Last Pick

 

This warp is for a class project so I'm paying extra particular attention to what I'm doing and what I'm seeing.

Normally I don't do a double tap on the beat, just one single tap.  That tap is 'regulated' according to a number of factors - the elasticity of the yarn, the tension applied to the warp, etc.

Not all yarns have the same characteristics.  The yarn currently in the loom is 2/10 mercerized cotton, and it shares some of the characteristics of a line linen.  Both are dense, stiff, slippery and a bit springy.  (Linen is more of all of those things than cotton, but mercerized cotton is more like linen in how it behaves.)

Weaving plain weave with highly contrasting colours means I see the threads quite clearly. My goal here is to have as close to 'perfect' a beat as possible because every little inconsistency is going to show.  Wet finishing will take care of some *slight* differences, but only very slight differences.

Every time the web gets advanced, the tension needs to be reset.  The precise degree of tension is rarely re-applied so I feel how the loom behaves and how the yarn reacts and then adjust the pressure of the beat accordingly.

However, because this yarn is stiffer and slipperier than an unmercerized cotton and behaves much more like a line linen, when the tension is removed from the warp the threads are no longer under the same degree of tension and as the warp is pulled forward, the last pick tends to slip out of the intended path of the yarn.

If you need to see more closely, click on the image to bring it up bigger.

What happens when the last pick slips away from the fell is that the *next* pick below it also tends to slip forward - travelling in the direction of least resistance.

So for this warp I am weaving with as consistent a beat as I can manage, then when I advance the warp I give the fell a second tap before I begin weaving again.  This pushes the last pick downwards and at the same time nudges the pick below it back where it belongs as well.

For a line linen, I *may* do a double tap on every pick, depending on the weave structure.

Adding a second beat to every pick takes longer (only a micro-second, but they add up) but at times it is better to go slower to get the results you want in the cloth you are making.

Plain

Plain weave doesn't have to be 'plain'.  And 'simple' isn't always 'simple' to achieve.

One of the things that endlessly fascinates me about constructing textiles is how the layers can be peeled away, revealing another dimension of the craft.

It is the very exploration that keeps me getting out of bed of a morning, wondering what discovery will be presented today.

Sometimes it is how colours interact.  Sometimes how different textures can be created.  Either by texture in the yarn itself, or through how the threads interlace.

When I first started weaving I was particularly interested in weave structure.  My former favourite colour was white - usually on white.  And the 'interest' was in how the threads moved, combined, shifted as they made their way through the cloth.

I never really got comfortable with weaving plain weave until I got comfortable combining colours.  In many cases, the 'best' way to combine them was one on one - plain weave.  The colour blending became pointillist with one pixel of colour next to the next, next to the next.  Distance or scale then helped the colours blend completely or with contrast even shift the perceived colour into something else entirely.

As I wove more plain weave I got better at doing it.  Plain weave is so consistent that every little inconsistency will show up.  Especially when using two different colours, warp and weft, even more when those colours are of high value contrast or across the colour wheel from each other.

I had to get really good at paying attention - to my beat, to advancing the warp frequently, to re-tensioning the warp after advancing.

Weaving plain weave is now comfortable for me - although I'd be the first to admit I'm still not perfect.

But I also know that tiny inconsistencies will usually disappear in the wet finishing.  And what better reason can there be for wet finishing - to hide the slight imperfections and make us look more 'perfect' than we are.  So no, I'm not the least bit concerned about the reed marks in the web.  I know they will, by and large, go away once the shawls are wet finished.

Deceptive

Variegated warp with natural beige soy protein as weft - the photo isn't true to life in terms of colour - the yellow is actually a pale orange, the red a scarlet

Often I will hear (or see written in chat groups) a new weaver confidently state that they are going to start with some easy weaving - plain weave.

While plain weave is simple in terms of weave structure, it is not so easy in terms of technical expertise required in order to weave it well.

Linda Heinrich (Magic of Linen) tells the story of attempting her plain weave sample for the Guild of Canadian Weavers tests.  Feeling that she would need to weave more than one or two samples to get it right,  she put a 7 yard warp onto her loom and wove it off.  And then put a second 7 yard warp on the loom and wove it off.  And then put a third 7 yard warp on the loom and only at the very end of that warp did she produce samples she felt were good enough to submit for the testing.

My father always warned my brother and I to beware of someone who made something they were doing look easy.  He never explained why but we understood what he was saying.

Weaving plain weave well is not easy.  The warp has be be beamed with 'perfect' tension, bobbins have to be wound properly so that they won't catch in the shuttle, every time the warp is advanced (unless you have live weight tensioning) you have to recalculate your beat because the tension never gets applied in precisely the same amount with each advance.  The weaver has to feel the difference and adjust for it.

After 35+ years of weaving I still can't get a perfect plain weave.  I'd say I come to within 95% or so.  Out of the 5% that isn't 'perfect', probably 2.5 to 3% will be taken care of in the wet finishing.  The rest?  Most people would have to look fairly hard to see the 'imperfection'.  The flaws in my cloth rarely get better if I try to get rid of them, in fact they start to become yet more obvious as I work and work and eventually overwork the materials.  So I've learned to let go and let be.

I recently got a very amusing email from someone who I will not name because I haven't asked permission to use the email (but I'm fairly confident I'd get permission if I asked!)  :)

"

Long ago, I happened across a YouTube video of you beaming a warp at a ridiculous pace with no visible effort.  I knew nothing about you at the time, it's worth noting.  I concluded that your beam must have ended up with all sorts of snarls and tension issues, as no one could possibly beam a warp with so little fuss.  No plucking and stroking?  Yeah right!  Totally fiction.

As I wound the beam last night though, it occurred to me that I hadn't plucked and stroked at all, and the entire warp (a mere 4 yards, but still!) beamed on perfectly in well under 10 minutes.  I'm on my way to being eerily good at warping the loom, thanks to you!  And this is only after 4 warps using this method... can't wait to see how it turns out after your prescribed 7!"

Dressing the loom should not be painful, a battle royale.  I share what I do because while it may look deceptively easy, it can be learned.  But perfection?  Very rare.  Part of the learning process is knowing when to let it go and let it be.

And if you look very closely at the above photos you can see tiny lines where I advanced the warp and didn't get the beat quite 'perfect'.  I'm pretty sure they will mostly disappear during wet finishing.  And if not?  Well, I did the best I could and it was time to move on.

PS - to minimize the visible lines in your cloth from inconsistent beating, use a weft the same value as the warp.  You can see from the photo that I'm using a weft quite a bit lighter in value.  The same would hold true for a weft much darker in value.  You know how I know....