Weaving Napkins

 After finally figuring out how to draft a design in block theory, I spent a long time designing my actual napkins for the International Napkin Exchange. I wanted to do something with a sort of architectural feel to it, something that reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s sensibilities. This sounded relatively straightforward to me. HAH!

I should know by now that it takes more skill to make a clean, attractive, simple design than one that’s crowded with activity. Frank certainly was a master of his craft, and I would certainly not call myself a master weaver!

So I spent hours drawing. First on graph paper, then on my weaving software. Then I realized that I didn’t have the graph paper design right, and I didn’t have enough graph paper to do what I wanted, so I went to Excel and created a grid that resembled the squares of graph paper. I spent hours getting the design that I thought I wanted, then went back to the weaving software.

Hmmm....still not right. The basis of a summer & winter pattern, which is what I wanted, is that what’s light on one side is dark o the other. To keep me happy, I had to like both sides of this piece. So back to the drawing board.

To add to the challenge, the napkins had to be a certain size, 18′′ to 22′′ square. So I had to have the right number of threads across both the width and length of the piece. Again, my obsessive-compulsive nature slowed my design time — I really wanted a pattern that was completely symmetrical, both left to right and top to bottom. And one that had a reasonable balance of light and dark on both the top and the bottom.

FINALLY I got a design that I liked, got the warp prepared and on the loom, and started weaving.

The above picture shows you both the top side and underside of the weaving, so you can see how the colors reverse themselves. It still amazes me that I can do this bit of weaving magic, particularly on my little 4 harness counterbalance loom. This type of weaving is possible by using two shuttles, one with your background color (white) and one with the alternate color (purple for the napkin below).

To make things look the way I wanted them to, I had to use two of my colored threads and one thinner white thread. If I were a spinner, I’d have spun those two or maybe even three purple threads together to make one fatter thread, but alas, I don’t spin. S I had to be satisfied with two threads and use my double shuttle for the purple, sending both through simultaneously.

I’m pleased with the way they’re weaving up. The warp is presenting some problems, however. The right side is substantially looser than the left. I’ve hung weights on it to even out the tension, but I doubt that this will be enough for the entire length of the warp. Time will tell.

March 16th, 2011

When the student is ready...

...the teacher will appear.”

It’s a pretty famous Buddhist saying. And it just became real for me.

When I posted my 2010 wannas, one of the things I mentioned was that I wanted to learn new weaving techniques. And that I’d joined a Su Butler’s napkin exchange as one concrete strategy to help me do so. I’d already told Su that block weaves was one of the options for things that I’d like to try.

I hadn’t done any block weaving before. The last few times I’d looked at that chapter in Deborah Chandler’s Learning To Weave book, she may as well have been speaking Zubulian — I didn’t understand anything she was trying to tell me.

At the February Southern Tier Fiber Arts Guild meeting, I asked a woman if she had a good handle on block theory, figuring I could get the concept if someone was telling me vs. reading a book. Unfortunately, she didn’t.

A few days later I got the new issue of Handwoven, and there were designs in there that were similar to what I had in mind for the napkins. So I got out my graph paper and started drawing, thinking that was the place to start.

Hah! I couldn’t even replicate the design in the magazine, much less create one of my own! And I sure wasn’t any closer to understanding what the heck I was doing.

So I pulled out Chandler’s book again. I started reading. Still looked like Zubulian to me.

Then all of a sudden something clicked and those foreign characters start to turn into English! I went back to the graph paper again, and could actually draw something that made sense! And I understood that each of those graph paper squares represent 4 threaded heddles and 4 throws of the shuttle, and how to plan all that detail.

Amazingly, within about 24 hours, I got an email hawking a new book – delivered electronically in PDF format – all about weavin block theory.

I haven’t yet figured out how many threads I’ll need in the napkins, so haven’t begun to do the final planning yet, but I KNOW I can design what I want. Even more surprising to me, I know that there’s at least an 85% chance that the design in my head can be woven on my beloved four-harness counterbalance loom.

Sometimes life is sweet. I try to really appreciate it when it is.

February 12th, 2011