Yet-Unnamed: Part 2

EDIT: A tied weave using four shafts to tie down is called Quigley. However, I am leaving the name "Summer & Winter" in this post because I intended to weave with two shafts to tie down, and resorted to using four only due to the number of heddles available in the shafts. I believe it makes no difference structurally as I threaded 1-p-2-p-3-p-4-p and tied down 1-2-3-4. Re. comparison to turned Summer & Winter, I realize now I never looked into it in any depth, so as to how I wove vs. a true turned Summer & Winter, I must investigate in another post. 

 

I just cut off my first sample and it's drying on the clothes rack, so before I address that in detail, I'd like to record how I set it up, and thoughts while I wove it. 

 

The sample warp took a while to thread because I repeatedly misunderstood the number of ends in this sample warp and number of heddles required. When I make a warp, I usually count the threads where they turn and change directions, i.e. the last peg at the bottom of the warping board. This number *2 is the number of ends, except with this current warp, every "end" is a pair of 20/2 and 60/2, so I should have *4. 

 

On Klick, I have heddles split in the middle, so roughly the same number of leftovers sit on either side of the warp coming through. (Which, considering Klick's structure, is completely unnecessary.) Thinking I had only half the number of ends, I began threading, twice I ran out of heddles, unthreaded, and finally shoved all the heddles to the left, and restarted. I had a gut feeling something was wrong the whole time, but couldn't figure it out, so I persisted in a dark, wintery, south-facing room.

 

When I finally figured out my mistake, I also brought the loom into the living room which has much better afternoon light; this made a world of difference and threading was finished in three sittings.

 

Setup:  

* The warp is mercerized cotton, alternately 60/2 in tabby and 20/2 in pattern; all up there are 792 ends.

* Tabby 60/2 ends are in Shafts 1-4 in straight draw because of the number of heddles already on those shafts.

* Pattern 20/2 ends are in Shafts 5-16 in random numbers but roughly in V/U pattern. 

* Warp color schemes are one orange 20/2 and a different orange 60/2 on the left one-third as I wove; the same orange 20/2 and two very similar-to-each-other orange 60/2 in the middle third; two 20/2 oranges and two same 60/2 on the right third; plus a narrow strip of red 20/2 with an orange 60/2. 

* Sett is 84 EPI, which is visually close to 42EPI I usually use for 20/2. This may change depending on how the sample/s full and if this achieves the "old wallpaper" look.

* Lifting is basic Summer & Winter with four shafts to tie down. (Or another name if tying down with four shafts has a special name. I'm too tired to check tonight but will edit if that's the case.)

     1&2&3&4

     1 + selected P

     5&6&7&8&9&10&11&12&13&14&15&16 

     2 + selected P

     1&2&3&4

     3 + selected P

     5&6&7&8&9&10&11&12&13&14&15&16 

     4 + selected P

* The structure is not turned Summer & Winter. The sizes of threads are identical to what I use in my usual Summer & Winter, i.e. all warp and pattern threads are 20/2 while tabby is 60/2. However, whereas I usually alternate these sizes in the weft, here they alternate in the warp. All weft is in 20/2, in two colors, one for T and the other for P. As mentioned above, lifting is in regular (un-turned) Summer & Winter order. (EDIT: Please see the top of this post re, lifting.)

Goals for this sample, from "most important" to "can wait until later": 

* Recreating the look and texture of the "old wallpaper".

* Determining how much hue/value mixing is permissible before this began to distract from the "overall/all-over" look.

* Determining whether "disinformation" is best expressed in alarming, or in duller/cloudier colors.

 

Issues:

* Reed marks were annoyingly noticeable. If they do not wash out, 90 and 96EPI must be sampled. 

* 60/2 ends were hard to see, and difficult to mend. This must be taken into consideration when deciding the project proper's color/s and width. On the other hand, even if broken ends were not promptly discovered and mended, it will not be easily noticeable, although this is just among friends, you understand. "Big" may not be a prerequisite for this project; e.g. a few "pages" in A4/newspaper?/magazine?, approximate size of a laptop screen or facsimile of a smart phone screen are worth considering.  

* Earlier on, there was quite a difference in 20/2's and 60/2's tension, but this seemed to have been solved after about 10cm in. The big loom has a much greater distance between the back beam and the fell, so it may not matter as much, but if it does, again, the size of the project may require review. 

* On Klick, Shafts 12-16 have tiny sheds; this won't be a problem on the big loom but it was super annoying. 

* Tie-down pattern was invisible while weaving.

 

More to follow.