Weaving

[nangnangnj]

Anyone here done it?
I've just started and am still experimenting with different techniques (plain, twill,leno,wrapped ends,spanish lace,inlays etc). Plus different types of knotting, which is just knotting the weft onto the warp for a textured effect. It's exciting what you can create
Anyone have some ideas or projects involving weave?
I'm planning something for my wall...but am still playing with samples on the loom right now.

Ps. I did a search but found nothing, if something exists please merge

 

[gius]

great topic nang..

i love weaving

anyway,
there are many other things to do, like tapestry and double-weave and weaving with unconventional materials... you can try making pile.. like rugs and bath-towels (also: Prada carpet coats lol .. f/w 07)
also there is painted warp/ikat , drafting your own patterns, warp-faced weaves, weft-faced weaves

A good book is Ideas in Weaving by Ann Sutton

src| amazon

what machinery are you using?
are you using a table loom or frame loom...
there are also weaving techniques where you don't use a loom

i made a wool mesh once
and embroidered over it, creating an interesting lace
you can find it in this thread:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f105/lace-making-47853-2.html

what country are you from btw ??

 

[nangnangnj]

Hehe I can always trust you for a response guis
Yeah I'm using a table loom with four shafts.
I just saw your lace sampler....it's so beautiful!! I wish I'd seen this last year when I was researching lace this thread is so informative!!
The sampler I'm working on atm is basically different types of piles...I still don't know how to trim them perfectly though...when I was at the Gobelins workshop in Paris I was amazed at seeing how they would trim these masssive rugs perfectly flat and straight.
I'm also doing some tapestry samples as well, with just a small rectangle frame that clamps onto the side of a table. I love that tapestry (compared with weave) is so easy to set up...plus it's kinda relaxing building up shapes and filling them in.
Except that after a few hours your arm get so sore

 

[gius]

yeah ^ when i did tapestry , it was for assignments and my classmate and i stayed up all night.. (sneaking into school.. turning off the lights when the security guards came in)
it was crazy
and my fingers were chafing and bleeding
the assignments were due the next morning...

do you use heddles in your tapestry loom?
we made them for ours since our frame loom was huge and could stand on its own
like the Gobelins
you can see it here with my classmate weaving .. my tapestry is next to hers
i find though i can go faster, moving the threads with my fingers than using the heddles (it's just that the wool is abrasive...)

i don't have a loom now, so i have no new projects..
all of my weavings were done at school
i am thinking of figuring out a way to make a back-strap loom
i really miss it
i agree it's very relaxing
and definitely i spend more time preparing the warp than actually making the fabric

lucky you were able to go to Paris for the workshop
i heard all of the workers there are male ??
that it is the tradition

would love to see your pile weave ^^

 

[nangnangnj]

Wow wow wow I love the back ground on your myspace and your tapestry, it's beautiful!!
That story about sneaking into your school craziest /funniest/priceless!! I can't believe she survived both the security guard and the repitition of running her fingers through the warp over and over... It's not like cramming for an exam or staying up all night to write an essay...there is a physical limit to how long you can sit at a loom for, so I'm in awe of this achievement
Weave class is pretty hardcore there's constant deadlines every week for our samples and we have to be ready for cut off after each or else!! The teacher for weave is good...but can be a little scary too So yeah there is basically no opportunity to fall behind.
Tapestry class on the other hand is way more chilled...

Haha all the workers at Gobelins are male?? Nah, but the guide was... It was all in French too so I could really only observe....was still really interesting though, plus I bought the English edition of their booklet so that helped fill in some of the blanks!!!
There are no heddles on my tapestry loom, I guess because it's too small? It's easier just to pick up the warp threads by hand... the 2nd years have bigger frames which have them though...
At first when you asked if I have heddles on my tapestry loom, I thought you were talking about the weave loom, so I was thinking - hang on you pick up the warp for your weave by hand?

 

[gius]

Can I hear about what you're making in your class? How is it structured.. One technique per week? Samples due on Friday?
For ours, it's like one technique for 2-3 weeks... Pattern weaves, pile weaves, inlay, transparencies, double weave, ikat, jacquard, tapestry, etc. and we combine techniques learned from past or other courses such as felting or heat-pressing with disperse dyes on synthetic yarns.
I realize now how little we learned lol.. and many of the things I did/do are on my own interest For example making yarns from scratch, making lace and those soumak/ghiordes knot weaves, among others... I was always looking at my instructor's samples from what she did at her school and copied what I liked -- she was very supportive. I'm a little sad I didn't scan them into my computer lol. There was a lot of unusual yarns... I remember a waffle weave that combined a thick and thin yarn... so bubbly and spongey

I love making samples... different techniques... I think all of my work was basically samples and tests. There wasn't much time to design for me with all of the work from our other courses on top of weaving assignments

Here is double-weave I did...

other side


Have you done it before?
You create two layers at the same time...
Two layers can connect at the sides to form a tube or can connect in one side to turn into a wider fabric

This one I made connects at intervals.. in the coloured 'shapes'
Then I threw it in the washing machine
The white side is wool so it shrunk
but the coloured is cotton, so it just bubbles with the wool shrinking on the other side

 

[nangnangnj]

Omg felting is a whole class in itself?! I hate felting… we did it for a couple of lessons in our Fibres Yarns and Fabrics class, but that was it. It wasn’t a subject on its own, thank the lord!!!!! At your school was tapestry and weave combined as the same subject? I know you can do tapestries on a weave loom but we have it as a separate subject to weave.
The disciplines we have are:
Knit
Weave
Tapestry
Experimental (can’t wait to take this one!!)
ScreenPrint
In the first year we take a semester of each and second year we pick one to major in, while continuing with three others. I’m in the Textile Design course, but Screenprint is also offered as a course on it’s own (it’s only offered as an elective in the Textile course). In both these courses some of the core subjects cross over. Although Screen print has extras we don’t take and we have extras they don’t take… for example: we do do History of Textiles which they don’t, but then we both take Contemporary Art and Design.
Anyway back to weave!!

It sounds like you had lots of freedom in your weave class, is that right? For example, could you choose what you wanted to do in your samples?
I love your double weave, (haven’t done any yet). I love the way you always feature shapes in your work…(instead of row by row)
Was this something from school? Did you have to finish the ends for samples or could you just leave them (I like the way the are here btw, it works well for this piece)
So far for us in weave, we have been doing one sample blanket per fortnight…in that we produce work using several different techniques… how we use those in our work is up to us (if there’s enough time and warp left we can do extra stuff if we want). But we must have the techniques that have been set out for us to do in each sample. It’s amazing how in a class of 10 people or whatever, working with the same techniques used in different ways end up, so cool!!!!!
Even though up until now we have had two classes for each sample , most of our class time is spent on other things such as reading drafts and pattern design. So we need to come in to the studios on our own time to do all the hands on stuff or we can take the loom home (I have a bicycle so I don’t really do that)
Anyway today our teacher told us that as of next class we’ll be picking up the pace a lot more!!! We’ll be doing one sample per week!!! ArgH!! The thought of setting up the loom every week is not exciting at all.... I hate measuring the warp the most, I don’t know why when threading it to the loom is just as tedious and therefore equally hate worthy.
Today I was measuring out my new warp, it had to be 196 (3m) lengths of mercerised cotton (which was like 1/10th as dense as tooth floss!!) I’m using it to make Finnish lace….with these next samples we will just be doing one technique per one, instead like of 5-10.
I had to get my loom home over the weekend to finish my pile weaves for cut off this morning. I took a photo while I had it in my study….I’ll try to upload to it now to show you

 

[gius]

Oh you're doing pattern weaves? that Finnish lace.. that's interesting. I'd love to see! I saw a book on Bronson lace.. I'd love to be able to draft my own lace. I've done meshes and canvas weaves..
We've never really made anything that fine, as dental floss lol I think.. That's crazy because you are already pressured for time

We could choose what we wanted to do for the samples and projects too, as long as they incorporated the techniques we just learnt

As for shapes, it just depended on the technique.. When we played with plain weave and basket, etc. it's not allowed. In my samples in the portfolio, double weave and tapestry and inlay, etc. could easily be used to incorporate shapes... but they're definitely more time-consuming especially double weave.. You have to weave both shapes in the same layer of fabric and try to get them in the same spots

Felting wasn't a class itself, but just part of first year weaving class.. which had basketry techniques and others. It was only in second semester of first year where we got to use the loom
Anyway I hate felting too
Ruins my hands... I just throw my stuff in the washing machine

Tapestry though isn't a class itself but part of weaving class.. We get a different teacher for that. She studied at West Dean in England, their tapestry studio Apparently it was a program where you live right at the school.. and it's all separated from the city, right in the country. She suggests getting the vegetarian menu if you choose to live there because it's way better even if you are not vegetarian lol
I guess you learn a lot then in Tapestry class if you have it separated
We did shapes, hatching and blending techniques.. I think that's all. We did hand-controlled weaves with our other teacher (like leno by hand, and pile, etc.)
What else do you do learn in tapestry?
I'll try to post some more of my stuff when I come back
but now I'm off to work

 

[nangnangnj]

Sorry that took awhile... I had to resize them and make some midnight snacks!!

 

[nangnangnj]

Today when we where given out our weave patterns (this time everyone in the class got something different) someone got the Bronson!
I only got given the Finnish lace because I have more heddles per shaft on my loom... which will be a dream to thread up someone is taking the piss out of me!!!
It’s true what you say about shapes. I made a zigzag shape with Rya knots which really tested my sanity….I wanted to give up half way through but it was too late to turn back... if I left it just as it were, it would have looked really bad... so I had to finish. The annoying thing was knowing that while I was busting my a$$, the end result wasn’t even going to look that good….

For Tapestry we use a different loom, I’ll photograph it when I remember to take my camera to school…I’m still going to do that video of the different studios at school…when I get the chance

I haven’t heard about West Dean, but I'll go look it up! You have a great school over there in Montreal…forgot the name do you know it? Maybe you could do some further study there?
Btw, which school did you study at?
Re: the vegetarian food that’s always the default option for places like planes, school canteens and not so fresh restaurants

 

[nangnangnj]

This is the first sample I did....

 

[nangnangnj]

It features the basics (plain/basket/a variety of twill)
It may be hard to recognise some of them such as the wrapped ends because I used this yarn that had random knots and lumps in it...anyway it's the cream coloured block just under the blue...The black one under that which has breaks in the weave and yarn that runs diagonally across the surface....I can't remember the name of this technique!! Do you know? For some reason I can't find it in my notes.
Anyway the one under that with the ugly orange inserts is a very boring interpretation of inlay...you can see in the yellow block somewhere in one of the photos what happens when you rip these out, it creates these interesting holes which I prefer. For my spanish lace I used this massive brown chunky stuff which doesn't really showcase Spanish lace the best...but it's on there! Next to the yellow block (I'm sorry if I'm not describing this in the best way!!) is a technique that causes the fabric to ripple..the yarn also lays across the surface of the fabric vertically in an alternating sequence on both sides..I can't remember the name for this also

 

[gius]

Some techniques I haven't seen before..
Love your samples!!
They have very interesting texture particularly the last fabric photo with the blue
It's interesting how you choose the colour.. neutral,neutral,neutral, primary colour, neutral,neutral, another primary and the piles one is very wintery greys and blues and browns
My class had odd tastes in colours also.. Some were very moody and others were neon and mine were apparently 'cute'

I don't think I've tried the black one with the diagonals.. I'll ask around to find its name
For wrapped ends, we also called that bouquet weave or Brook's Bouquet

We didn't do the rippling fabric one in my class, I think... How does it make it ripple? My classmates took a workshop where they made a fabric that rippled. They used an elastic yarn and when it's dry, it's like a flat plain weave, but after wetting it, it shrivels up.. It's cute it's incredibly stretchy

I did a hand-manipulated lace weave also .. I found it in the Reader's Digest Guide to Needlework

This is Danish medallion

They should be circles but maybe it's that I was using linen that it went square or who knows really lol. The triangle at the top is just for fun

Hey for my pile weave, I actually cheated
I took a crochet hook and pulled the yarn out to make loops
So really, the pile could be pulled out (if I cut the pile) since they're not knotted
I found though with some thick wool, you could get away with it because the wool yarn has some little hairs that like to grab onto the fabric...

Do you use a different weave sequence when you do inlay?
Our teacher just gave us plain weave
but I am snoopy and found some other sequence in her school notes (LoL) + photocopied them
What the sequence is supposed to do is, that it creates a balanced plain weave ground with the inlay on top of the fabric...
With some of my inlay, the inlay is right there with the plain weave ground , so the ground is actually a bit distorted.. not straight and balanced like yours
You can especially see it in the blue-grey + orange pile fabric I have in my portfolio. You'll see the exposed warp. It's from going back and forth, after placing in the inlay, trying to hide the warp unsuccessfully (rush hour)..

I think once I get weaving again, I'll try pattern weaves as well
I guess if you learn pattern weaves, you'll figure out how to draft those and similar structures no?
It's interesting to hear your in-class time is mostly spent on drafting/design than making them. By design, does it mean drawing.. drawing in a grid.. or getting inspiration material, taking an object and turning it into a woven structure? Would you say your program is geared more towards design or arts? Mine was def art... It is a bit too freeing imo
To answer your question earlier, we do have to finish our ends. Usually I keep them as fringes though I hate them, but in the double weave I wasn't sure how to finish them since I'd be felting it

I've been amazed by "waffle weave" or was it "honeycomb" by the way the weft swivels up and down in curves... And also how some the yarns seem to create two layers, yarns at the bottom and yarns at the top, creating a relief

src | munro crafts
and that it's only done on 4 heddles, I think although it looks a bit complicated

 

[gius]

pile as inlay

here i am creating inlay on a sheer linen ground
i guess i am pretty much let myself go when i weave threads are let loose and go wild B)

from my myspace
white and metallic bouclé mixed w black
black is a slub (?) yarn

the white here is a hard plastic yarn --i sometimes see it used to tie packages


& here is a crochet 'jungle' shoved into the fabric

the heart-shaped thing is probably more embroidery than weaving --i wrapped the warp with the yarn.. it naturally raised the motif from the ground

 

[nangnangnj]

Yes my colour 'choice'
The rug yarn we had for our pile samples were leftovers from a local carpet factory that just closed down….I was asking our teacher if I could buy my own yarn somewhere (because I didn’t exactly love our selection…) but she just looked at me like and said where are you going to buy it from?
So I just used what we had which were those heavy colours…. For our other samples we have had more of a selection to choose from but I can’t wait until we do our own project so that I can go buy some things I like!!!
Btw My rectangle soumak was a tribute to you!!! After I saw your square soumak…
Plus everyone in our class seemed to be doing their techniques in the style of a row of this and a row of that…..so I really wanted to rock out with some shapes.
For our inlay we just did plain weave as well, and then stuck random bits of anything in as we went…although as I said mine was quite unadventurous with those small orange rags……but hey, someone was just trying to finish their work
LOL, I love the way you said you cheated for pile…but didn’t your teacher look at the back? For our pile sample we had to pull loops as one of the techniques so I don’t know if I would have gotten away with doing this for all the knotting as well!!!
Plus I wouldn’t want to see my teachers reaction if she knew I did it
I love your dutch medalions, I don’t think I’ve seen or heard of this one before… I like the way it turned into rounded squares, and I love the way you broke it up with a piled triangle. What are you going to do with this fabric?
I love your crotchet jungle too, how did this happen? Did you crotchet a piece or pieces then weave it in or did you work it while it was on the loom?

I metallics (we haven’t been able to use them yet) I like how in this piece you use the metallic yarn and a mix of other yarns/materials as well….Haha am I using the word love too much??!! What can I say? I love your stuff!!

I really like honeycomb as well. I’m thinking of incorporating it into my final project…not sure how though yet

Btw we are on two week break!! so I’ve got some time to think about what I wanna do…

I haven’t checked out that book you mentioned earlier Ideas in Weaving by Ann Sutton just yet, but it’s on our suggested reading list. I just went to my notes and saw some other books also by Ann Sutton - The Structure of Weaving and The Craft of the Weaver (co wrote with peter Collingwood, who also did Techniques of Rug Weaving which looks good too).

Have you checked out any of these magazines? (I don't know them, but they were also on our list)
Object, Textile VIEW, Handwoven,
Surface Design, Selvedge, Textile: The journal of cloth and culture.


Or this site http://infomat.com/trends/androgyny.html


There is so much info everywhere it’s overwhelming!!! But what’s really cool is meeting other people who are into textiles..I’m surprised there aren't more of us on here!!! Maybe they look but don't post

The picture below is a book I bought at the V&A in London..it’s so beautiful I love it. It features lots of Bauhaus too so I reckon you would like it

 

[nangnangnj]

^^ Oops, The book is called Twentieth Century Fabrics
European and American Designers and Manufactures
by Doretta Davanzo Poli published by Skira
(I took the photo cause I don't have a scanner)

There are too many beautiful things to show but I took a few photos of featured works.... the first is a Gunta Stolzl wall tapestry I the colours

No artist is named for the black red and white one which is from the Hirshhorn Musuem in Washington. I love the texture of this one. Composed of "irregular stripes, disrupted by serpentine brocade work in coarse red and white wool" I love the heavy built up effect this creates...

And then brown one by Marisa Bronzini which is the complete opposite. So delicate with many empty spaces in the work (it says, "hand woven on a double heddled loom") I took a photo with and without the flash but neither really showcase how interesting this piece is...


I love this book so much

 

[gius]

I tried to find some time to go to the library to check that book out, but all in vain.. I have seen it before though! Our college library had really awesome textiles books. We had a bunch like that where strangely it was full of print designs than wovens. So I'm very glad to see wovens here
Can you believe the Stozl one is a tapestry? That must have been insane to make! And I remember reading it is a huge size too

The red+white+black one is by Anni Albers !! She is from the Bauhaus. I am fan of her work.. She has a couple books on theories about design and weaving, and also about her work. Some interesting thoughts she has.. such as her philosophy of how a fabric shouldn't bring attention to itself. Rather it should meld with its environment in terms of design...

I'm also fond of Bronzini I think it was Gegia Bronzini that I saw in a book though.. It was a really lovely fabric in these same subtle neutrals, hard to explain... Like a tapestry.. a weft-faced plain weave but the yarns are all in different thicks and widths so it's almost like there is a hand-drawn/stitched line over a padded fabric...
They have a website http://www.gegiabronzini.com/eng/main.htm

Is it hard to find yarn there? I am surprised your instructor was shocked when you said you would get your own.. I haven't found a shop that sells really interesting yarns, so I often like to make my own or I will work from ready-made yarns. We have a local shop here where you can buy raw wool fibre and another with silk fibre.. The place has also mix of seaweed with silk and soy I think
Do you like spinning your own yarns?

Fortunately my weaving instructor was very lenient.. She went through hardcore traditional weaving training and probably got sick of specific processes lol.. So we were allowed to "cheat" in the pile if we wanted to. I know that I got a good mark on mine anyhow lol
The crochet jungle, a lot of it crocheted and then placed in --I also crocheted a part and then moved the thread over to another spot and crocheted something else.. just as a way of really anchoring it in the plain weave

I always get asked this.. what am I going to do with the fabrics I make
I guess I just make them without thinking.. I like making different 'looks' and textures
But I haven't woven a fabric to be used in clothing or anything-- I do want to eventually
It's interesting, no, the way people think of textiles.. When they see some of mine, after a pause they say "So.. what is it..." LOL. "A scarf? A towel?".. to which my reply is "It's just a fabric." "Do you hang it????" "You can if you want" (this was a conversation with my boss at work lol)

 

[gius]

Thanks for all the list of books btw !
.. We have aisles full of Handwoven at the library with also Fiberarts Magazine and Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot
Selvedge has a lot of sources for material in the UK ..very random, all conerning fibers...
The thing with magazines is there is too much info I agree, who knows where to start But when I was doing research for paper fabrics and crape for my history class, I often went through these ones using the computer search. So I guess they have a lot of good info if you have something specific
I def find articles on techniques and history inspiring.. like they provide a foundation to work on your own ideas. I also see some books by American weaver Jack Lenor Larsen .. Near the end of my school year I was trying to find info on wovens as a career, and his bio was one I liked/read (and also Anni Albers and Randall Darwall)
And I also get inspired by functions of fabrics.. constructing something with a purpose in mind, so this Fabrics for Interiors by Larsen and another writer is great.. Talks about for ex., what kind of woven can only work for a window.. like thinking about dyes which resist the sunlight or the way there is gravity/weight coming from above, so an open mesh with inlay would work better than a loosely spun mesh.. (something like this, I forget exactly how they wrote it)

from selvedge-bookshop ; furniturelibrary

Randall Darwall's work...

craftinamerica

--------------------------------------------------

Also here are some more pile
I found it at miaentemostre whilst looking for Bronzini


Thomas de Falco (left) | Monica Riva (right)

 

[gius]

i just posted some more photos in the textile design thread at Art&Design forum

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f81/textile-design-58913-4.html#post5039442