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~ Jean Williams, Handweaver

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Category Archives: Rug Techniques

Left, Right, Left, Right

25 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by jeanweaves in Rug Techniques

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Fiber Arts, Weaving

My left hand doesn’t know what my right hand is doing. Seriously. My right hand can do things my left hand can’t even pretend to do. I know this is common, but my directional challenges became very clear during my on-going exploration of unfamiliar weaving skills.

Some techniques are very directional. To make a ridge slant right or left, the yarn has to follow the right path. How I pull it around a warp thread can change the slant of the knot.

Soumak is one of those methods. Soumak is a decorative, hand-manipulated technique often used in rugs but I’ve heard of it used in wall hangings and other textiles as well. It goes way back in textile history and shows up with many forms.

There are two wefts in soumak: the soumak weft and the ground weft. The soumak weft wraps and crosses the warp but is mostly decorative, thus the need for a ground weft for stability. Peter Collingwood presents several variations of soumak in his book The Techniques of Rug Weaving.

I wanted to try my hand at double soumak which makes a nice, thick ridge and, if worked in more than one row, will form horizontal v’s.

Going right to left went smoothly: forward over two warps, back under the 2nd one and then over the 1st one and snug it down, a figure-8. The row progressed well. Right up to the turn at the left edge, where I had to move the yarn up and start working left to right.

For the life of me, I could not flip the technique to move left to right. My wraps kept going in the wrong direction, which was apparent when the v’s didn’t form. Time to walk away from the loom, and think about what my hands were doing.

Forward over two warps, back under the 2nd one, then up over and around the 1st one, crossing the 2nd one, a left-handed figure-8. Repeat. Take mistake out, try again. Repeat. It only works if the hand follows what the mind is telling it to do.

It’s taking some practice and concentration, but the left hand is starting to catch on.

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Trying Something Different

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by jeanweaves in Rug Techniques, Weaving Inspiration

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Rugs, Weaving

Somewhere, at a dinner table, a parent cajoles a reluctant child—

“Come on, just try it. You might even like it.”

Could be peas. Could be curry. Could be papaya. I resisted winter squash when I was young, but at some point, Mom won and – what do you know? I do like it!

Rug-weaving is like that too. I wove a few rag rugs because I had rags and I had a loom. I didn’t spend much time thinking about color schemes and I didn’t weave more than what we needed around the house. I never learned any other rug technique either, like looped pile, knotted pile, soumak, or the like because those just didn’t interest me. That is, until this summer.

Our guild had duplicate copies of many books and offered the extras for sale to members. I picked up a copy of Peter Collingwood’s The Techniques of Rug Weaving. Wow, what a packed volume! After paging through several chapters of step-by-step instructions and diagrams, I just had to give it a try. I threaded up the loom for some play time.

After putting on a good strong warp, I experimented with knots, loops, edges, and chains. A few rows here, a few there, just enough to give me a little idea of what the surface looks like. Then on to a more focused sample.

First up, Ghiordes knots. Collingwood says these are the most common knots and are fairly secure in the warp after a few shots of plain weave binds them in. This is the brown section on my sample. I wanted those knots to be really secure and after one row, I thought they looked a little skimpy so I made sure to pack them in.

Next, I tried Sehna knots in green wool. After realigning my fingers a bit, I think I got the hang of it, sort of like wrapping a figure-8 around two warp ends. I was aiming at a good thick pile and was not disappointed. The knots snuggle right up to each other so much that I had a hard time getting my temple to bite the edges.

Finally, I did some single warp wraps or Spanish knots in gray. The yarn just wraps around a warp thread a couple of times, over-under-over, to end up on the surface. These knots are the least secure but with four shots of plain weave ground before and after a row of knots, they stay put. I finished a couple inches and decided it was time to cut off the samples to see the results.

Sure enough, the pile is thick and cozy, but all those knots in close proximity to each other curl the piece towards the back. Another thing I noticed was the width. At the beginning of the sample, the temple wasn’t set wide enough and the brown part is ½” narrower than the gray.  And of course, I didn’t have quite enough warp to do a proper edging at one end.

I’m enjoying my little adventure into new weaving territory. This is quite the change of pace from the dish towel cottons and fine damasks I’ve been weaving recently. I’ll get back to those soon enough, but not before another knotted pile sample.

Then those looped piles are intriguing.

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