Tracking

 

I did an article for WEFT (vol 1?) that talked about tracking, and included a photo of a cloth woven in twill and showed the tracking effect on that twill cloth.  It was very subtle, and hard to see, but if I looked closely enough, it was clearly there.  The thing is, tracking is impossible to ignore in plain weave and people assume nothing occurs when twill is woven, but...it does.

The cloth I'm weaving now has a weft that is highly twisted.  I've been observing the effect of weave structure in the cloth, which I felt was being accentuated by the 'normal' amount of twist that tends to show up in plain weave, and, since the towels I was making had areas of plain weave, the weave was developing some interesting textures.

Since I still have a few cones of this highly twisted singles, I decided to play with the effect and see what would develop in the wet finishing.

Well, I finally got a 'batch' of towels ready - with only 7 towels, that made for a small load, but ok - and ran them through the washer and dryer earlier this week.

They did not disappoint

So here they are.  They are woven in a 1:2-2:1 twill and look at all that lovely texture!  And yes, they have been hard pressed, so they aren't just wrinkled fresh out of the washer/dryer.

Change one thing...

Soap/Detergent

 

Clear water before adding soap (left) and detergent (right)

After stirring in the soap and detergent

I don't know how long the link will be active but the video can be seen on my Facebook page here.

I live in an area that has 'hard' water - i.e. naturally occurring minerals dissolved in the ground water.

(I don't even live in the 'worst' area - I have experienced places with much higher levels of 'hardness' than here!)

I learned early that soap tends to not work well in such water, but neither was I interested in adding large quantities of salt or other chemicals to our drinking water to 'soften' it.  My preference is to use detergent to do the household laundry and wet finish my handwovens.

When I tell people to use detergents with such water, some 'get' it; others do not.  Usually those who do not simply do not have 'hard' water, in which case I tell them that using soap is fine - in 'soft' water.

For anyone interested in learning about how soap works, Penny Le Couture (spelling?) has a book called Napoleon's Buttons, one section of which is devoted to soap.  She doesn't describe detergents, but I found out today that they can be made from petrochemicals.  Do with that as you will.  I don't know what Synthropol or Orvus Paste are made from, specifically, but they are routinely recommended by dyers and other fibre folk.  

The challenge I have faced, routinely, was getting through to others that what is 'normal' for them may be quite different from others.  That there is no one 'correct' answer.  There may be several answers that could be shared, based on those differing realities that different people experience and that *their* perfect answer may not serve others.  Others who may come from different countries, in different geographical areas, facing different climates, with different shops/businesses to purchase supplies from, different income brackets, ***different physical sizes/shapes***.

Please note:  I am not suggesting that everyone must use detergents because *I* do.  I'm just sharing information.  What any one person chooses to do is up to them.  All I'm saying is that if you have hard water, you will get better results from using a detergent instead of soap.

Am I saying that soap is 'bad'?  It can be - if it is heavily perfumed, or high in fats.  But so can detergent - if it is laden with additives such as whiteners, brighteners and also perfumes.

One person has let me know that they refuse to use detergents because of the petrochemicals.  We all must draw our own lines in the sand.  Make choices appropriate to our values.  So I do use detergents.  I never use 'lots' because it's a waste of both the detergent *and* the water to rinse it out.  

Never accept what someone says unless they can explain their reasons.  Think about those reasons.  Are they appropriate to *you*?  Or do you need to adjust what you've just been told?  Do you need to dig into the information a bit further?  (Until this morning I was not aware that detergents were made with petrochemicals.  I thought about how I use them, why I *need* to use them, decided I would continue, while I pursue other ways to reduce my carbon footprint - buying a hybrid vehicle, having a heat pump installed, buying fewer clothing with Lycra in them, etc.)

I remember posting on Facebook a while ago that we need to stop using so much oil and gas and having someone rip a strip off me saying that petroleum is *necessary* because plastics are needed for health care purposes.  I suggested that if plastics were that important and necessary, maybe we should stop burning it in our cars and furnaces, then?

We are facing the effects of human caused climate change.  I will likely die before it goes pear shaped entirely, but I have younger folk I love and care about and I really don't want them to face the looming 'natural' disasters that will affect the entire world. 

Because our world is a ball.  There will not be a square inch (or centimeter) where we will be able to escape the future - unless we start applying the brakes.

And ultimately petrochemicals are 'just' chemicals.  Pretty sure we can make them from some other source when the oil/gas run out.  But that is a choice we each need to make for ourselves.  Because I *know* not everyone can afford to buy an EV/hybrid, nor a heat pump.  We chose to spend our money on those things.  Others will make other choices.  

I just wish more people would be aware of the coming tsunami of disasters if we don't stop what we are doing.  But that's just me.  I am the only one I can make decisions for.  

Because it depends.

In The Hand

 

I know the photo doesn't look like much.  What it shows is two samples.  Actually it is the identical cloth, but cut in half and then one of the samples was hard pressed and the other left to dry without compression.

The cloth develops a great deal of texture, and I wanted to see how much the compression would affect the cloth, then decide if I would bother with the compression, or just leave the cloth to dry without applying a hard press.

The look of the cloth doesn't really show the 'extra' work/step of the pressing.  A lot of people might assume there is no benefit to doing it so would leave it.

But I have decided that I will, actually, apply the hard press to my cloth to 'finish' it.

Because here's the thing:  compression will 'lock' the warp and weft threads together and increase the resistance to abrasion and increase stability within the cloth itself.

There are fairly 'long' floats in the weave structure, which makes the cloth flexible and increases absorption.  Both characteristics that will improve the cloth as a tea towel.  And the hard press will help those longish floats to nestle closer to the threads beside and over and under it.

I will likely do a 'proper' book review of Michelle Boyd's book Twist.  I've had it on my TBR pile for months, but not felt as though I could properly understand it, so I had just opened pages at random and read bits and pieces.  But this month I decided I needed to read this book, and doing it steadily, a little bit every day, has allowed me to fully concentrate and absorb what she is saying (and showing in the photos).

On page 86 she discusses wet finishing freshly spun skeins of yarn and begins:

`We finish yarns for a lot of good reasons.  Finishing removes any spinning oils or dirt that may have gotten into into the fibres in the preparation and spinning processes.  These unwanted ingredients can prevent yarns from being as soft and bouncy as we want them to be and can make any cloth we eventually make with the yarn stiff or sticky.  This is also the time to rinse or set any excess dyes that may be lingering in the fibre so they do not bleed into the cloth we are going to make.  But the most important reason to finish our yarn is to settle the active twist energy into the fibres once and for all.'

She then lists some other benefits.    

But I think that like most people, if a step doesn't appear to make any great difference to our cloth?  We tend to assume that it doesn't actually do anything and will skip it.

When the difference is not in the eye but in the hand, though, we have to decide if the benefit outweighs the extra time and effort required.

In the case of the above cloth?  I can barely tell the two apart.  The compressed sample feels slightly thinner and smoother but that's it.  But I also *know* that the compression is doing things to the cloth that will allow it to serve its purpose better for longer.

I have 3 large mill cones of the singles 6.  I now know that I will not be skipping any steps in the wet finishing processes but will be spending quality time with the press (and my boombox) in order to give the cloth a good hard press.

Because my hand tells me it needs it and my brain knows why.

Light Duties

 

blurb web site

 One of the social media sites I belong to has a thread about weaving while sick/injured/disabled.

I have hesitated to say much because every person's journey is different.  And mine has certainly been filled with times where I was 'confined' to 'light duties'.  Now, being one of them.

I had such high hopes for the new procedure and it has not been particularly successful.   So far.  But I had been warned that I would be getting a light dose of the drug, initially, that some people find they get 'worse' before they get better, and that as I repeat the procedure things *should* improve.

But in the meantime, I've nearly caught up on all my long procrastinated light duties, and I am getting...bored.  Vexed.  Impatient.  I don't feel like I can preach coping with the inability to weave right now when I am, quite frankly, not doing all the well with it, myself.

This morning someone emailed, wondering where they could get a copy of Magic in the Water.  Talk about calling up memories.

I had to explain that the original publication was out of print, but that I had made a photos only version and was selling it on Blurb (link in the highlighted text below the image of the cover).

Why did I do that?  Well, I had someone with computer skills I did not posses who could convert the file into a PDF - but that meant I had to take every sample (before and after) and get good quality photos.  A friend came over to help me, knowing energy was extremely limited given I was in the middle of a course of chemotherapy (which contained Vincristine?).  I set up a photographic area in my living room, used a cutting board to centre the samples directly below the camera tripod which was mounted facing down.  This insured that each sample was taken the same distance away and centred in the frame.  In the end the two of us did quite well, and powered through the process fairly quickly.  

Then I had to take each photo off the camera, trim up the edges so that the cutting board didn't show (the width of the samples varied somewhat, especially after being wet finished), make sure they were clearly labelled to match the order of the samples in the book.  In those days getting a gigantic file emailed was...challenging...and I may have saved them to a CD and snail mailed that to my computer person.  Who created the PDF and sent the completed file back to me.

I then sold the PDF file, which once compressed, could be emailed.

By the time I finished doing that, I was far enough along in my chemo that I had almost zero energy left, but - because I had the help I needed, when I needed it - it got done.

And today, like some days, I got up to an inquiry if the book was still available.

You *can* still find (rare) copies of the original, with samples.  Usually found in estate sales, or older weavers downsizing.  But such opportunities are rare, and when offered for sale generally fetch very close to the original purchase price.  Some people let me know they scooped up a copy for themselves because no one else knew how highly sought after it is.

I have been told the book is considered a 'classic' in the field.  All I know is, when I wrote the thing, information on wet finishing for hand weavers was very scarce.  General advice was to just 'wash' the textile.  

But when I did my GCW master weaver monograph, I came to really begin to understand the mechanics of the process, and how variable it could be.  Once again, something that looks 'simple'...is not.

It is not, however, something to be feared.  Once a person knows the process, learns more about how to apply the variables, and get familiar how the cloth will change - at times dramatically, at others in more subtle ways - well, all I can say is...'it isn't finished until it's wet finished'.  

Unless you don't want to - for reasons!  But make that a conscious decision, not something you don't do because you are afraid of 'ruining' all the work that went into interlacing your threads.

Just saying... 

Soap Box

 

wet finished

loom state

Heading into my 51st year as a weaver, I have been constantly amazed - and intrigued - by the transformation of the loom state web into the finished cloth.

It has been a constant learning experience as I worked with different yarns, in different weave structures, and experimented with the 'best' practices when it comes to getting to the 'finished' state.

And then trying to convince some weavers that it is necessary.

I've done my best to explain why I see the process as being integral to making 'good' cloth, and still try my best to educate people as to why I make that claim.

I know not everyone agrees with me.  And if my experience learning as much as I can about the process, plus my examples don't convince someone it is necessary?  Well, I've done my best.

The above photos are one of the examples in Magic in the Water.  The foundation cloth is a 2 ply merino, which will full quite readily.  The accent thread is a textured rayon.  

When I was working with the local printer who helped format and print the original Magic, they were not really understanding what I was hoping to bring into being.  After months of consulting with them, sourcing appropriate papers, deciding on format/font, etc., the printer asked if I would bring a copy in so they could see it, once I had all the samples inserted.  And asked if they could have a copy for their archive.

When I finally had a 'finished' copy of the book, I brought one in and while the printer and I talked, his son, a graphic artist, was paging through the samples, closely examining them.  When he got to this one he stood upright and said "Oh!  I get it now!  This one (pointing at the loom state) it looks like this yarn is just sitting on the surface.  On this one (finished) it looks like it is part of the cloth!"

I figured if a non-weaver could see the benefit, then surely weavers would, as well.

At that point I finally was able to breathe a little.  All the work, effort, and *expense* of creating this...thing...was not in vain.

Sort of.

There are some people who refuse (I know this because they have told me to my face) to use the term 'wet finish'.  I have heard others describe the term as a 'pretentious' way to refer to 'washing'.

Has any of that deterred me?  Obviously not.  

Because I'm a 'believer'.  I will continue to climb up onto my soapbox for so long as I see people who need to know about the transformation during wet finishing.  New weavers who don't know, don't know that they don't know.  So I will keep on, keeping on.

I should finish the current section of the warp on the loom tomorrow, and then I will take those towels, plus the sample with the singles 6 weft, and run them through the washer/dryer.  I want to see how the singles 6 behaves in the water.  My examination will let me know how far off from what I'm expecting to happen really is.  And give me a clue as to how I might get closer to what I want to have before I begin planning the next warp.

Because it depends.  And without a road map, all I have is my best guess.  Which is probably a fairly good clue, but I'd like to be surer before I go to all the trouble to dress the loom and do the weaving.

Remember, it isn't finished until it's wet finished...

Magic in the Water, pdf or print 'magazine' available here...

Before and After

 

The photo shows the cloth, one piece is prior to wet finishing, (background) and the other after wet finishing (foreground).

It shows more in real life than in the photo but it does show a few things that if you squint you may see.

The blue colour has intensified.  During wet finishing, the threads slip/slide to areas of least resistance and the threads tend to tighten up.  The hard press then compresses the threads so that they indent into each other, increasing stability.  The overall look is that of the design having more definition and the colour to 'deepen'.  This cloth has slightly more white on the 'wrong' side and more blue on the 'right' side, and generally I choose the warp emphasis side to be the be 'right' side, even though I've woven it with the least number of shafts rising - in this case 7 instead of 8.

What you cannot see is the change in the tactile - the additional drape, the reduction of a sense of 'coarseness' in the finished fabric.

The finished fabric is no longer a collection of individual threads but a 'whole' cloth.

At times the change that happens in wet finishing is dramatic; at times subtle.  What happens, though, is that it changes.  In my opinion, that last final step is required to create useful, practical cloth, built to fulfill a purpose.

Not everyone wants to do that, and like one 'famous' weaver insisted, they were a weaver, not a laundry, and they never wet finished anything.  Others want to create effects that can *only* be achieved through the magic in the water.  

And some just want to make cloth that will wear well, and last well.  Wet finishing is part of helping those threads function as they should be able to do, if made well.

I don't remember who wanted to see the before and after photos, but I thought it was good to discuss this important (imho) step and try to show the effects.

Batter Is Not Cake

 

Ignore the darker blue on the right hand side - it is the shadow of the woven web above onto the web below.

I'm kind of 'famous' for the phrase 'it isn't finished until it's wet finished'.  The internet will make certain people 'notable' because of something they say, and I'm (face it) a kind of a broken record with that one.

There are people who 'get it' and adopt 'wet finishing' when they mean the very first time their web is subjected to water, and then there others who insist it's just 'washing'.

At times I have tried to gently 'correct' people, and yet some are open to that kind of guidance and others...are not.

And for some, it appears it *is* 'just' washing.  They see no need to change.  Bottom line?  If they do at least 'wash' their webs, they have wet finished it because with some fibres, that is all it is ever going to look like.

OTOH, there are people who insist that ironing is a 'hard press' when it very clearly is not, but no matter.

Yesterday when I was getting this warp started (more stash reduction - the things you 'find' when you start digging) I was only really needing surface attention and I was looking at the web on the loom and thinking about wet finishing.  And finally I settled on a comparison of weaving to baking.

What is on the loom is the 'batter' for a cake.  But cake is not batter.  Or, should I say, batter is not cake - until it has been 'finished' by being baked.  Batter has taken the ingredients in the pan and through the conversion of baking it, it is now cake, not batter.

The same can be said of cloth.  On the loom I have all the ingredients of what will become cloth - once it has been wet finished.

There are several posts on this blog - check out the 'wet finishing' label on the list of topics.  Get a copy of Magic in the Water and get more information.  Take my online classes through Long Thread Media or School of Sweet Georgia.

Whatever you call it - do the last step and turn your collection of individual threads into whole cloth.

It Isn't Finished Until...

after compression (plasticine)

Yesterday I wove the first samples and today I will weave the next two.  The first two look good on the loom, which may mean the second two will not.  But either way I'll weave them and judge them both after wet finishing.

Saw somewhere on line a knitter asking if you really *have* to block your knitting and one response saying no, not really.  

Unfortunately wet finishing (blocking) a knitted structure will provide some changes as it reaches its finished state.  With knitting it is less noticeable in some items.  And some knitted items really need to be blocked as part of it's finishing - primarily lace knits, but also other items.  For instance a knit that is primarily stockinette stitch will tend to curl on the edges.  Wet finishing it should fix that.  Other knit stitches may cause textures that are not desirable, as well.

Anyway, I'm weaving full sized 'samples' to check to make sure the cloth will turn out the way I want.  If they are successful, I don't need to weave more as these 'samples' will be elevated to 'finished' and I can move on.

I'm trying to get through my inbox because several things had stacked up due to my not having the spoons to deal with them.  As usual, they were less of a bugabear than I had expected, which will be teach me nothing - once more.

On the other hand, I was able to weave the two 'full-sized' samples yesterday - the longest I've woven since the brain bleed.  Partly I just really wanted to get them both done, and partly I knew it was going to be slow weaving (technical reasons) and partly it just felt so good.  So today I want to weave the second pair of full-sized samples, cut off, and wet finish and then see if they are going to be acceptable.

One thing about the face plant and all that followed is that I seem to be out of 'production' mode.  Weaving to illustrate articles puts much less deadline strain on me (if I do things in a timely fashion!) and it is letting me do the kinds of things I had not been able to do because the production always had to come 'first'.

I have no idea if the guild sold much of my stuff at the first craft fair, or the second one, or if they will sell anything at the guild room sale.  By slowing down my productivity I will have less stuff that needs to be sold.  Given my lack of energy I don't much feel like steaming my way through a 20+ yard warp anymore.  Perhaps that's not a bad thing...

Information on wet finishing available here as well as Long Thread Media and School of Sweet Georgia

PS - with Canada Post on strike, any orders placed via my ko-fi shop will be held and shipped when they settle their contract.

 

A Different Perspective

 

This is not a black and white photo.

I was awake most of the night (yes, pain flare) and around 6:30 am I decided if I was going to be awake I might as well get something done rather than sit around and accomplish nothing.

Since I had a bin of towels ready to press, down I went.  Around 7 am the sun was shining directly into the window of my studio, but with the curtains closed, this was my view.

As some of you know, I worked as a sales person for a custom drapery house, assisting people in their choices for window coverings.  As part of that job I learned a lot about fabric for curtain/drapes.  I also learned about 'railroading' your fabric.

So, in this photo, the warp is running horizontally.  Knowing I could do this meant that I knew I could set up my loom to weave fabric just wide enough to make my curtains without seams in them.  Since this was a bit on the heavy side for curtains, not having seams was A Good Thing.

The design is stripes of twill and a lace weave.  If I remember correctly I set this up to weave on a double two tie threading so I could easily weave twill, then lacy.  The yarn has a slub in it and I didn't particularly want a very open cloth.  What I did want was for the light to come through while blocking the actual sunshine.  

As I sat at the press this morning looking up and through the cloth on the window, I was reminded about how much the threads shift and move to areas of least resistance.  You might have to biggify the photo to really see the threads.  I got as close as I could to the fabric, but since I have shelving and worktable against the wall below the curtains, this was about the best I could do.  But if you click on the photo, I think it will open in a new window and give a larger view.

What is really interesting to me is that in the twill areas, it doesn't look like the yarn has moved very much at all, but in the lacy areas, you can clearly see the rounded plain weave area, and even trace the undulating path of the threads in the lacy areas.

This yarn had some twist energy in it, and it's obvious that the twist energy is still playing in the cloth in the areas where there are longer floats/skips.  The twill keeps the threads more effectively corralled.  But just because we can't see the twist energy at work in the twill stripes, doesn't mean it wasn't playing on the threads in those areas, too.  It's just a lot more subtle.

Sometimes it's a good idea to let go of what you know in order to take new information on board.

Another One Bites the Dust

 

I wasn't exactly sure how many towels I would get off of this warp - it depends on the length of the repeat.  Turns out, it was 22.

I was busy with a Zoom guild presentation this morning, but my energy held and I wove one towel after lunch, then went back down after a wee break and a snack to see if there was warp left for two more towels.  I was pretty sure there wasn't, and if I could cut it off today, that would make me feel very happy.

So I finished off the towel and lo and behold, the knots were just coming over the back beam.  

I have just now cut and serged the six towels and they are in the washing machine.  I'll get them through the dryer until damp yet today, then let them 'steep' in a plastic bucket overnight so that they are evenly damp for best pressing.

Recently someone on line was asking about what size reeds they should have, or could you double up the number of ends in a dent?

Yes, you can double, treble or even quadruple ends in a dent.  I've even done 5 and 6 when working with really fine yarns.

The above photo shows the beige towel just cut off the loom and the red one which has already been wet finished.

In the before towel, you can clearly see the reed marks marching through the length of the towel.  They looked even more obvious under tension on the loom.  But after wet finishing, the threads have moved to areas of least resistance - the gap where the dent moved through the warp - and filled it in.

Sometimes the marks will not disappear entirely, but they will be diminished if not eliminated.  If I look really closely at the red towel, I can still see slight gaps between the threads, but stand back a foot or two and they basically disappear.

If you don't have a reed that allows you to be consistent with the number of ends in the dents, you can do what is called a compound sleying such as:  221221221 or 232323 or any other combination that will give you the density that you need for your project.  Many books have charts in the back showing various combinations, or look on line as a number of weavers have posted charts for people to access.

If you can't be 'perfect', be consistent.

Currently reading the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce.  The first book has spinning, and now magical weaving.  I'm enjoying the series very much.

To Full or Not to Full

 

wool after wet finishing and fairly significant fulling

linen after wet finishing

Just a friendly reminder that plant fibres do not full.

Fulling is something that *some* protein fibres do.  Not all wool will full, but ALL fibres need to be wet finished IMHO.

Plant fibres will bloom as they absorb water.  The threads will shift to areas of least resistance, such as in the above lace weave.  A hard compression while damp will then flatten the threads and further fill in the spaces between, but fulling is not what is happening.

Some people say that the term 'wet finishing' is an overblown term that doesn't add to the discussion.  I disagree.  It is a very specific term for a very specific phenomenon.  It encompasses fulling as part of the process when fibres that *will* full can be encouraged to do so.

I am not the only person in the weaving community who has espoused this term or this process, whatever someone calls it.  Beverly Gordon wrote The Final Step outlining how to wet finish wool and mostly focused on fulling.

When I finished the Guild of Canadian Weavers master weaver program, I chose to look at wet finishing with an emphasis on how to make textiles appropriate for cold weather climates.  As part of the monograph I produced for the fourth and final level, I wove hundreds of samples and wet finished them.  Not all were wool, although that was the major focus of my work.

I set up an experimental process and wet finished the woollen samples to different degrees, then analyzed them to determine how the set experimental lengths affected the fulling.

After that I was encouraged to write a book.  So I did.

 

The original publication was a 2" ring binder filled with samples for 20 different projects.  Both before and after wet finishing.

finished jacket and vest

part of the technical information provided, wet finished/fulled sample with unfinished sample below - the samples started out the same size so the wet finished sample shows the degree of dimensional loss that happened during the process

It is never a bad idea to understand the principles of a craft, understand the processes involved.

And unless the web will never be touched by water, everything should be wet finished.  In my not-so-humble opinion...

(Magic in the Water is only available with the samples as photos.  If someone wants the original publication with samples, check out guild sales, estate sales, second hand book sites.  Otherwise, blurb.ca or .com carry both Magic in the Water and The Intentional Weaver - both PDF and hard copies.)

Purple

 

on the loom

after wet finishing

Wet finishing is the final step in bringing a collection of woven threads into being as 'real' cloth.

While on the loom, it was possible to clearly see the reed marks (no so visible in the top photo, but believe me, I could clearly see them), the threads will move to areas of least resistance (filling in those spaces from the reed), relaxing into their place in the structure, and then a hard press that mashes them together to increase stability and encourages better wear as it performs it's function.

Purple isn't really a colour I work with much, although I like it well enough.  But some people just love it so when I was clearing out my yarn stash I had to consider how to use up the few tubes of purple I had.  Eventually it came to this - purple on blue.  

This warp shows the 'value is more important than hue' adage.  You have to look quite closely to even see the purple because the value is darker than the rose, of course, but also darker than the blues.

In the end I wound up with 12 of these.  There are six more with a very dark greenish blue.  They got cut off the loom yesterday and run through the washer/dryer.  I'm all set up to press those and once done I will begin beaming the next warp.  The last of the royal blue with shades of emerald/turquoise.  Something much more to my taste.

I've been struggling a bit the past couple of weeks.  The appointment with the cancer clinic was more stressful than usual, in part due to the current events, no doubt.  When you are already loaded with stress, adding one more layer becomes heavier than usual, even if you are pretty sure everything will turn out ok.

Part of me realized how stressed I was when Thursday came and I remembered I had not posted towels for sale on ko-fi.  Figured I might as well skip the week so I posted these this morning.  

As usual $30 and I'll throw in the shipping for that price.  Still possible to receive in time for Christmas if that's important.

Precision

photo showing a red and beige fabric that represents plain weave as the design

Weaving is the kind of craft where on the one hand there is a great deal of precision, and on the other, not so much.

We can, with some effort, be quite precise in our math, in our physical skills, in our choices for density and weave structure.

The above photo shows a fun design woven in 1:3:3:1 twill over 16 shafts.  The overall effect is to represent a plain weave structure.  But that design is faux.  It is a visual pun, so to speak.

The effect relies on having a near perfect beat and a near perfect ppi.  The photo was taken with the cloth on the loom so the twill line is slightly steep.  After wet finishing the twill line is near perfect, which enhances the effect of showing a plain weave structure as the design in the cloth.

Part of the difficulty with the written word and attempting to share information of a technical nature is that there are so many things that can go wrong.  The choice of yarns might not be optimal.  For this effect to work, the yarns should be smooth.  There should be contrast between the warp and weft to enhance the effect.  In this warp a variety of colours were used, close in value and hue.  (2/20 mercerized cotton)  The weft was a single linen in a pale beige.  The effect would be muted if the warp and weft were the same value.

When it comes to someone else weaving this cloth, they may have a different loom, different choices for yarn, different ability to assess the density that might be required and achieve a consistent beat.

They might weave under a different degree of tension and more - or less - force in their beat.

They might be trying to achieve a 'perfect' twill line in the loom under tension instead of a 'perfect' twill line after wet finishing.

They might not understand that the yarns will behave differently in the wet finishing - the cotton will shrink more than the linen.

So while I can document what I do, I can share that documentation, someone else reading what I have done is making certain assumptions.  They are assuming that they and I have the same skills, the same loom, the same quality of yarns.  And none of that might be true.  In the end, their results, their experience, may well differ.

We all see the world through the lens of our experience.  What is true for me may not be true for someone else.  This is the reality bubble we each live in.

When an experienced weaver tells a new weaver to sample?  We are not being unhelpful.  We are telling the new weaver that they need to do their work.  Because change one thing and everything can change...    Any technical information I share is only ever a starting place for another weaver.

Draft taken from The Fanciest Twills of All  by Irene K. Wood

Under Pressure

This morning I pressed the towels that were cut off the loom on Friday, and run through the washing machine last night.

The top photo shows the compression line fairly clearly - the bottom half of the cloth is smooth, while above it is not.

The middle photo shows the blue ridges of the weave structure standing proud from the rest of the cloth while the lower photo is after pressing.  You can still see faint blue lines, but the cloth is now flat.

When we discussed wet finishing yesterday, I reviewed how the threads will move to areas of least resistance in the cloth.  This aids in helping develop weave structures that require the movement of the yarns as in things like waffle weave, lace weaves, any weave structure that relies on the deflection of the yarns from their grid like warp and weft positions.

In this cloth, the centre of the motif is actually a small lace weave area.  When held up to the light there are tiny 'holes' that allow the light to come through.  The floats that create those holes make the cloth more absorbent - something desirable in a towel.

After compression the cloth will have increased stability.  Cotton and linen will not, can not, full, so the compression of the warp and weft threads into each other will add stability.

In addition to all of that, the yarns we associate with shine, such as linen, will develop more shine.  In the top most photo, you can just sort of see that the bottom that has been pressed is slightly shinier than the top half which has not.

And last but not least, wet finishing is a benefit because if the beat isn't completely even, or you have reed marks in the cloth, those will be reduced and in some cases eliminated altogether.

Lots of benefits involved in wet finishing.

Detergents

Orvus WA Paste is a near-neutral pH, anionic synthetic surfactant and wetting agent with excellent detergency, emulsifying, and dispersing properties.

What is Synthrapol?

Synthrapol is a special detergent used in pre-scouring fibers before dyeing, and in washing out fiber reactive dyes after dyeing. It is also sometimes used as a surfactant or wetting agent to improve dye penetration.
A detergent contains long, thin molecules which each have one end that "likes" oily substances, and another end that "likes" water. Detergent molecules will completely surround a tiny particle of something too oily to be washed away by water alone, leaving just their water-loving 'tails' sticking out, to be easily swept away by the water. Water is the strongest of all solvents, but it requires detergents to wash away oily substances.

Ingredients

The actual contents of Synthrapol are water, isopropanol (which is ordinary rubbing alcohol, a chemical "known to the state of California to cause reproductive harm", thus the alarming warnings on the label), and the detergent itself, a combination of ethoxylated and sulfated aliphatic alcohols.




For as long as I have woven (heading into 45 years) there has been controversy about whether one uses 'pure' soap or a detergent.

I live in an area that has hard water - in other words, it has dissolved minerals in it.  Specifically calcium and manganese (that I know of - there may be others).

When I would use a 'pure' soap, the result would be a scum of grey...stuff..floating on the surface.

Instead of soap, detergents worked much better in terms of getting textiles clean.

Over the years we have routinely purchased detergents without whiteners, brighteners, or perfumes.  Lately such a product has become nearly impossible to find on the local grocery store shelves.  Instead we are having to buy things that will make our textiles whiter than white.  Or use something other than laundry detergents that are commonly available.

When I tell people that if they live with hard water they need to use a detergent (for the story of soap, read Penny LaCouture's book Napoleon's Buttons for an explanation of how and why soap works), there is generally a great hue and cry from people who insist that foul detergents shall never touch their textiles.  Instead they insist using the 'best' product and routinely recommend synthropol or Orvus Paste.

Which they don't seem to realize are...detergents.  See above descriptions.  Note the word 'detergency'.

What I use to wet finish my textiles will depend primarily on which room of the house I am in.  If I am in the laundry area, whatever laundry detergent currently on the shelf is what gets used.  In the kitchen?  Dawn - original formula.  Bathroom?  Shampoo.

I have allergies to scents, so right now Doug is researching to find a laundry detergent with the least amount of perfume. I just wish the markets would provide options for people like me.  The last thing I want is my clothing to smell 'fresh' (whatever that means) for six weeks.  That degree of lingering scent is sure to affect my immune system in ways that I truly do not want.

But let's stop demonizing detergents when what actually causes problems for textiles are the whiteners, brighteners and perfumes.

Whatever is used should be used sparingly.  Pushing the pH balance will also cause problems for natural fibres.  Multiple scouring baths with small amounts of soap/detergent are better than dumping in a cup of the stuff, creating a 'head' of suds that simply gets in the way and needs gallons of water to rinse out.

If using powder, dissolve in warm water (70-72 degrees F, 20-21 degrees C) and add that to the tub once the water is drawn.  That way the detergent will dissolve completely and you won't be wasting product.  Ads are crafted to make people think they need more - more soap, more toothpaste, more perfumes - than are actually required.  Try less and see if less is actually more.

:steps gracefully off soapbox - literally:

Magic in the Water

shawl woven with rayon

Yesterday I had the experience of seeing the Magic in the Water in action.  I've been preparing an article for Handwoven (to approve - or not) and working from my stash. 

In The Intentional Weaver I discuss many of the considerations that go into the creation of a textile and while I have touched lightly on some of them for the article, the thought processes go way beyond what I could fit into a magazine submission.

The final step in changing the yarn into a cloth was the wet finishing.

The web was very stiff because I had built the cloth quite densely, relying on a) weave structure (twill) and fibre (silk) to lend their flexibility to creating a cloth with drape.

During the planning phase of designing, the density changed several times, from 24 to 30 to 32 to 36 and finally to 40 epi.  Yes, all with the same yarn.

I didn't weave a sample because I had other experience with 20/2 silk, plus I had some woven samples that I referenced.  One reason for keeping samples - so you know what you have done previously and the results that were obtained.

The above photo is not the cloth I'm talking about, just there to reference drape in the finished cloth.  I won't publish any photos or details until after I find out if the article has been accepted or not.

Since Mary left I've been trying to work on things that have looming (pun alert) deadlines, and the article seemed the most pressing so what little I did yesterday was to get the scarf fringe twisted, then wet finished.

Now that Puff is being taken apart, I am back to using the little flat bed press, which doesn't do nearly as good a job and takes three times as long.  But since I'm no longer producing for craft fairs...

So I used the flat bed press, carefully straightening out the curl at the selvedge, then when it was nearly dry went to the ironing board and hand iron where I polished both sides of the cloth.  We want to see shine when we see silk, so developing that sheen was an important final step.

The only thing left to do now is trim the bits off the ends of the twisted fringe, review my written notes, and then save the files to a thumb drive and package the whole works up and into the mail.  With two weaving workshops coming up in two and three weeks, I needed to clear the decks so I could concentrate on getting ready for those.

Plus I would like to get back to weaving.  I have barely touched a loom for two weeks.

Wet Finishing Woolens

This fabric was woven and then taken to Sweden, then to a vadmalstamp in Norway to be wet finished.

The round piece in the upper left was finished in the stamp for 90 minutes.  Kerstin then turned some of the cloth into a German berger's hat.  (German merchant)

Going to the stamp was experimental, exploration, educational.  We took some of the cloth that had been put through the stamp and then ran it through her front loading washing machine on the most extreme cycle it had for a further 10 cycles to achieve the background cloth.

It is hard to describe a vadmal stamp, but Kirsi Frimanson has posted a video to You Tube showing her visit to a stamp and how it operates.

Vadmal (or vadmel) is a heavy duty woolen cloth that was kind of like the blue jeans of the middle ages.  It was still being used well into the 20th century, although by then it was mostly commercially produced.

Think wool melton.

I didn't do a traditional quality of cloth, nor did the others.  We each brought a length of fabric, all woven from wool, ranging from very open (think window screening), to fairly dense, either woolen or worsted, and mostly we just wanted to see what happened.

It was a once in a lifetime experience, but if you are thinking of traveling to Sweden, you might contact Kirsi to see if there are any group vadmalstamps that you might participate in.  Or attend Vav conference.  She had a booth there at the last one in 2017, speaks English very well if you don't speak Swedish (like I don't!)

Many Swedes do speak English very well.  The exhibits were interesting and the vendor hall had lots of linen and different quality of wool yarns from those commonly available in North America.

I also met people from Australia, Lichtenstein, Germany and I think England if I remember correctly.  Glad I made it at least once because I never thought I would be able to.

Til It’s Done

Getting some of the book/inspirational projects finished this morning.  The above is a pinwheel design on four shafts, woven from Tencel (a type of rayon).

Rayon in general is a very dense fibre which holds a lot of water.  As a result, when rayon is fully saturated it feels very stiff and not very appealing to the touch (in my opinion).

However, when it is dry it is very flexible and feels very silk-like, mainly because it was engineered to be as much like silk as possible.  In fact it was originally called 'art silk' until more accurate labeling laws became a thing.

This is a scanning electron microscopic view of rayon.  It's pretty smooth and pretty dense.

This photo was taken with an 'ordinary' digital microscope at about 800 times magnification.  On the left is Tencel, the right is cotton.

Both yarns are cellulose but being extruded rayon (Tencel) fibres can be very long while cotton fibres are much shorter.  Both are spun to the same number of yards per pound (3360) or a 2/8 count.

You can clearly see how much thinner the Tencel is than the cotton because of the difference in density.

With the Tencel holding water, not really wanting to release it, it takes longer to dry than cotton.

This morning I was pressing two Tencel scarves.  When I started the scarf I was pressing was wetter than it should have been for efficiency.  What that means is that I had to get it dryer before the fibres would begin to react with the compression, flatten and smooth.  It also took quite a while for the drape of Tencel to begin to manifest.

Instead of my more usual side A, side B, side A pressing, I had to continue to press.  How many sides?  Don't know.  Until it was 'done'.

In other words, when the cloth flattened due to the compression, I felt whole cloth between my fingers as I rubbed the cloth between them, and the lovely drape had developed.

The second scarf got tossed into the dryer for a further 10 minutes or so and that one went much more quickly - maybe 5 sides.

By the way - that difference in thickness means that at times a higher density than the same count of cotton may be needed, especially since Tencel is also slipperier than cotton.

YMMV

2/8 above and 8/2 cotton below - two completely different quality of yarns - because all the numbers mean is how many yards per pound (approximately) each has, and say nothing about how they were prepared for and spun.  They will produce completely different qualities of fabric because they are completely different qualities of yarn.

When I was just starting out as a weaver, it was pretty much an exploration with very few maps.  So I read - voraciously - and wove samples - unendingly.  I tried things, adjusted things, used every different kind of yarn I could afford.

Mostly, I reflected.  On my results, on my processes, on what needed to change in order to arrive closer to my goal.

Eventually I enrolled in the Guild of Canadian Weavers master weaver program.  This program is not a teaching program per se, but a testing one.  Part of me wanted to know if my experience was true beyond my own personal experience.  I was looking for the principles of the craft.  Things that were true in their application, not just in the specifics.

When it came time to do my research paper, I chose an aspect of wet finishing, partly because so little had been published about it.  And yet, it was the final step in bringing those individual threads into one cohesive cloth.  Partly I chose it because I wanted to know if I understood the principles or if my experience was only true for me.

I was very fortunate in that I had several people encouraging me to continue.  Two of them were instrumental in helping me understand those principles - Allen Fannin* and Tom Beaudet**.

(Eventually this research paper evolved into Magic in the Water)

Both had extensive experience in the construction of textiles - Allen from a similar sort of self-study I had done, but much more extensively than I had managed with an emphasis on industrial processes.  Tom is a textile engineer, making his living in the textile industry making everything from industrial to medical textiles and lots of other textiles in between.

Both agreed to look at what I had written to that point in time and both gave me excellent feedback as well as encouragement to continue.

Now I find myself in the position of trying to distill my very particular weaving experience into a format that others may be able to benefit from.  It is not an enviable position because so much depends on the readers and their perspective.  Their experience.  And how it may be similar - or differ - from mine.

Over and over again I rely on cliches - If you can't be perfect, be consistent.  Never use a knot where  bow will do.  It isn't finished until it's wet finished.  A thread under tension is a thread under control.  Change one thing and everything can change.  And of course everyone's favourite - It depends.

Recently a student shared another that I told her I was going to steal:  If it looks wrong, it is.

I forget which student it was - if it was you, let me know and I'll be sure to give you credit.

Bottom line - when it comes to the creation of textiles, Your Mileage May Vary.

*Allen Fannin - author of Handloom Weaving Technology.  When he died he was working on two books, which never were finished.  I mourned his untimely death due to a road accident and the loss of his knowledge that never made it into print.

**Tom Beaudet - with his grand daughter, writing and teaching weaving at his studio.  He recently published notes from his time studying the creation of textiles and is now offering kits as well as lessons

PS - it is this very variability of everyone's personal experience that is making writing The Intentional Weaver so difficult - my experience is particular to me.  Other people, using different yarns, different equipment and different processes will have a different perspective.  I am not saying those people are 'wrong' and that I'm 'right' - I am simply trying to share what I have done and the results I have achieved.  But I know that some people will be disappointed.  So I say again YMMV - partly because someone else is on a different path.  But it is also emotionally very difficult to know that people will be disappointed.  I am trying very hard to let that emotional attachment to my experience - my words - go and let people take what they will from what I am writing.  Not all who wander are lost - and everyone is on the path that they need to be.

On the other, other hand - when the book is available, I would appreciate people who find it of value to let their friends know.  

Guest Post - Rachel Dalton

Conservation VS Wet Finishing in Textile production

by Rachel Dalton, July 2nd 2018.

I have always been interested in historic textile production and the connection it had to the lives of the weavers, spinners and dyers that produced stunning cloth and clothing. As a weaver I strive to reproduce these items and admire their stamina and fortitude with every shuttle throw and threaded heddle. However, I was never happy with my finished results.

before wet finishing - individual threads are obvious and unstable

after wet finishing, the cloth is stable and cohesive

I worked for many years creating and reproducing historic textile clothing for both living history groups and museums. The nuances of a seam placement in relation to to the jacquard print, or shaping a garment again fascinated me. I am a trained museologist and have worked on conserving textiles and artifacts. I've re-woven threads of a raveling WWI nurses uniform under a microscope and stabilized textiles. Creating a conservation plan and executing was both part of my training and my job. Inspecting minute details of the cloth was required and would change both the execution of the conservation and the outcome. Cloth that had been woven 100 years ago was well worn and fragile, but one could tell it had been well used and stood up to the rigors it had been woven to withstand. In my own weaving I attempted to reproduce the patterns and styles I was well acquainted with. The cloth was never appropriate. It was too loose, the fibers remained independent of one another in a single piece of cloth. A complex clothing item was never going to be possible with the items that I was weaving. I chalked it up to inexperience and a forgotten knowledge taken to the grave by the textile masters of yesteryear.

Youtube was well perused and so many books were bought and absorbed. Magic in the Water was purchased and watched repeatedly. I watched as Laura took out life's frustration on her web while wet finishing a piece. How the piece changed in her hands to a homogeneous, cohesive fabric. I filled my water bath and added my web. I followed the steps outlined and waited, with baited breath..... my piece was still not 'finished'. Wet finishing was my kryptonite and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. When I attended Lvl 1 of the Master Weavers program taught by Laura in Cape Breton in May of 2018, I thought I was a pretty decent weaver in my own right. I learned SO much, but was anxiously awaiting my "light bulb" moment.

Wednesday afternoon, Laura pulled out the samples, the blue scarf and the buckets of water. Here, here was Magic in the Water being presented before me. I watched and repeated the steps with my own samples I had woven that week. Laura watched and evaluated as I carefully placed my samples in the water and allowed them to fully saturate. As I cupped my hand and worked across the surface of the fabric drawing the water gently through the fibers to cleanse grease and dirt. As I carefully rolled each piece in a towel to remove excess water and gently flopped each piece onto the table as Laura had demonstrated. She watched as I looked at my sad little piece, that was not magically becoming what I needed it to become. She watched as I stared at it, willing it to do something - anything. She watched as my conservator brain couldn't absorb her knowledge.

After I worked the process as I did, she approached and offered insight. I reworked my pieces as she suggested while she watched from a slightly closer distance. This time, when I gently flopped my damp web onto the table to full it, she laughed at me! I was informed I was too gentle and the fiber needed to be taught a lesson. She gave me the authority to beat the snot out of my web. And I did. And it worked. It was my lightbulb moment. I was over the moon. I literally danced in the middle of the room. I hurt my shoulder fwacking the fiber so hard. I ran down to the weaving room, finished weaving the remainder of my samples and ran back to wet finish them and hot pressed each piece which flattened the fibers and made it shine. The wet finishing had worked. I couldn't stop petting it. I could cut into that fabric and create a garment. I could sew an item for my home, my children or a museum. It could be used and passed on. I found a hot press and bought it on the spot.

Textile conservation was NOT the same as continuing the creation of a textile with wet finishing. Conservators are tasked with doing as little as possible to a piece to protect it from itself, outside influences and time. Reworking threads and gently washing a piece to remove years of grime which can affect the stability of fibers on a microscopic level. To mitigate risk of a piece to ensure it's possible to display and research. For the retention of the knowledge of the makers or the idea it supports. Wet finishing is not necessarily the opposite of this idea, it's a concept that a woven piece off the loom is no more a finished fabric than the skein of yarn used in it's creation. Wet finishing is yet another step in the process to create a fully functioning fabric.

When wet finishing, you're not "washing" your fabric as a finished piece would be washed. The original makers would wet finish the piece that I was now conserving. This is the concept I was completely missing. A handwoven wool blanket or coverlet wouldn't be bashed against the table repeatedly or thrown into the washing machine for fear of felting (as we’ve all had happen at least once to that one hand knit sweater). I label all of my hand woven items with washing instructions, "hand wash in cold with gentle detergent and lay flat to dry". Wet finishing is not conservation and it’s not washing a dirty, used piece. It’s yet another step in creating the finished material.