Transparency Workshop

I went to my first weaving workshop, it was on transparency. Transparencies are supplementary weft inlay on a sheer background, usually plain weave. The inlay techniques are used to create shapes and textures. I went mainly because I’d never been to a workshop before not because of what was offered. I didn’t have much interest in wall hangings . . . then!

In the mail I received the warp, which was beautifully tied up with different coloured ties to aid with the warping, I should have taken a photo! The warp was 12/1 linen. I have never used linen was warp so I was surprised by the liveliness of the linen. We also used the same linen as the tabby weft.

The first inlay technique is called Greek inlay (can also be called French inlay). It produces an intense block of colour. And on the left side you can see where I pulled the inlay weft too tight and it pulled the warp thread out of place. The first photo is on the loom and woven with the wrong side up.
The second photo is off the loom and right side up. The second technique is called Twill inlay. The inlay weft is laid down in a 3/1 twill. It produces a lighter coverage of colour but the texture and movement of the twill adds interest.
The first photo is on the loom and woven with the wrong side up.
The second photo is off the loom and right side up. The third technique is Greek inlay 2. It has double rows of tabby weft (the linen) which makes for a more diffuse colour.
The first photo is on the loom and woven with the wrong side up.
The second photo is off the loom and right side up. Here is a picture of the first three techniques and you can see that the coverage and colour is getting diluted.
The fourth technique is Ryss Weave, which has a three thread float. We were weaving with the wrong side of the transparency on top; a lot of these techniques can be used both ways. So on the top of the block I have flipped the pattern so now the three thread floats on the wrong side.
The next is Dukagang, which has two samples. The only difference is the number of tabby wefts between the inlay. It has a stacked block appearance, good for images.
The second sample.
My favourite style of the day was the Finnish techniques, there are four of them and I really liked all of them. The first makes little blocks of colour.
The second makes stacks of colour.
The third has a diagonal movement to it.
The fourth makes stacks of colour with a longer float then the second.
I was the only person to finish a cartoon that day. I did a butterfly in blue chenille. I used the third Finnish technique for the wings and Greek inlay for the body. Only up close can you see the difference. The white thread on the right hand side is the thread that I used to stitch the cartoon to the warp, it makes using the cartoon really easy to use.
When I got home I still had some warp left so I did some more cartoons, another two butterflies and two birds. Below the butterfly’s wings were done with Twill inlay and the body was Finnish inlay 1. The inlay weft is silk, both the green and orange.
The second butterfly was entirely done in the Ryss method. Again the inlay weft is silk.
The kiwi was done in Greek inlay and the inlay weft is chenille.
The shallow was done in Finnish inlay 1. The inlay weft is blue chenille and the beak is orange silk.
I was really excited at the end of the day and I really like transparencies. I have visions of transparencies in my future!

Pleated Twill Scarf

This scarf is totally different from anything I have done, which is kinda normal for me! It is black and white stripes which were going to be 8 threads each until I remembered that I was using 2/30 Tencel which would have made for really teeny tiny stripes. Oh, the stripes are going to become pleats! So the stripes became 1 inch wide.
To make the pleats the white stripe is a 3/1 twill and the black is a 1/3 twill. The strong diagonal line from the twill makes it pleat. There is a definitely two sides to this scarf, one side has white and black stripes, the other is white and charcoal grey. Here is a photo of the scarf on the loom with the tension off; the pleats are starting to show in the gentle curves. On the loom the scarf is 9” wide but after it came off it pleated down to about 2”. It was rather amazing to watch this scarf curl up and make these amazing pleats. After washing in warm soapy water and hanging to dry, I pulled gently on each stripe to set the pleats, no steaming was needed. The scarf is amazingly soft and has an unusual drape, which is still comfortable and pretty. The scarf now has two different sides, no more strong visual stripes, one side is white, the other black.This scarf is remarkable and I would totally do it again although I think that I would make the stripes only ½” wide because it would make more and shallower pleats!

Theo Moorman Technique

Now that I’m in my second year of weaving, I’m finally tackling my first piece of plain weave…..well sort of plain weave. I am doing a spaced and crammed scarf with an added inlay technique called Theo Moorman. Theo Moorman technique is based on groups of three warp ends. One thread is very fine and is used to anchor the supplemental inlay weft thread. The other two threads are thicker and are the primary structure threads; they are woven as plain weave. In each dent there are three threads, one thin thread and two thicker threads.In my case I am using 2/20 silk that has been hand dyed a variegated royal blue for the structure threads. For the fine thread I was going to use sewing thread in a slightly darker blue, but lucky for me it ran out, before my warp was finished. So instead I am using a stainless steel thread encased in black merino wool, it is very shiny and makes me very happy! Thanks to Susan at Thrums for sharing a sample of this yarn with us. I think that the scarf is going to be much better; it really adds a depth to the scarf.
For the spaced and crammed part of the scarf, there are five warp blocks 1” across and ½” space between them. So I put 3 threads per dent in a 12 dent reed that equals 1” and left 6 dents empty.
The main weft I am used is the same blue silk as the warp and for the Theo Moorman inlay squares I am using 2 ply green silk with soft slubs and purple 2/20 silk. 1” squares are woven then a 1” space is left, I’m using Venetian blind slats for the spaces. To add even more interest to the scarf, I’m only adding inlay on specific blocks to make a larger design.
Theo Moorman inlay is a very simple technique yet it has such a great impact. First step is to do one pick in plain weave with the main weft, in my case the blue silk. It goes all the way across and where there is no inlay, it weaves a block made up of plain weave.
Second step is to open a shed that only has the stainless steel and throw a pick of the supplemental weft, green silk. Here is a close up of one of the inlay squares. The blue weft can barely be seen, further away it can’t be seen at all. The inlay is done in a brick method; it can also be done as perfectly straight rows, called the Dukagang method. Beside is a block of just plain weave however with variegation of warp and weft with the shine of the stainless steel it is also very special. A cool thing about Theo Moorman technique is that the back of the cloth doesn’t show any of the inlay weft. It is truly a surface design. Here is the sample so far, exciting isn’t it, and yet another addition to Mum's workshop!

Crackle Weave on Eight Shafts

Way back in October Mum pulled a warp of teal blue Orlec with 200 ends for a sample warp featuring swivel. Now 3 months later the drawdown is no longer appealing, so a quest for a new pattern that used 200 ends was on. It had to be something interesting that could work with the workshop that Mum is on the last stages of finishing. A Crackle seemed to fit the bill, so this draft was created.
Here is a photo of the draft.

I had to do some sampling of weft colours because the Crackle pattern is very intense and needs to have a colour that compliments the warp but is still able to stand on its own. So out came the bin full of Orlec, what is Orlec you ask? Well, I have just spent a lot of time trying to find that out exactly what it is and here is the little that I found.
Orlec is an acrylic fibre which is non allergenic. It is also a strong and shiny fibre, yet very soft and it is machine washable with no colour degradation. 2/8 (or 8/2 in the US), Orlec is sold in ½ lb tubes and contains 1680 yards per tube. It is sold at a cost of about $7 for any of the 90 currently available colours. It can be purchased via camillavalleyfarm or at mbrassard. I tried about 10 different colours and the final choices were down to rust, rose and purple. I found that the best look was with colours of equal value, very strange the things that seemed to work. I decided to play it safe and go with the purple, 'cause who doesn’t find teal and purple appealing! The purple is shown in the centre.
The pattern is a little hard to see because it is very fine and busy, really, really busy. But I really like it. Up close the patterns are of circles and crosses.Yet from a distance there are shapes like buildings, like a city skyline.
I can’t wait to see the pattern when it is off the loom and washed. I think that is going to be amazing! This is my first crack at crackle!

Paper Spot Weave or Dropped Tabby

Now that Christmas is over and my son Eamon and his girlfriend Meghan are on their way back to Vancouver, I thought I’d share the sum total of my holiday weaving. These are also the first photos taken with my new Christmas Camera, how exciting! I'm still learning, so please bear with me during my learning curve.I was able to use the same warp of 2/8 unmercerized cotton that I had on the Jane loom from my last sample foray. I kept the sett at 24 epi but rethreaded and changed the weft to 2/8 orlec. Orlec is a well known yarn in Canada and is essentially Orlon that has all the properties of 2/8 mercerized cotton without the shrinkage and has a wonderful price point. This combination produced a dull warp with a shiny weft which showed the Paper Spot weave on eight shafts off perfectly.This group of weaves actually has no spots of which to speak; it is actually a dropped weave with an appearance much like Huck Lace, but without any holes in the fabric. The weave structure is a series of floats which are weft faced on the front of the piece, so in my case shiny; and warp faced on the back which is dull. It is a perfect weave structure to use with linen for tableware as the unwoven or dropped threads are held firmly in place structurally by plain weave.I wove one pattern repeat in a darker colour to show the lovely pattern. I think that this weave structure has plenty of potential and is rarely used as far as I can tell.

Well today is Ngaire’s birthday so I’m off to the kitchen to make one of Julia Child’s favourite cakes the ‘Queen of Sheba’ chocolate cake to finish off what I'm hoping is a wonderful birthday dinner.

Happy New Year and see you in 2010!