differentiates Spot Bronson from Bronson Lace (or sometimes Atwater-Bronson) is that in order to get lace you have to have two units of the weave structure side by side both vertically and horizontally.  The lace 'hole' happens at the intersection of the four units.  If there is only one unit of Bronson surrounded on all sides by plain weave that is considered a 'spot'.

Currently reading Elemental - a collection of short stores written by a number of different authors building on Mercedes Lackey's Elemental series