DETAILS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have hard cropped part of the original photo to show in more detail just how the pattern weft operates. The blocks with the brightest yellows are the pattern blocks, the blocks where the yellow pattern weft shows the most.

SECONDARY PATTERN APPEARNCES

Then there are blocks where the yellow shows in spaced dots. The second block from the left in the first row on the bottom is an example. Next to it on the left is yet a different way in which the yellow can show, as lines of dots. These secondary appearances of the yellow do not at all obscure or detract from the pattern blocks. They simply add a bit of visual complexity.

JOINING OF BLOCKS

Looking again at the pattern blocks, when two pattern blocks abut each other along the width of the warp, the joins are sometimes different. In the second row from the bottom there are three pattern blocks next to each other. The join between the two on the left have yellow floats just slightly longer than the other floats. And the joint between the two on the right have joining floats slightly shorter.

These differences reflect how I joined the two blocks in the threading. I had not really thought much about moving from block to block as I was designing the threading. I do know that sometimes there are accidentals and sometimes not. Whether or not there are accidentals, and how many there are, depends on the particular blocks being joined. But I had never paid any attention to what would happen at the joins when weaving.

In an earlier post, I discussed a bit the creating and joining of blocks. But that was very early in my working with the concept of 8 crackle blocks on 4 shafts. Now I finally begin to understand the importance of paying attention to which blocks can follow which and the accidental(s) that may be needed. When I do my next piece I shall have to look into that as I design the threading.

And here I have hard cropped a part of the background area.

In the design areas, I wove with two different reds in addition to the yellow. But the reds were both bright, saturated reds. I did not want to detract from the pattern, but I still wanted a subtle (subliminal!!!) difference.

Here I also wove with two different reds. In this case one bright, one dull. Nothing subliminal here! It all looks a bit uneven. In reality, the unevenness is even clearer.

This unevenness results from treadling which sometimes alternates the two reds, sometimes treadles each red twice, sometimes with the bright red leading, sometimes with the dark red leading.

BINARY SEQUENCES

Not wanting it to be a mess, however, I did tame it with some order. But I did not want the order to be immediately obvious. To do this I created three binary sequences:

1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
0 1 1 1

1 stands for alternating 1 bright red and 1 dull red for the six treadles.

0 stands for alternating 2 dull reds and 2 bright reds for the six treadles.

There were a couple of sub-rules as well. In a given row, for example, when three 0’s follow each other, I continue the alternation and do not begin again with two shots of dull red. But when the 0 ends one row and then begins another row, I begin both with the two shots of dull red.

Related Posts:
Binary Sequences and Designing
Weaving Begun Again
8 Crackle Blocks on 4 Shafts
Polychrome 8-Shaft Crackle

AN ASIDE: In looking for related posts that I thought might be helpful, I was stunned to learn than I had started working with this variation of crackle at the end of 2007. In a way, I had no idea that I had been studying this for so long. But in another way, it feels like I have never not been studying this. And possibilities keep opening up. Kind of like being married!

“Details” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 2, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina