THREADING PROBLEMS YET AGAIN

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Before I started winding bobbins I decided I needed to do just a bit more testing of this warp.  I wove two blocks.  Whoops.

PROBLEM ONE
I learned that I cannot do the kind of treadling with six blocks that I had intended. When I get to using treadles five and six as the pattern treadles, I cannot use the same pattern of treadles for the binders that I used on the first four pattern treadles. What I will do is keep the original treadling for the first four blocks and when I start blocks five and six, figure out which treadles will work as the binder treadles.
Why didn’t this show up in the software?  Probably I didn’t know what I was looking for.

PROBLEM TWO
There are, yes there are, threading errors!  I fussed and fumed for a bit.  Well, actually, for quite a bit.  Then I began to wonder if there was a way I could correct these errors by either removing heddles or adding repair heddles, depending on what I found when I started investigating.
These threading problems all occur when, and only when, I change blocks.  This means that I do not quite understand the process of changing blocks in terms of the threading.  It also means that when I check the drawdown for errors in the future on this kind of crackle, I need to watch especially carefully those places between blocks.

THREE THREADING ERRORS
I was glad there were only three!

1. In the case of the first error, the last thread of one block was not on the correct shaft.  I added a repair heddle to that shaft, removed the errant warp end and rethreaded it into the repair heddle, sleyed it and pinned it to the woven fabric.
2. The second error involved simply removing a heddle and removing the warp end.  That solution will cause me to have to resley everything from there to the right side of the loom.  And I will have to tie on the whole warp. Still, that is not as bad as rethreading!
3. And the third error, like the first, involved adding a repair heddle to another shaft, remove the warp end from the incorrect heddle and thread it through the correct one.

Before I made these corrections, by the way, I checked VERY CAREFULLY the drawdown
So now I can cut off a small bit of warp on the left side of the loom and a larger bit on the right side and prepare for some re-sleying.  Again.

Related Posts:  

Re-Threading
Re-threading: Good News and Bad News

“Threading Problems Yet Again” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on October 26, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

WHY I RAN OUT OF HEDDLES

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

Today I cut off the right side of the initial weaving. Then I tied the previously sleyed ends of the right side in bow knots so that they would not slip through the reed as I sleyed the left half.  So far so good.

Then I began sleying the left side.  I hadn’t gotten very far when I ran into a clump of empty heddles on shaft 2.  Oh dear. I don’t know how I managed to do that!  But at least I know why I had to add all those heddles on shaft 2 at the end of the threading.

But what to do now?  Do I rethread yet again?  I decided that there was no way I was going to do that.  I decided to leave those empty 8 heddles on.  Because of where they are in relation to the threading, i don’t think they will cause a problem when I weave.  And if they do………….off with their heads!  The monetary cost of 8 heddles is hardly worth all that re-threading!

Related Post:  Adding Heddles – Take Two

“Why I Ran out of Heddles” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on September 22, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

ADDING HEDDLES – TAKE TWO

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I am done threading, but the warp didn’t let me off easily.  When I got to the last block, I discovered I needed 8 more heddles on shaft 2.  Huh?  I didn’t need them when I originally threaded this side?  Obviously, I have done some things differently. Did I make other mistakes in my first threading?  Or did I make mistakes this time?  It will be interesting to see what happens when I start weaving.

Also, irony of ironies, the first time I threaded this project, I discovered at the end of the threading that I had to add more heddles. You can read about this at my June 14th post, “Adding Heddles”

Adding heddles to a loom is not all that hard.  When the loom is empty.  A warp on the loom makes it, at least for this loom, a much harder job. 
In the photo at the left, I have tried to give an idea of how tight things are at the shafts on the left side of the loom. It’s not that there are heddles right up against the left side that is the problem.  The problem is the tiny space between the left side of the shafts themselves and the side of the upright.
Look at the top flat metal runner that slides through the tops of the heddles.  You can see that it ends on the left by slipping through a hole in the vertical piece connect the top and bottom of the shaft.  Just between that vertical piece and the loom upright, barely visible is the gray metal rod that gets clicked into the hole at the end of the vertical piece.  There is barely any room for my fingers to work!

I definitely was not going to remove heddles from an overloaded shaft and move them to shaft 2. I did not want to have to deal with more than one shaft.

So I pulled 8 heddles off a string of heddles that I had not used up earlier.  I pulled them onto two knitting needles, one needle inserted through the tops of the heddles, the others through the bottoms. That is what I normally do when I add heddles.  The knitting needles keeps them neatly in order.

But the space here is much too cramped for the knitting needles.  So I then cut another string and poked the string through the bottom and top of the heddles and tied the ends together in a bowknot.  Simple. 
Then came the hard part:  getting them on the shaft.

That involved getting the runners that the heddles slide onto unlocked from the top and bottom of the shaft and then pulled out of their slots.  A screwdriver for leverage helped quite a bit.  But putting on 8 heddles at a blow in a tiny space with little room for maneuvering was not easy.  One at a time would have been easier.  But I did get them on.  The runners are back in the slots but I could only lock the top one.  I doubt that the bottom will present a problem.

And I am done threading!


“Adding Heddles - Take Two” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on September 3, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

RE-THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

PREPARATIONS

Chuck held warp ends taut and pressed treadles.  I got the lease sticks in. 
You can tell from the tautness and neatness of the threads, those that are still attached to the woven cloth.  And it is clear that these are not tabby sheds.  As I said, you cannot get tabby on this threading.





The messier side is where the warp ends had been disconnected at the fell and Chuck was holding them.  Though I don’t have perfect tabbies, these sheds, combined with the raddle divisions, should give me a good enough way to make choices when I start threading.
My next step was to pull all those ends out of their heddles. When I did this, I discovered that there were some ends that had not been caught in the lease sticks at all. I was able to use my raddle (still sitting on the back beam) to determine where those ends were to be inserted into the lease sticks.

RE-THREADING MORE DIFFICULT THAN THREADING

So I have begun the threading.  Not quite halfway through.  It is harder going than when I did it originally.  Normally when I thread, I remove the back beam and the cloth beam.  Doing this allows me to get closer to the heddles.  Since, however, the right half of the warp is still attached to the cloth beam, I had to leave both beams in place.  This means some awkward leaning over to reach the heddles.  Not easy on the back.

Sometimes I stand.  Sometimes I sit.  Neither way is perfect but at least it changes my body position.

When I inserted the lease sticks, I did not choose the best sheds.  Not realizing it, I had chosen sheds that always left 3-4 warp ends next to each other either going under or going over the lease sticks.  I am hoping that this will not create a problem when I start to weave.  I worry about sheds not clearing properly.  Only time will give me the answer to this one!

“Re-Threading” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on September 3, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

RE-THREADING: GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

THE GOOD NEWS

I carefully checked the threading errors in the draft itself against the actual threading on the loom.  I discovered that there are no problems at all on the right side.  The major threading error in the draft I must have caught while I was threading, because the threading at that point is absolutely correct.    The other possible errors on the right side were not errors at all, at least visually.

In short, the threading errors begin on the left side, a little left of center.  I pinpointed where I needed to start the re-threading, both on the warp itself and on the the draft.  With great confidence, I then cut off the left side close to the fell.  I should always worry when I do things with great confidence.  For that led to

THE BAD NEWS

I no longer had the lease sticks in.  I no longer had a cross.  Once a pulled the threads out of the heddles I would have to way to tell what order to pick up the threads for threading in the heddles.

BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLY BAD NEWS

1. I still had the raddle on the back beam.  There are 15 ends in each raddle section.  That represents 1/4-inch worth of warp ends.  So I could use the raddle to select my threads from.  How would the weaving go?  Definitely better than having no order.  Otherwise, I don’t know.  I would worry about crossed ends, so at least for awhile I would  always be checking the back of the loom each time I moved the warp forward.

2. I have a husband who I think could hold the ends taut and step on the appropriate treadle.  Standing at the back of the loom, I could then insert the warp sticks into the sheds.  The sheds would not be perfect tabbies, as that is impossible on this kind of warp.  And it will not be easy to clear the sheds in order to put in the lease sticks.  But I think it is worth a try.  So tonight I will put him to use. 

QUESTIONS

1. I almost always leave the lease sticks in when I weave.  Maybe 3 times in my weaving life have I removed them.  Why did this have to be one of them?!?

2. Having removed the lease sticks, why didn’t I think to put them in before I cut off the warp?

“Re-threading: Good News and Bad News” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 24, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CHECKING THE THREADING IN THE SOFTWARE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

And it does not look promising.  At this point, just looking at

1. The threading – noting the blocks and finding some definite problems and some possible ones

2. The fabric as it appears on the computer screen – finding definite problems

Here is a view of part of the fabric as it appears, treadled in the Italian manner.  This is the treadling I am strongly favoring right now:

How many threading errors can you find?  Two of them really stand out, but there are others.  Why, why, why did I not do this before I even started to thread?  Truly, I am not stupid!  I guess I simply did not realize just how well the software could display the smallest of errors if I used it well.

And here is a clear threading error illustrated in the threading—actually a small cluster of threading errors covering 12 ends:

If you can’t find it in the threading, look at the drawdown and the error is clearly visible.  This, by the way, is on the RIGHT side of the warp, where I did not think there were any errors.  I had seen errors only on the left side…………..

Of course, once I am done with this, I will have to check all this against the actual fabric and threading.  It is possible that

1. I corrected some of the threadings as I did the threading

2. That I simply did not see some of the threading errors in the woven cloth. Alerted, I will now probably see them.

It seems likely at this point (not yet finished with the analysis) that I am going to rethread the whole thing. 

Well, I am not done yet.  And tomorrow we leave for a weekend in Charlotte.  That will get me away from all of thlis and I will return ready to tackle anything that needs to be tackled.  Or, at that is the hope!

Related Post:  Process versus Product

“Checking the Threading in the Software” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 19, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CRACKLE THREADING ISSUES EMERGE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

PLEASED BUT A FEW ISSUES ANYWAY

I am very pleased with how the warp is handling during this test weaving.  I still have some problems with clean sheds.  The problem is clearly visible in the mirror I use and it is easiily resolved by simply strumming with my hand the top part of the warp.  Since I am sampling, I am fairly easily prone to treadling errors, but once I settle on the treadling structure, that problem should begin to clear itself up.

I am also having problems with the selvedges.  The selvedges themselves are fine.  The problem is that weft threads tend to get caught there and form loops—sometimes long loops.  I am using 3 shuttles and that is a normal problem.  I have not been particularly concerned with it during the test weave, but when I start the real stuff, I will have to become concerned.

Related to that problem is little loops of weft sometimes appearing somewhere across the warp.  They are probably also on the underside.  I should be able to resolve that by tightening the tension just a bit on my end feed shuttles.

I am ready to start sampling with the yarns I dyed for this project. No more stash yarns!  I have a good idea of what I want to do, but I will have to test it.  I was getting so excited.

Yes, the tense of the verb is correct – “I WAS getting so excited.”

THE “BIGGIE”

I have been watching a nasty line develop along the length of the warp in one spot on the left side.  The detail below shows it quite distinctly.

I finally checked it out.  As I suspected, a threading error.

A SOLUTION

I figured that I could insert the 4 necessary repair heddles on the correct shafts.  I could lengthen the 4 yarns by tying on more length to each of them.  Then, after threading and sleying, I could put a pin in the weaving and wind the yarns around the pin to tension them.  Or I could just weight them off the front of the loom.

Doing this was going to be a bear.  I decided to wait until this evening when my husband was home.  That way he could hold each shaft up for me while I attached the repair heddles.

But…

ANOTHER SOLUTION

There is at least one more similar threading error on the left side.  So I really think re-threading the left side is in order.  Also, the sett 0f 60 epi means that the heddles are pretty close together and in the problem area I would have 4 empty heddles taking up the same amount of space that the 4 repair heddles would take up.  This, it seems to me, could affect the cleanness of the sheds.  Sigh

So, right how this is my plan.

Cut off the warp at the fell, but only on the left side, beginning with the first threading error.  To keep the warp rod level and steady, I will insert a piece of wood for it to rest on. I will pool the ends out of the reed and out of the heddles and re-thread that side.  First, of course, I have to find in my threading draft where that starts. 

I will re-thread, praying that I make no new and surprising threading errors.  Resley.  Then cut the rest of the warp off at the fell, remove the weaving and tie on the warp again.

Hoping all that goes uneventfully, I will then  test-weave one more sample with stash yarns;  then start using the real yarns………..

WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?

Am I getting discouraged?  Well, yes.  At least at times I feel discouraged.  But really, a better word to describe my feelings right now is a kind of calmness.  Actually almost a sense of numbness.  I no longer care about getting this finished, at least in any particular time frame.  I just kind of feel like I am in some kind of time warp (pun?) where the piece is in control.   It is going to be ready to weaving only when it  is ready.

Related Posts: 
Test Weaving the Warp
Finished Sleying? Well, No

“Crackle Threading Issues Emerge” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 14, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

THREADING AND DYEING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

The threading is done.  This block seemed to require more care and attention to avoid errors than the rest of the warp did.  Perhaps it was my eagerness to get done that I was having to compensate for.  In any case, it is done, and the reed is in.  15 dents, to be sleyed at 4 ends per dent.  Thank heavens for the auto-denter.  The only problem is that I use it so infrequently there is always a learning curve to start.  Still, it is a marvelous tool for fine threads and the learning curve is now short indeed.

I began to realize that I had not yet dyed the 120/2 silk I plan for using for the binder shots.  And I also saw that the amount of yarn I ordered from Treenway was half of what I had thought I needed.  But I am going to get on with dyeing what I have and see how it goes.  It’s expensive stuff and I certainly don’t want to order much more than I will actually need.

There is, however, a slight hitch in the dyeing plans.  I will have to make some stock solutions from dye powder.  I do this in the garage.  The temps here are running in the high 90’s with heat indexes up to 110.  Doesn’t seem to be much end in sight.  Do  you think I look forward to working in the garage………….even with the door open?

But daughter and grandson are planning to come on Friday for a long weekend.  Perhaps by Tuesday the weather will have improved.

Related Posts: 
More Dye Stock Solutions
Dyeing in the Kitchen

“Threading and Dyeing”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 16, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

ADDING HEDDLES

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I was at the last block.  So close to being done.  I pulled out the 8 heddles for the first two units.  Or at least I tried to.  I needed two heddles from the second shaft.  There were no heddles on the second shaft.

Yes, I had counted everything out before I started theading.  Added several hundred heddles.  I knew how many heddles I needed on each shaft.  Even so, I allowed for many more than I needed on both sides of the middle.

What went wrong?  I have no idea. But it had to be done.  There was no help for it.

Here is a photo of the situation I had to deal with. The black arrow points to the bottom of the heddle frame held in place by that devilish metal device that goes into the hole of that frame.  There is a similar fiendish metal device at the top of the frame.

You have to pull that device either backwards or forwards (depending on its location vis-a-vis the shaft) to slip it out of the hole and so release the shaft.  Then you get to reverse the process in order to reattach the shaft.  This is not fun. Especially working in such close quarters.

So, with the help of a screw driver for leverage, I pulled 15 heddles off the first shaft and put them on the second shaft.  The screw driver saved my fingers.

Having added the heddles,  I threaded the last block. 

I went to check the threading.  Grouped between two heddles were 10 empty heddles on shaft one.  This block used no heddles on shaft one.  Did I mention that they were grouped between two heddles in the first unit I threaded?  Well, of course.  Why not? 

I have carefully pulled all those fine silk threads—threads that tangle if I breathe too hard but fortunately the humidity in the house is 70% (I haven’t turned on the air conditioning yet) so the tangles were fairly easily untangled.  They now sit waiting to be threaded.

I am NOT done threading.  Do you think I am a wee bit upset?

Related Posts: 
Cutting a Wire Heddle off the Shaft
I Ought Not to be a Weaver

“Adding Heddles”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 14, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

CUTTING A WIRE HEDDLE OFF THE SHAFT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

A CROSSED HEDDLE

As I was threading I came across an unbelievably crossed heddle.  The heddle was attached to the top of the shaft, to the right were five more heddles, and then to the right of these was the first heddle but attached to the bottom of the shaft. I walked away.  Then I came back.  Nothing had changed.

I was not about to remove the 50 or so heddles from the shaft I would need to in order to get the mess straightened out.  On this loom it is possible but extraordinarily difficult to remove and add heddles from and to the shafts when the loom is threaded.  Or in this case, partially threaded.

WIRE CUTTERS

A wire cutters seemed to be needed to save the day.  I don’t know much about wire cutters.  But I did think that I had a pliers with a wire cutter as part of it.  Couldn’t find it.  Decided I would have to go buy one.

First, however, I decided to send an email to the WeaveTech list to see what kind of wire cutters I should buy and if anyone had guidance for using it.

SCISSORS

The response was gratifyingly immediate.  Just use a scissors and cut it straight on.  I got an old scissors and cut it off.  Doing that certainly took care of my excuse to discontinue threading the loom………….

HOW TO SAVE THE HEDDLE

I got some other answers as well. I read these after I had cut off the heddle with my scissors.  Several people told me to use a wire cutters and to cut carefully at either end so that I could just slip the heddle off for use later as a repair heddle.  I could tape the cut end so that it wouldn’t snag on things.  I will have to remember that.

I have made a note to order/buy the recommended diagonal wire cutter.  This is what I would need to make the careful cuts that would preserve the heddle for future use as a repair heddle.

“Cutting a Wire Heddle off the Shaft”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 9, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

CHECKING THE THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

MY THREADING PROCESS

When I thread, I pull out a group of heddles.  In the case of this crackle warp, I pull out eight heddles—the four heddles for the first unit on shafts 1-4 and the four heddles for the second unit on shafts 5-8.  After I have threaded them I pull out the next group of eight from that block, thread them, then go on to the next eight.

CHECKING FOR ACCURACY

When I have threaded all the heddles for a given block I go about checking my accuracy. 

To do this I normally pull at each thread and, if it is threaded correctly, put it in my right hand, continuing this way until all the threaded heddles have been checked.  Assuming they are all correct, I then tie the group in a slip knot and then proceed to the next threading block.

In the photo (the colors are totally inaccurate, but for this color accuracy is unimportant) you can see the checked groups of warp ends with their slip knots.  To the left is the next group of warp ends to be threaded, but I have not yet pulled out any heddles.

DIFFICULTY WITH FINE THREAD

But checking a 60/2 silk threading?  I can’t see the gossamer stuff! Even with my miner’s light on my head, trying to find individual warp ends is a nightmare.  More than halfway through the threading I realized that I do NOT have to grope for the thread itself;  I can simply select the correct heddle.  If the correct heddle is threaded (and not crossed), I slip the warp end high into my right hand and proceed until I am done and ready to tie the slip knot.

WHY I MUST TOUCH EACH WARP END

Once upon a time I used to just eyeball the threading.  I could get away with it (well, pretty much) if I were using thick yarn.  But the finer the yarn, the more I need to actually check each warp end individually using my fingers.

Of course, this method appears to slow things down.  In reality it does not.  Nothing is more time-consuming than re-threading to correct an error, even if the only thing that needs to be done is to insert a repair heddle.  More likely, total rethreading of a large number of warp ends is called for when there is an error.  And that is really time-consuming.

“Checking the Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 1, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

HALF-WAY THROUGH THE THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

800 heddles is the half-way point.  I have now threaded 808. 

I did think for awhile that I would never get back to this, that I would never weave again.  At least not on this floor loom.  I was busy with other things so that possibility didn’t depress me too much.  But it is good to find out that I was wrong!

I have been watching with sorrow Laura’s saga.  While I am so sorry about her foot problems and now, with her still needing to use crutches, her back issues, I also rejoice at her fortitude and her ability to find ways she can keep going.  If anyone wants or needs a model about handling adversity, it is right there in her blog, “Weaving a Life”.

Related Post:  Back to the Threading

“Half-way through the Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 8, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

AVOIDING THREADING ERRORS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

Yesterday I whined about error problems when I tried to thread two sets of blocks in one sitting.  Today I decided to address the problem.  The problem lay in misplaced confidence.

By the time I got near the end of threading the first set of blocks, I was confident enough that I didn’t have to look very much at the threading diagram.  Unfortunately, that confidence continued into the second block. 

I had to counter that mis-placed confidence. So this today I forced myself to continually refer back to the threading chart as I was threading the heddles for the second block.

I did the same for the third block set. 

No threading errors.  I was happy.

That, however, does not solve the problem I have trying to thread heddles correctly in the afternoon……..

Related Post:   Back to Threading

“Avoiding Threading Errors”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 5, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

BACK TO THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I am back, at last, to threading the loom.  I am not making rapid progress.  At first I blamed that on my back—on my not being willing to sit at the loom for long periods.  But my back is recovering nicely.  And what I now know absolutely, is that threading the first block goes smashingly well, but on the second block I nearly always make errors. And more errors.  And more errors.

Each block has roughly 50 ends.  And each block has its own peculiar threading.  The problem is that I get so used to the first threading that my mind cannot seem to get used to a new threading. And once I start to make errors, I cannot seem to stop myself from making more.

Today, the threading went so badly that, instead of making individual errors here and there, I totally misread the second threading group and had to pull out all 50 ends and start over again.

Let me illustrate the problem a bit.  Here is the theading pattern for the second block:

6 8 6 7 2 4 2 3

When I thread, work from right to left, so that is how I read the threading.  And here is what I actually threaded:

8 6 7 6 4 2 3 2

I even took a break before I start the second group of ends.  And, actually, I made not a single error.  It was simply the wrong threading.  You have no idea, then, how hard it was for me to wrap my head around the correct threading.  But I knew I  had to do it before I quit.  And do it I did.

These threadings, by the way, are not really as difficult as they might appear. I you were to think of shafts 5 to 8 as if they too were numbered 1 to 4, you will quickly see that the pair of threadings are identical.

THREADING IN THE AFTERNOON

I could always come back to the loom later in the day and do some more threading, but morning is my best time—the time when I am least likely to make mistakes. Yup, that is right. 

This afternoon I had some extra time, so, why not?  I threaded the group of heddles.  I checked them.  A mistake in the second group.  Had to start over.  And in pulling out the threads I accidentally pulled out the threads from the second group.

Threaded again.  Went to check.  An error in the first group. 

Threaded again.  GOT IT RIGHT.  It took me only 45 minutes………..

Related Post:   Threading Error Revisited

“Back to Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on May 4, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

READING SMITH’S DRAFT

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I have finally worked enough with my drafts that I have been able to figure out how to read Smith’s draft.  I am clearly one who cannot think things through in her head but must actually DO something to work out a problem like this.

Anyway, her draft is really quite simply. Or at least, after long struggle, I realize now that her draft is quite simple!  It consists of the following block order:

A B C D C B

A point twill block order. And a threading with only one crackle unit in a block. Block A is omitted from the beginning because it will appear in the threading repeat. 

Well, of course I had to do this for myself, but repeating the units.  There is no way in working with 60/2 silk that I would use only 1 unit per block unless I were striving for an overall effect rather than a design.  And in actuality there would probably be many more.

And, so enlightened, I have designed from scratch my version of her threading.

 

I have used Smith’s block order (A B C D C B) and put in my blocks with their doubled units. This means that there are two units in each block instead of only one, as in Smith’s.  When I checked my version against Smith’s I caught some errors–-primarily points where I forgot to double the threads.  A lot of time passed while I did this…………

PROBLEM IN THE TIEUP

When I was finally satisfied that I had made no errors in my version, I checked the draft for floats.  Whoops, 7 floats.  I finally noticed they all occurred on the first treadle.  That meant that something was amiss with that tieup. I looked.  The first thing I saw was that only three treadles were tied up.  So I needed to add a fourth treadle. 

I looked for a pattern in the tieup to help me figure out what shaft I should tie up to this treadle. I could not see the pattern.  So I experimented with where to put that fourth tieup.  Once I found the right position I saw the pattern and then saw also that one of the other tied treadles was wrong. Had I been thinking in terms of patterns at the time I wrote in the tieup, I would have caught the error immediately.

And here is what the draft looks like:

The draft looks fine except there is some kind of treadling issue.  Just below the center of the drawdown, things look a bit messy.   But checking out the treadling (yet once again!) is for another day.

COMPARING MY VERSION WITH SMITH’S

But then I looked at Smith’s drawdown.  Whoops!  My “brilliant” solution for the first treadle’s tie up was………….WRONG!  The pattern I thought I saw was not there. 

But what does the drawdown look like now, with the corrected tiedown?

 

 

  

Not really much different.   The floats are fine here as well.  And even the treadling mess seems possibly to have disappeared.  Still, I am going to have to check the treadling.  But not now.

ONE MORE PROBLEM:  THREADING

This fresh look at Smith’s version, after having created my own, showed something I had not picked up.  My threading on the first four shafts is exactly like hers.  But her doubling of threads pattern changes in the shadowing shafts, shafts 5-8.
 
In the shadowing shafts, she never doubles the top of the point;  that stays a single thread.  But she triples each bottom point.  I will not understand why until I finish working out my draft so that I can compare results.

Related Post:  Crackle in Parallel Shadow Weave

“Reading Smith’s Draft”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 21, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CORRECTED THREADING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

Here is the full draft of the version with the corrected threading.

   

 

 

 

In the third threading block, I needed to double the ends of shafts 3 and 7 where one of the points of that crackle twill unit in.  When I am dealing with the following crackle units, I always have trouble figuring out things. 

1. The third crackle unit threading in this draft:  1 4 3 4
2. The fourth crackle unit threading in this draft:  1 2 1 4

In the first threading unit (1 2 3 2 1) and in the second threading unit (2 3 4 3 2) it is visually clear to me where the turning points are.  But visually, it is not so clear to me in the third and fourth units.  Just a funny quirk in the way my mind works, I guess.

And here is the miniaturized version of draft with the corrected threading but with the treadling doubled at the points to reflect the threading.

Correcting the threading did nothing about the slant on the left side of the draft, but it did eliminate the messy business between that slant and the horizontal effect right side of the draft.

 

 

Related Post:  Crackle in Paralle Shadow Weave Drafts Compared

(Yes, I made a mistake in the title of the post. I should correct it…………..)

“Corrected Threading”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 16, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CRACKLE IN PARALLE SHADOW WEAVE DRAFTS COMPARED

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

(Blogger has done something strange to two of the photos.  Clicking on them will displaly the images as they should be)

I have now worked out three different ways of doing this particular crackle-in-parallel-shadow weave draft.  The first is the original, the one that appeared in the last post.



In this next one If have changed the threading by doubling the threads at the points of the crackle units, as Dorothy Smith has done in her draft.  But I retained my original treadling which was a treadling of the original threading.



The only difference is that the figures formed by the color-and-weave effect are a little bit flattened because each threading unit now has one or two more threads in it than the original had but there are the same number of treadles.

And here is the third in which the treadling is changed as well in order to reflect the change in the threading.




Here we have quite a different design from the original.  This is less of a maze effect and more of an overall pattern.

USING 60/2 SILK

Here is what the first and third drafts look like reduced in size to reflect more closely what they might look like woven up in 60/2 silk.


      

60/2 silk is normally sett somewhere between 56 and 72 ends per inch.  The draft on the left has 72 warp ends.  On my monitor its width is slightly more than 1 inch.  So that image should give a pretty good idea of what it would look like woven.  The second draft is 1.25” so again, a good idea of what it would look like woven.

You can, by the way, also get this affect by moving away from your computer monitor and squinting…….  This is a good old-fashioned artist’s way of cutting to the chase!
At the moment, I can see two possible ways of using these drafts if I want to weave them in 60/2 silk: 

1. Use two close shades of the same color so that the overall effect is of one color, but a bit richer looking.  There are weavers who do this with pain weave warps.
2. Use 2 colors that would create an overall iridescent effect.

ANOTHER PROBLEM REVEALS ITSELF

The draft on the right, when I reduced it, surprised me, because the design breaks in half.  The left has a definite diagonal thrust to it.  But on the right side the design effect is level.  And there is a bit between the two that is just kind of messy looking.

Looking at the larger draft shows this as well.  It just didn’t hit me until I reduced its size. This does not happen in either the first or second versions.  And closer examination of both this third draft and the second draft reveals another problem. 

Looking at the third and fourth treadling blocks in the area of the third threading block shows that the two units of the threading block have different appearances.  So, while I have corrected the treadling problems, there is apparently a threading error in the third threading block from the right.  And indeed, looking more carefully  shows that the same thing is true of that third threading from the top to the bottom of the draft.

Time to take a look at the threading.

Related Post:  Crackle in Parallel Shadow Weave

“Crackle in Parallel Shadow Weave Drafts Compared”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 15, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

ON DESIGNING A CRACKLE DRAFT IN PARALLEL SHADOW WEAVE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

After analyzing the parallel shadow weave crackle weave designed by Dorothy N. Smith, I decided it was time that I try my hand at designing a draft from scratch.  I did figure out how she got her tie-up. But I didn’t understand how she derived the threading she had.  The only way I was going to understand that was to try to design my own draft.

So I took my standard 4-shaft crackle draft, a draft where the theading is laid out in a straight twill, with two threadings units for each block.  I entered the threading in a new draft. I entered it on only the first four shafts.  But I entered the threads only in every other threading space. 
I then went back to the beginning and entered the parallel threads on shafts 5 to 8 in the empty threading spaces.  Here is the resulting threading:



Reading from right to left, thread 1 is followed by the thread 5.  5 can be thought of as the first shaft of the second set of four shafts.  Thread 2 is followed by thread 6 and so on.  This is quite different from the threading which Smith designed:



Here are the key differences:

1.  If you read shafts 1-4 and shafts 5-8 as separate threadings, in my draft the crackle mini-point-twill units are clear.  In Smith’s drafts, they are unclear.

2. There is doubling and tripling of threads in Smith’s drafts, but not in mine.  I find this doubling and tripling quite curious.  Later, I will investigate that.

The treadling used by each of us is different in the same way.  This is because each of us in essence treadled the threading. I did use the same tie-up she used. And here is what happened.
First, Smith’s draft; then, to the right, my draft at about the same resolution:






The results are clearly different. Smith’s draft results in a series of circles and ovals.  Mine results in a maze. 

My draft, moreover, has some technical problems.  Although each treadling unit is repeated twice, the second treadling unit of each block is not always identical to the first treadling unit.  I had thought that this problem occurred only in one place, and I changed the treadling to correct it.  What you see here is that corrected treadling. 

But it became obvious that there are more problems like this.  The two threading units at the right (i.e., the first block) come out fine.  But the the remaining three blocks do not.  Does this mean there is a problem with the threading?  It looks like I am going to have to investigate
.
Related Post:  Crackle in Parallel Shadow Weave



“On Designing a Draft in Parallel Shadow Weave”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 8, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

CRACKLE IN PARALLEL SHADOW WEAVE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina 

I decided to begin with applying the shadow weave concept to crackle. Shadow weave, after all, can be considered a kind of interleaving in the sense that two drafts are interleaved.  In this case of parallel shadow weave the two drafts are the same, not different.

I knew this had already been done, and I knew I had a book with some drafts.  But whenever I looked at those drafts in the past, I had just scratched my head in puzzlement.  So I decided to take one of those drafts and see if I could understand it.

 

This is a long draft, so only the first quarter of the draft is shown.  But here is an image of what the whole thing looks like, reduced.  Here the design resulting from the color and weave effect is apparent.

This draft I found in A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns edited by Carol Strickler (the copyright notice is for the image, not for the actual draft).  It is #502 by Dorothy N. Smith (page 138).  It is defined as crackle in parallel shadow weave.  The reason for the name can be seen in both the threading and the treadling.  A 4 shaft crackle threading is placed on the first four shadows.  Reading right to left:

1,2,3,4,4,3,2,2,3,4,1,2,2,1,4,3,3,4,1,1,4,3,2,2,3,4,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,3,2

Forget for a moment that this is the strangest crackle threading I have ever seen…..

The threading on the first four shafts is done on every other opening.  These openings are filled in on shafts four through eight.  The threading on shafts four through eight is precisely the same as that on the first four shafts.  Each thread on the first four shafts is followed by another thread on what would be the same shaft on the second four shafts.  Thus the threading on the top four shafts parallels (and shadows)the threading on the first four shafts.

And the same thing happens with the treadling.  And I find the treadling also quite strange as a crackle treadling.

One of the things I had trouble figuring out was the tieup.  It took me quite a while to realize what was happening.

The lower left quadrant of the tieup is standard tie-up for 4 shaft crackle. 1,2;  2,3;  3,4;  1,4.   The upper right quadrant is standard tie-up for 4 shaft crackle for threading on shafts 5-8,

The upper left and the lower right ties up the shafts not tied up by the lower left and the upper right respectively.

Now what I need to figure out is the threading.  I simply do not understand it.  I am pretty much clear about the shadowing of the first set of 4 shafts with the second set of 4 shafts.  What I simply do not understand is that threading, isolated on the one set of shafts.  How does that come from a crackle threading?

As I am groggy on prescription analgesics and muscle relaxants, and will be for awhile, understanding this threading may take awhile……….

Related Post:  Shadow Weave Continued

“Crackle in Parallel Shadow Weave”  was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on April 2, 2010. ©2010 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina

SLOW (VERY SLOW) MOVEMENT FORWARD

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

DYEING

As I should have been able to predict last Friday, I have decided to do one more set of dye sampling. I will use the green of the last sampling but for the red I will use Sabraset Scarlet.  As this is a very busy day for me, however, the dyeing will happen tomorrow.

THREADING DRAFT

Also, I have saved another copy of the threading draft.  But in this copy I have eliminated the gaps between groups of blocks.  To do the actual threading, I will print out the original version with the gaps.  But for the calculations, I needed to eliminate those gaps.

Eliminating the gaps gives me 1506 warp ends plus four more for doubled floating selvedges.  That gives me a final total of 1510 warp ends.

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS

1510 warp ends of 60/2 silk makes me catch my breath.  That many ends in a complex threading leaves plenty of room for making errors.  Also, that many ends provides for plenty of opportunity for stuck warp ends and so problematic sheds in the actual weaving.

I am hoping that leaving the gaps in the printed threading that I take with me to the loom for threading will help with the threading errors.  And I am going to change the sett from my usual of 60 ends per inch to 54 ends per inch in the hopes that doing this will make for easier sheds.  To help with the latter I also plan to use a temple.

Onward and upward!

Related Post:  Done with Dye Sampling?

"Slow (Very Slow) Movement Forward” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on October 16, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.