Crackle Treadled as Summer and Winter Continued

Here is some more of the crackle threading treadled as Summer and Winter:


Both halves are treadled identically. Both halves use the same colors. And both halves use 10/2 pearl cotton for the pattern weft and 20/2 pearl cotton for the binder weft. What is different between the two is how I handled the colors of the pattern weft.

In the bottom half (really a tiny bit more than half) I used a greened blue as one pattern weft and red as the second pattern weft. Then I also used red for the binder thread. I didn't care for all that red. I think what I didn't care for was the dullness of the greened blue. It might have worked had I used a very bright greened blue which could have carried its own against the heaviness of all that red.

In the top half I continued to use red for the binder weft but this time I used the greened blue for both pattern wefts. I'm still not crazy about the effect, but the relationship between the two colors seems more balanced. Too balanced.

Balancing is not necessarily what it is about. Something has to dominate. There is no color dominating in the top half and so, quite frankly, it is boring.

What might have been effective is the very bright greened blue I suggested for the lower fabric. There would have been still a predominant amount of red, but the blue would have been a nice spark.

Some Bloggers Who Help Make My Day

I got tagged by Bonnie with the You Made My Day Award. Wow!

There are definitely ten bloggers who make my day, and since Bonnie is one of them, she is first on my list. The rest are in no particular order.

Weaving Spirit Bonnie's site which I try to check out daily, since she posts almost daily about her latest adventures in weaving and workshops.

Travelling Tiger This is a new-to-me blog that I have only just begun to read. It is written by Tien. Tien has always had fascinating things to say on the various fiber lists I have seen her on and it looks like her blog is going to be equally fascinating.

T'Katch Cally is now in fast pursuit of clasped weft honeycomb. This has been a fascinating trip to follow!

Sandra's Loom Blog Sandra weaves fantastically complex silk and beautiful scarves, often with hand dyed yarns. I find it a privilege to follow her weaving journey.

Curious Weaver Karen's curiosity about weaving matters makes for fascinating reading

Woven Thoughts Sara Lamb is a multi-talented fiber artist who wrote a piece about why weavers ought to blog.

Dot's Fibre to Fabric Dorothy is a new weaver who is amazingly quickly becoming an experienced weavers. She is keeping a wonderful record of her journey.

Lelgh's Fiber Journal Leigh's blog, besides being a well written account of her fiber joys and trials, is always an inspiration to try to raise my own blogging skills.

Unravelling The subtitle of Meg's blog says it all: "Thoughts on weaving and other threads unravelling in my head."

Linda's Fiber Weblog Linda doesn't post nearly often enough, but when she does, it is always worth the wait.

Crackle Treadled as Summer and Winter

I am done, for now anyway, treadling the crackle sample as overshot. I am now playing with Summer and Winter treadlings.

Summer and Winter treadling means that each treadling block consists of two pattern blocks. The pattern treadles raise two shafts, but the second set of shafts are not opposite the first set of shafts.

This means, for example, if I treadle to raise shafts 1 and 2 for the first pattern weft, I do not treadle to raise shafts 3 and 4 for the second pattern weft. Instead, I treadle to raise shafts 2 and 3 for the second pattern weft.

Each time pattern shafts are raised and the pattern weft passed through, then binder shafts are raised and the binder weft passed through. In this case, the binder treadle raises shafts opposite to the shafts in the pattern treadle just raised.

For example. I might raise shafts 1 and 2, throw the pattern weft, then raise shafts 3 and 4 (the opposite shafts) throw the binder weft. Then I might raise shafts 2 and 3 and throw the second pattern weft, followed by raising the opposite shafts (1 and 4) to throw the second binder weft.

A series of four treadlings thus completes one row of the block. This is repeated until the block is as high as I want it. I then move on to the next row of blocks which will consist of a different set of pattern treadles and a different set of binder treadles.

What I have just described. is what I have done in the following photo:


Here can be seen eight treadling blocks. But there are only four different treadling blocks. Treadling blocks five through eight are simply a repeat of the first four treadling blocks. The only difference is the pattern color order. In the first pattern treadle in each of the first four blocks I threw brown weft. In the second pattern treadle I threw blue thread. In blocks five through eight I reversed the order, first throwing blue weft and then throwing the brown pattern weft.

All the binder wefts are yellow.

These blocks form a nice diagonal line. This happens because the threading slants that way and I treadled in the same order as the treadling. That is, I treadled 1,2 and 2,3; then 2,3 and 3,4; then 3,4 and 4,1; and finally 4,1 and 1,2. Each of these treadling sets I repeated until each block was as tall as I wanted it.

Remember, by the way, the the warp is red..............

And, for those who are eager to find treadling errors, click on the photo.............

Photographing Textiles

A year ago I received a digital camera for Christmas from our children. I had wanted one for a long time, despite having a good SLR camera. But there was no real way I could blog without a digital camera. So that gift was one of the precipitating factors in starting this blog.

I have now gotten pretty comfortable with the very basic mechanics of taking pictures with everything on automatic. And I have gotten pretty comfortable with PaintShopPro, the software program I use. And my photography is improving, but I still have a long way ago.

I had looked at some books but they were pretty much Greek to me. Then a friend suggested a book which I think is going to turn out to be pivotal in my photography learning. This is a book she has been using in her self-study in photography improvement with her digital camera. The book is by Scott Kelby and the name of the book is The Digital Photography Book: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros. It turns out he has some really expensive books for more experienced photographers, but this is for the raw beginniner and it is not expensive.

Two of his first topics are "Getting 'Tack Sharp with a Tripod' and "A Ballhead Will Make Your Life Easier." He tells you why and he even gives you recommendations at three price levels for each. Last week by monohead and and easy off-and-on ballhead.

It took me a while, well, quite a while, to figure out how to get the part of the ballhead that screws into the camera base back onto the ballhead itself. I thought I had watched carefully when I undid it. Nope. An hour or so later it was back on and attached to the monopad, which I then had to figure out how to use.

The whole thing works much less clumsily than I thought and, while it is not yet child's play to separate the camera from the ballhead, it is coming more easily. And I can see the results in the pictures. They jay jot be quite "tack sharp" but they sure are sharper than my earlier pictures. Except for those, of course where the exposure is a problem........... Which leads to............

I then discovered another book. It is a book just for Canon Power Shot Users called Canon Power Shot Digital Field Guide. I spent the day glazing my eyes with the opening chapters' information about all the settings. Some of this stuff I think, in all honesty, out to have been included with the camera. This kind of information was certainly included with my SLR camera when I purchased it. Anyway, now I have it and I am grateful.

Now that I have got the monopad up and working, I am ready to start working on the innards of this camera! It will take a long time to learn the stuff. But as I gradually learn it, more and more of what Kelby talks about in his book should become helpful.

There is nothing about photographing textiles in these two books. But at least I will get some grounding that will help me photographing my own textiles.

Overshot Treadling Serendipity

I have always thought of the plain weave portions, the accidental blocks, and so forth that occur in structures like overshot and crackle as some kind of disfigurements. If only I could get rid of those and have nothing but sequences of perfect, solid blocks with none of this extraneous stuff. But now something has happened to start me thinking of those so-called extraneous bits as full of possibilities.

I started weaving once more with overshot treadling. I had liked the idea of using three colors, one for warp, and two for weft. I had tried this with the third method of binder treadling. This time, however, instead of blue pattern weft, I used purple. And instead of the third method of binder treadling I decided to do the second. I wanted to see what kind of difference the two created visually.

I had meant to begin with the last group of blocks and go in reverse order. This way I wouldn't have identical blocks next to each other. Since the block I had finished with had been the first block, if I started had the beginning I would have a set of two blocks treadled the same.

As luck would have it, I had not written a note to myself about this (thinking, of course, that I would remember.........) and I forgot. Yes, I forgot. But then I saw what was happening when I was weaving and I saw how interesting this was looking. So interesting that I decided to continue to weave with a block of blue pattern weft with the third binder treadling followed by the same block in purple with the second binder treadling.


Looking at the photo, in the middle is where I started with the purple. There it is clear that the purple overshots lay right over the overshots in the previous block, because I am treadling the same treadles. Then in the next group above, the purple blocks lie in the same place as the blue blocks because, though I have moved to a different treadling, I have used the same treadling for both the blue and the purple.

But I have not used quite the same treadling. The treadling for the pattern wefts with the blue and purple is the same for each set of blocks. But the treadling for the binder threads is different for the purple and the blue. Looking at those non-pattern areas shows that different things happen there when I change the binder treadling. I find this very interesting and I hope to explore this. Someday, but not now. I am continually being surprised about the possibilities in the crackle structure.

To see this whole thing greatly magnified, click on the photo.,

The alert will notice some treadling errors, but for this sampling I simply do not care. I am too delighted with what I see going on.

More on Fiberart International 2007

One of the weavers represented at the Fiberart International show was someone I actually know: Jennifer Sargent. Probably I shouldn't say that I know her. But I did take a workshop on warp ikat from her a few years back at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in North Carolina. I had read about warp ikat. But in this workshop she gave me the hands-on experience I needed in order to explore it on my own. She also gifted me with the the realization that I really could do this if and when I should decide to try.

Her piece in this show was was woven in three panels. She used thin strips for the weft. My guess is that the fabric or paper she had used for the weft had been printed and then cut up to use for weft. But she cut it up in such a way that the design of the printing emerged. And the design appeared as a whole, across all three panels. A tour de force in my book!

To read a bit about Jennifer and see some of her work, go here.

I have seen this idea of grouped woven panels used quite a bit and have never quite understood the rationale for it. I understand paired paintings such as those of Adam and Eve. I can understand the implications of painting them as separate beings. The paintings, like Adam and Eve, stand alone yet belong together.

There is no real temptation to read these panels separately. There is a middle panel which is clearly the center and then the framing side panels. The side panels is in part mirror images of each other, but only in part. It is the differences that provide the interest.

I can also understand creating an idea in panels if for some reason (such as size) that idea cannot be created in one piece. And I understand that there could then also be significance in not joining the separate pieces. The panels in Jennifer's piece could stand alone. Each panel needed the other two. Technically it was a tour de force, but otherwise I could not understand this.

There was another woven piece in the show that was presented in panels. Hillary L. Steel wove her piece in two long thin strips. Hillary's piece was very straight lined, unlike Jennifer's which produced an image of curves. And Jennifer's piece produced this image despite the clear grid created by warp and weft. At least at a distance, the power of the screen printing dominates over the power of the weaving grid.

Hillary's piece also used applique. The material for the appliques seems to have been woven from the same warp she had used for the foundation panels. And the panels were not quite identical. Close, but not quite. Indeed, it was this "not quite identical" aspect of the panels which held my attention. And it held my attention more than the "not quite identical" aspect of Jennifer's piece because I could not quite see what she was trying to do. Probably I did not look for a long enough period of time.

There was a weaver by the name of Robin L Haller who wove what to me was an extraordinarily beautful ikat piece using a computerized loom. I am extraordinarily frustrated in not being able to find out more about her. She is in her late 30's, but based on the awards and shows listed in the catalog, she was still a student in 2005 and is listed in the show catalog as currently an instructor in the School of Art Textiles at Kent Sate University in Ohio. On the Kent State faculty she is listed as adjunct faculty. In any case, I look forward to hearing more of her work in the future.

Finally, despite the fact that there was very little weaving in the show, and despite the fact that I don't care for "computer assisted jacquard" weaving, that was what won the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh (the hosting group) Best of Show. It, too, was woven in strips...... The piece was by Kelly Thompson who was born in California, but currently lives in London, England. More information, including a snippet of one of her weavings (not the weaving in Fiberart International), can be found here.

To see an example of a piece of computer assisted jacquard weaving by another weaver, go here.
As a picture I think it is fine. What I don't like is the appearance of it when seen in real life. Perhaps it is that the overall appearance is too mechanical for my taste. And I don't like the thickness of the fabric that is created. But it has become very popular. Indeed, AVL has just come out with an "affordable" jacquard loom, "affordable," of course, being a relative term! To learn about this loom, go here.

Crackle Treadled as Overshot

I have started weaving the crackle threading as overshot. This is the first time I have ever tried this and I am not totally unhappy with it. I still prefer other treadlings, but I can see some possibilities. Here are three different interpretations:



Each of the three uses 10/2 pearl cotton thrown twice with each shot for the pattern weft and 20/2 pearl cotton for the binder thread. Each of the three uses different colors. And each of the three uses a different technique for the binders.

Reading from the bottom up (as if you were at the loom), the first one (blue and red) uses all the remaining treadles for the binder, one at a time. For example, if treadle 3 is the pattern, as it is in the first block, then I treadled 4 for the first binder, 5 (after the next pattern shot on 3) for the next binder, 6 (after the next pattern shot), and so on. I thought this treadling would be the easiest to keep track of, but actually it proved to be the most difficult.

With the middle blocks (light khaki and red), for the binders I used treadles which raised opposite shafts, but never the pattern treadle. In other words, for the first binder treadle I selected one which raised shafts which were not opposite to the pattern shafts. But for the second binder treadle I selected one which raised shafts which were opposite to the first binder treadle. This treadling turned out to be the easiest to keep track of.

For the last I used three different treadles for binders. The first time I threw the binder weft (after having thrown the pattern weft), I treadled the pedal which raised the shafts opposite to those raised by the pattern weft. The second time I threw the binder weft (again, after having again thrown the pattern weft), I treadled a different pedal. The third time I threw the binder weft, I again treadled the pedal which raised the shafts opposite to those raised by the pattern weft. The fourth time, I treadled the pedal which raised the shafts opposite to the shafts raised which I treadled for the second binder weft.

This last sampling intrigues me. The warp is red, but I used two different colors for the weft: blue for the pattern weft and gold for the tabby weft. I rather like the effect this has on the areas where there are no pattern blocks. For me, this creates a bit more interest.

These three treadlings are those recommended by Zielinski. And, he says, the weaver needs to try each one and see what works best for what he is trying to accomplish.

The question is: why didn't I just take the simple way and treadle pattern and then binder, using always for the binder the pedal which raised the shafts opposite to the pattern? This is what I would do with regular four-shaft crackle. But with this kind of threading, doing that would create a curved kind of M's and O's effect.

By the way, looking not too closely reveals a treadling error where I got the binder wefts wrong. It occurs in the middle sample, the fifth treadling group from the bottom. In case that is kind of hard to see, here is a blow up with arrows where the error is most clearly visible:


At the arrows in particular, you can see where the fabric just kind of collapses because the binding thread did not interact with the warp threads there.