From One Extreme....

plain weave - alpaca weft


cotton warp, Tencel weft


.....to the other.....

Was tagging the stuff that was wet finished over the weekend, and these shawls followed each other in the pile - one woven in plain weave with that bane of a new weaver's existence - tracking showing up in the wet finishing - and the other woven in a multi-shaft twill. I don't remember anymore if the second shawl was 12 or 16 shafts. :)

But it kind of summed up for me the spectrum of what weaving can be if one wants it to be - as pure and simple as plain weave (which surely needn't be just simple - as Tien's article in WeaveZine pointed out) all the way through to as complex as one wants to tackle.

Truth be told, the multi-shaft twill above isn't even all that complex. It's just a drawn line over as many shafts as one has, changing direction every so often, then woven in the same order - tromp as writ - or in this case some variation of a twill treadling sequence. One doesn't even need a lot of shafts to accomplish something fancy - just the desire and the will to create the complex threading and then follow it with the treadling.

Since I have a Compu-Dobby, it isn't even difficult to achieve. Which is one reason why I got a dobby loom in the first place and then up-graded to the computer driven hardware in the second.

It's a matter of efficiency. The computer allows me the freedom to try out a whole lot more options for cloth design in the same amount of time I used to spend making one or two draw downs by hand. Instead of which I can take that same amount of time and run through 30 options.

So has the computer saved me time? Not in terms of designing. But efficiency isn't just about saving time, it's about being productive with what time one has available. So the computer has allowed me to expand my horizons and become a better designer.

And that, too, is efficient use of my time.

So many people believe that being efficient is all about saving time. Of being fast at what one does. But speed at the expense of accuracy is a false economy. So any procedure or piece of equipment that speeds up the process but introduces 'flaws' is not efficient.

On the other hand, there are methods and equipment that are more efficient than other methods and equipment. If a weaver has never been taught those methods or shown that equipment, they will do what they have been taught. How can they do otherwise unless they make a point of analyzing what they are doing and trying to do it more efficiently? Or seeking out other teachers.

For those people interested in learning more efficient and ergonomic methods, there are resources. Peggy Ostercamp has collected a vast amount of data on various methods one can use. Once one knows different ways of doing things - winding a warp, dressing a loom, holding and throwing a shuttle - it is then up to the student to choose those methods and tools that will work best for them.

Ultimately it is up to each person to choose how they work - slow or fast - and what tools and equipment that will best suit what they wish to accomplish.

Personally I want to work as efficiently as possible in order to try to bring into material form (pardon the pun!) the ideas I have swirling around in my head. Not to mention use up as much of my stash as I possibly can.....so I can buy new stuff to play with!

Currently reading The Shaman's Bones by James D Doss