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~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

jeanweaves

Category Archives: Damask

Barn Raising

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Designing, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, Damask, family, Weaving

Framed Barn PictureYou’ve heard the saying: “You can take the girl out of (insert your favorite place), but you can’t take the (insert your place again) out of the girl.” Cute and catchy. It explains all sorts of idiosyncrasies we aren’t even aware of, and some we wish we could outgrow, but no, they are part of our make-up.

For me, it’s my rural, upper Midwest upbringing. The way I pronounce certain words (much to my husband’s amusement); my love of cheese curds, brats, and beer; my preference for cool weather and all things “Norman Rockwell”-esque. You can take the girl out of Wisconsin…

I shared in Learning Experiences about this damask barn I was working on that would reflect both my Dad’s dairy farming and my Mom’s quilting. The challenge was getting the woven piece to show the same proportions as the graphed picture.

Five samples later, I took it off the loom, but then had to decide how to frame it. Another month went by before I found an answer in a box of my mother’s old pictures—a frame made by my grandfather. Its dark brown, rustic finish works, although I wish I had used a similar colored thread in the weaving. But then I didn’t know about the frame when I was weaving. Maybe next time.

It felt good and right to hang the barn above my loom, to step back and remember. I’m hoping they would approve.

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UFO Sightings

02 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Doubleweave, Finishing, Placemats, Towels

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Damask, Doubleweave, Placemats, Production, Weaving

UFO as in “unfinished object.” I noticed this week how very many of these are lying around my studio waiting to be finished.

I started framing the three damask pictures I wove for family late last winter. In my defense, I’ve been undecided until recently just how to frame them, and now I just have to … finish.

Damask waiting to be framed

Damask waiting to be framed

There’s the basket of cottolin towels woven in…hmmm…maybe May? They are ready to be hemmed, just waiting.

Towels to hem

Towels to hem

There’s also the “new” towel warp put on while I waited to hear about a yarn order. Two towels woven, seven to go.

Two done, seven to go

Two done, seven to go

Then there’s the doubleweave placemats that necessitated the said yarn order. These are on the loom and are my current focus since it’s a set order.

Doubleweave in progress

Doubleweave in progress

And there’s the agreement to weave an opphämta wall hanging with winter motifs, in the vein of the hangings I wove last summer. This one is not even on the loom yet, but it’s committed.

Not to mention the millennial braided rug, visited only sporadically because it is such a learning experience. Or the two knitting projects that sit next to my couch for evening relaxation.

UFOs are not bad things really. Each project moves at its own pace and if I have to wait for something on one project, it’s good to have another to work on. But there is a tipping point. It’s time to wrap up at least some of these UFOs — so I can start some more!

Do you have any UFOs waiting for your attention?

Light, Shadow, and Apples

21 Monday May 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Weaving Inspiration

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Tags

creative inspiration, Damask, Projects, Weaving

Colorful lichen formations

I see intriguing lichen, a stunning sunset, a charming silhouette, and I think “How could I weave that?”

A loom comes home with bells and whistles that I’m compelled to use, compelled to learn techniques that will show the loom’s full capabilities.

Our guild challenges us to create within the framework of a theme, a museum inspiration, a commercially chosen color, a natural phenomenon.

These have subtly influenced my weaving this year.

Last summer’s total solar eclipse loomed large in our community. Everything had an eclipse theme, including our annual guild challenge— “Light and Shadow.”

I put it in the back of my mind, behind the hangings, towels, and blankets in progress. Gradually the idea came into focus, a continuation of my museum inspiration from last year—how highlights and shadows can be woven into a 2-dimensional fabric.

Last year I used undulating twill. This year I used satin damask. Last year I wove scarves, this year an interpretation of a photo, a simple bowl of fruit,

First the photo

cropped for focus and color stripped,

Gray Scale Apple and Peach

leaving a pixelated image.

Pixelated Apple

With each step, I reduced the image further to the bare minimum for single weave units. I graphed out the image on computer, trying to grade the shadows into the highlights. I adjusted the graph squares to more accurately reflect the proportions of my warp and weft.

Apples and Peach off the loom

This was a project for the process rather than the end product.  It doesn’t have a specific purpose—which in itself is a learning experience for me! But as a challenge project, it did serve a general purpose—that of learning more about perspective, shading, dimension in weaving, proportion. I’ll tuck these lessons in the back of my mind until the next warp.

Meanwhile, there are towels to weave and aprons to sew.

I Wander As I Weave

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Designing, Weaving Inspiration

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Tags

creative inspiration, Damask, Weaving

We’ve had a lot of icy weather this past month, at least by Missouri standards. Perfect time to retreat to the studio for some serious warping!

Threading inside the loom

Threading inside the loom

During the course of a year, while weaving fabric for utilitarian textiles, I let my mind wander a bit. Not so much that I lose my place in the treadling, but I do dream about what’s next. What can I weave on the drawloom that will use more draw shafts? Do I set it up for shaft draw or single unit draw? What figure can I come up with that will be easy enough for this rookie single-unit weaver?

And following those wandering thoughts led here—inside the drawloom, threading 468 threads for a single unit 8-thread satin damask. This set-up will allow me to lift individual units of threads randomly for whatever figure I can graph out. It’s more free-form than the repeating patterns of shaft draw weaving but if I want, I can work those in too.

There are so many motifs that can be woven, so many designs that show up in embroidery, knitting, quilting—whatever a person can put her hand to. Mediums often cross too, like the quilt patterns painted on barns.

While tossing around ideas for the newly warped loom, my husband suggested putting one of those barn paintings into the picture. A perfect expression of my family’s dairying and quilting backgrounds.

Barn in progress

Barn in progress

Idea met computer sketchpad and after several edits, I took it to the loom. Since this is a learning piece, I’m taking time to evaluate along the way. There will be adjustments if I choose to weave it again, a shadow added here, a line softened there.

And while I weave, I let my mind wander, but not too much!

Containing the Excitement

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Designing, Looms, Planning

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Damask, Loom, Projects, Weaving

Two weeks ago The Shipment came. In three long, heavy boxes: loom extension; shaft draw system to upgrade from the old one; combination single unit set-up. It was like Christmas in June. I think my husband was just as excited as I was. Let the fun begin!

The view from the back

The view from the back

The pieces of the extension were finished but the other wooden pieces needed to be oiled and finished before I could put them together. And I’m a bit slow to comprehend things, so I read and reread the sheets that came in the boxes. One box only had a parts list—I was on my own to figure out how to assemble it. Another had more instructions, but no identification of the parts, so I had to figure out what some of the pieces were. The third box not only had instructions, but they were numbered to correspond to a drawing and little baggies of bolts and nuts. Hurray! I also had an idea from the Vävstuga video, Dress Your Swedish Drawloom, about how to proceed.

Hanging the treadles

Hanging the treadles

Piece by piece, it started to come together. By the end of last week, I had most of the attachments assembled and installed. Some had to wait till I had a warp on the loom.

As I was learning more about drawlooms this spring, my husband joked that he wanted some dragon placemats. That seemed like a good project to start with.

I found a fun graphed dragon in Here Be Wyverns by Nancy Spies (©2002 Arelate Studio, Jarrettsville, Maryland) and adapted a border from 826 Textila Bärder by Britta Johanson (©2009 Korssstygnsbolaget) Designing the border posed its own challenges. It took some work to balance the design to fit an 18” placemat.

The dragon taking shape

The dragon taking shape

I chose to weave a 6-thread irregular satin with an 8/2 cotton warp. This allows me to be able to see what I’m doing and make any adjustments more easily.

Because my existing countermarche is too long to fit within the new drawloom frame, I set this warp up on a counter-balance beam.  This, too, is a first. With the 6-shaft satin on this counter-balance tie-up, shaft 1 is tied to shaft 6, 2 to 5, and 3 to 4. So when I pull up shaft 1, shaft 6 goes down; the same with all the others.

I tested the shed by weaving a couple inches and measured a few random units to get a feel for how well the graphed design would fit in my planned weaving length. All set, the mat began, first with the hem, then the border, and on to the tail.

The view from underneath

The view from underneath

The wings took shape, followed by the head complete with “flames”. Finally the border and ending hems. The mat ended up a bit longer than I intended, but the cotton will shrink in the finishing.

First mat finished

First mat finished

This has been a satisfying first project. Now I have to decide what project to follow.

Refilling the Creative Well

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Opphämta, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

creative inspiration, Damask, Opphämta

Our part of the world enjoys four seasons and right now spring is transitioning to summer. The days are getting longer, warmer, and greener. There’s renewed hope for the garden, renewed energy in the morning walks, the desire to break out of the routine, for something different on the loom, something to get excited about. Getting away for some kind of retreat is a good way to refill the creative well for the coming months.

This past week was just such a retreat for me. I spent the week at Vävstuga Weaving School in Shelburne, Massachusetts studying Drawloom Basics with Becky Ashenden. Becky’s warm welcome and enthusiasm for all things Swedish made all of us feel right at home from start to finish.

What an inspiring week! Yes, I’ve woven on a drawloom for many years, but only with a few structures. Where I’ve woven 5-shaft satin damask before, this past week I had the opportunity to try 8-shaft satin damask.

Damask in 8-Shaft Satin

Damask in 8-Shaft Satin

We learned the properties of the various damask weaves, 5- 7-, 8-, and 10-shaft. We even worked with weaving swords to hold pattern sheds open on two different looms.

4-Shaft broken twill woven with a weaving sword

4-Shaft broken twill woven with a weaving sword

Where I’ve woven opphämta in the past, at Vävstuga I saw the variety of designs beyond what I’ve tried, combining borders and designing effective figures.

Opphämta with Weaving Sword

Opphämta with Weaving Sword

Opphämta borders on 10 patterns shafts

Opphämta borders on 10 patterns shafts

And with Smålandsväv, there seems to be limitless variations to keep me busy indefinitely.

Smålandsväv

Smålandsväv, back

Smålandsväv, front

Smålandsväv, front

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have shaft drawlooms; last week I also wove on single unit drawlooms, both with pattern-saving lashes

 

Damask with Pattern-Saving Lashes, front

Damask with Pattern-Saving Lashes, front

Damask with Pattern-Saving Lashes, back

Damask with Pattern-Saving Lashes, back

 

 

 

 

 

 

and without.

Single Unit Draw in 6-shaft satin, front

Single Unit Draw in 6-shaft satin, front

Single Unit Draw in 6-shaft satin, back

Single Unit Draw in 6-shaft satin, back

 

I’ve woven mostly with cotton; this week, it was almost exclusively linen or cottonlin. I beat my warp with a steady hand; this week, I learned that some weaves just need a heavy thump.

Lithuanian Opphamta on 21 Pattern Shafts

Lithuanian Opphamta on 21 Pattern Shafts

I can follow simple directions, but I don’t always know the “why” behind the “how.” After a week of discussing the different kinds of looms, deciphering drawdowns, and weaving on several different set-ups, I have a lot more understanding of how to make the loom do what I want it to do.

And now that I’m home again, I’m putting more thought into rearranging my looms and their set-ups. When I bought my second Glimäkra last year, it was basically so I could have one dedicated to drawloom weaves and one to wide and multi-shaft weaves. The class gave me the incentive to make that happen. Over the coming weeks, I will take the draw attachments off my bigger loom and allow it to be used fully as the 12-shaft loom that it is. The smaller loom will then be the dedicated drawloom since I usually don’t weave wide drawn pieces.

I so appreciate Becky’s encouragement and the warm welcome from all the Vävstuga staff.  Many thanks to all you! Now that I’m home, there’s so much to weave, so little time!

The Treasure of Winter Time

03 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

creative inspiration, Damask, Production, Weaving

Snowfall in the trees

Snowfall in the trees

It’s a quiet time of year. The to-do lists of the holiday season are checked off and tossed away. The company has gone home. The decorations will soon be stowed for their annual hibernation.

This is the time of year when I try to clean up the studio and record the drafts I hurriedly tossed on the pile after the warps came off the loom, weigh cones of yarn and replenish supplies for upcoming projects, ponder what I might want to explore in the coming year.

This is the time of year when I delve into something I’ve been wanting to learn but haven’t had time yet. A couple years back, I spent a few mornings with guild friends learning to tat. There was the year I attended a Fiber Retreat to hone my spinning skills.

So what will I do with the treasure of winter 2017?

Green and White Damask Runner

Green and White Damask Runner

Photography is one of those things that I know I can improve on. I spend way too much time struggling with lighting and focus, and then trying to edit the photos into my vision of what they should be. So with a little time and a different camera, I will see what I can do about that. There will be a learning curve, of course. I don’t expect stunning results right off the bat, but I’m willing to work on it.

Same runner, different camera

Same runner, different camera

Then there’s damask. I do love the sheen of satin damask, but so far, I’ve only tried 5-thread satin damask and only at a very narrow range of setts. What about 6- or 8-thread satin? What about varying the sett? If the tie-downs in the satin are spaced wider, would the fabric have more sheen or just be sleazy? I have some warp on the big loom that waits for sampling.

Our guild presents a challenge each year as a way to push our creativity. This year, we visited a local museum and are to translate inspiration into fiber. Some years ago we had a museum challenge and I wove fabric in the colors of an iridescent vase on display. This year I’m considering something with varying blocks to imitate drape since several of the paintings showed lovely fabrics on the subjects. We’ll see how far I get with that!

Now is the time to explore, before spring comes with a garden to plant, before we travel to see kids and grandkids, before I buckle down to more production in preparation for the fall. Now time is a treasure not to be wasted.

How to you spend your winter treasure?

A Satin by Any Other Name…

25 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by jeanweaves in Damask, Satin, Terminology

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Damask, Satin, Textiles, Weaving

My apologies to William Shakespeare:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would still smell as sweet.”

Act II Scene II, Romeo and Juliet

What do you picture when you think of satin? Something smooth, with a sheen that reflects the candlelight? A fabric somewhat heavy but with a lovely drape? What is satin?

Red Damask on the loom

Red Damask on the loom

What do you think of when you hear “damask”? Do you see figured tablecloths on your grandmother’s holiday table? Do you see a dense fabric in a single color or an elaborate upholstery for the sofa?

In popular usage, satin is that shiny, slippery fabric commonly used in wedding gowns – and sometimes sheets, although I’m told that satin sheets don’t live up to their hype. Damask can be heavy suiting, upholstery, or table linens.

In weaving terminology, satin is “a weave with warp floats on one surface of the cloth and weft floats on the other.”  (van der Hoogt,  Madelyn, The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers. Coupeville, Washington: Shuttlecraft Books, Inc., 1993).

Snowflake Damask Runner

Snowflake Damask Runner

“Satins have one binding point only on each warp thread within the repeat.” (Cyrus, Ulla, Manual of Swedish Handweaving. Boston, Massachusetts: Charles T. Branford Company, 1956). Having only that single binding point produces long floats which reflect the light, thus giving satin its sheen. Using fine threads with more luster accentuates that characteristic of satin. Satin is closely related to twill but because those tie-down threads are scattered, there is no characteristic diagonal line.

Handwoven satin is not as fine as machine-produced satin, mainly because factory-produced cloth uses much finer threads than are available to handweavers. Nonetheless, handwoven satin produces a lovely fabric!

“Damask is a self-patterned weave which…is based on interchanging areas of warp and weft emphasis.” (Johansson, Lillemor, Damask and Opphämta. Stockholm, Sweden: LTs Förlag 1982). Satin is often used in weaving damask, but other weave structures can be used in one of the faces, satin with twill for example.

I’ve dabbled in weaving satin damask for many years and each time I thread the loom, I learn something else. This summer, I’ve learned a new way to weight my ground shafts so they come back to a neutral position (simple elastic straps). I’ve also played around with some floral motifs gleaned from early weaving manuscripts.

Red and White Dräll (as opposed to "damask"), front and back

Red and White Dräll (as opposed to “damask”), front and back

I feel like I have so much to learn about these structures. Case in point, in researching for this blog, I realized that I have been using the term “damask” exclusively when some of what I weave is more correctly classified as dräll weave which uses repeating blocks for patterning whereas “the patterning in damask is…freer and richer than the geometrical figures in dräll.” (Johansson).

I’d like to see how 8-shaft satin differs in look from 5-shaft satin. That experiment is yet to come. A friend also noted that a lot of early manuscripts show drafts that combine satin on one face with a different weave on the other face. Intriguing.  That too begs to be studied.

What do you think of when you hear “satin” and “damask”? Let me know.

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