Two-Harness Design Methods

'Many variations are possible on a two-harness loom, using Plain Weave or Tabby as a basic texture. One can warp the loom with any succession of colors, forming beautiful stripes in the warp; one can weave stripes across plain warp, thus forming stripes in the weft; one can weave stripes across a striped warp, this forming plaids. One can use heavy threads between fine threads in both warping and weaving, this forming texture lines. One can also weave designs in color on the background of Plain Weave by laying additional design threads in between the regular rows of Tabby. This is called "Laid-in weaving."'

Warp Stripes
'The very simplest way to get beautiful color effects in one's weaving is to plan a striped warp of different colors.' Since you have had an introduction to making a weaving draft, use the graph paper below to design a weaving with two even bands of color. 'Two contrasting colors may be chosen, or two shades of the same color may be used. The bands may be of any width, containing any selected number of warp threads. Stripes 1 to 2 inches wide, or even as wide as 6 inches, look well in light and dark alternation. Again very narrow stripes give unusual effects. Even one or two light thread and one or two dark threads arranged in regular alternation are most effective.

Equally interesting, if not more so, are stripes having widths in the proportion of 2 to 1 or 3 to 1. Such a design may consist of 2 inches of the first color and 1 inch of the second color, or 3 inches of the first and 1 inch of the second, the two colors occurring in regular alternation.'

Look at the example No. 1 below. Weave this draft on your sample loom. Decide what two colors to use but try to chose colors that have a nice contrast. Place the dark color or the light color at each selvage if possible.

'To weave across a striped warp, one can use a single continuous weft of unchanging color. The entire length of the material will then appear in a vertical design of the warp stripes planned. Since the weaver does not have to stop to change weft color, the weaving goes rapidly -- first through one shed, then back through the other shed. The color of the weft should blend in with the color of the outside warp stripe, so that it will not show too much at the selvages, when it forms loops in reversing.'

'One can alternate two colors in the warp, forming a mottled texture' as in No. 2 below. 'Here a cross in a square on the paper plan means to thread a dark color on harness 1 'or slot 1 on a rigid-heddle loom'; and a circle means to follow this dark thread with a thread of a light color on harness 2' or the hole on a rigid-heddle loom. 'One can weave this kind of warp with a weft that is all of one color; or one can use alternately two shuttles containing different colors to form first a row of one color and then a row of the second color. This will bring out the pebbly effect still more.'

Orange

Red and Orange

A Craftsman's Creed
All of the fine traditions and the skill
Are mine to use to raise my craft renown,
And mine to teach again with reverent will,
Thus do I love to serve,
With fingers that are masters of the tool.
Anon.

Playing with Sett
The sett is the number of ends and picks in a specified unit of measurement needed to create the required "feel," "handle," or "drape" of the fabric.

e.p.i. = ends per inch (This is the abbreviation used for the number of warp ends per inch.)
p.p.i. = picks per inch (This is the abbreviation used for the number of weft shots per inch.)

A balanced weave is created by an equal number of ends and picks being woven, with the same yarn used for each. A fabric can also be warp-dominant, warp-faced, weft-dominant, or weft-faced.

The correct sett is determined by

1. the diameter of the yarn
2. the weave structure
3. the type of yarn
4. the eventual use of the fabric.

Diameter of the Yarn:
Yarn manufacturers now categorize yarn by weight with the following symbols:

[1] very fine, older terms, lace or fingering

[2] fine

[3] light, also known as dk 0r sportweight

[4] medium, also know as knitting worsted

[5] bulky or chunky

[6] super bulky or super chunky

Weavers take this a step further by determining the wraps per inch, (w.p.i.), of the yarn to be use.

The Weave Structure:

We will only weave tabby or plain weave. Different rules apply to twill weaves.

The Type of Yarn:

Look for a fabrirama coming soon!

The Eventual Use of the Fabric:

Something beautiful, of course.

Weaving Vocabulary

Beater of the Loom: Part of the loom structure which is moved back and forth to pack the weft rows taut; composed of two vertical side pieces and horizontal end pieces for holding the reed, the whole device working back and forth in an arc from its pivot at the base or top of the loom; also called Batten. Could be as simple as a comb or kitchen fork.

Board Loom: a simple wooden frame or contrivance made out of a flat board, on which warp may be stretched taut to provide for weaving.

In-and-Out Weave: Another name for Simple Weave, Plain Weave, or Tabby Weave; also applied to Simple Weaving in Basketry.

Loom: The framework across which threads are stretched in parallel order and at a tension for the weaving of cloth.

Selvage of cloth: the edge formed when weaving, at the right or left side of the cloth, by the loops of the weft as it passes back and forth and around the outside warp threads.

Set, Sett, or Setting of the warp: the number of warp threads per inch in the reed to obtain a certain texture.

Warp: the name given to the series of threads stretched lengthwise of the loom.

Warp-Around Loom: a frame or a board around which thread is wrapped to provide warp for weaving, generally having some arragement for keeping the warp threads spread evenly apart and parallel.

Wattling: the ancient process of interlacing rigid sticks by twisting of pairs of softer fibers around them; know today as Pairing.

Weaving: the interlacing of two sets of threads at right angles to each other in various warp to form a fabric or cloth.

Weft: the name given to the weaving thread used crosswise of the warp through the sheds made by the harnesses; also called the Filler or Woof.

Check out the Impossible University!

http://www.hss.adelaide.edu.au/philosophy/inconsistent-images/impossible-uni/

Let's Make Some Color Wheels

Red:
Bright, warm, cheerful, inviting.

• Combine with orange, terracotta, pink, purple, moss green.
• Combine with pairs of colors: terracotta and cream, lemon and brick, black and lemon, gray and pink, yellow and ocher.
• Add accents of blue, gray, green, black.
• Use to accent pink and white, black and aqua, white and blue, gray and dark gray, black and yellow.
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