Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Crackle Weave Study Part 1: Manners of Weaving on 4 Shafts

I mentioned in my last post that crackle is primarily defined by its threading, which follows a set of specific characteristics. As a review, I'll start by listing those.

Characteristics of Crackle
  • Crackle is a twill based block weave.
  • The blocks are composed of 3-shaft point-twill threading units,
  • but it isn't a unit weave. In a unit weave, the blocks weave independently of one another.
  • Crackle blocks do not weave independently of one another because each block shares pattern shafts with one of its neighbors. (See threading key below)
    • Blocks A and B share shafts 2 and 3
    • Blocks B and C share shafts 3 and 4
    • Blocks C and D share shafts 1 and 4
    • Blocks D and A share shafts 1 and 2
  • Exception: by omitting one block in the sequence, it's possible to weave rows of only one block.
  • The number of blocks is determined by the number of shafts. 4 shafts can weave 4 blocks.
  • In 4-shaft crackle, blocks weave as either pattern blocks and background blocks.
  • As a twill derivative, treadling follows the odd/even shed order of twill.
  • To maintain that order, transitional thread ends (incidentals) are used between blocks.
  • Floats are no longer than three ends or picks. 

When I first started looking at crackle, I struggled to understand all of that. Now, I can pull most of that out of my memory, although I did double check myself to make sure I didn't miss anything.

So, those are the ground rules, with variety found in the choice of yarns and colors, and the size and arrangement of the blocks. Crackle's true versatility, however, is found in the numerous ways in which it can be treadled, called "manners of weaving". The first part of my study plan is to explore those ways by weaving a sampler on my 4-shaft table loom.

4-shaft Crackle Sampler
  • Based on the sampler idea from Susan Wilson's Weave Classic Crackle & More, page 30.
  • warp
    • 10/2 cotton
    • 160 ends
    • 20 e.p.i.
    • 10-dent reed threaded 2 per dent
    • width: 8-inches 
    • length: 5-yards
  • weft
    • 5/2 (or 10/2 doubled) cotton pattern weft
    • 10/2 cotton ground weft
  • threading
    • Susan recommended something with diagonals, points, or zigzags
    • I used her diamond motif threading (page 34) because it includes both consecutive and non-consecutive blocks. That way, I'm hoping to get a better idea of what's going on.
    • threading key:

      Threaded right to left. O = incidentals, threaded at the end of the block only.
    • profile draft:


Right now, my plan is to weave several crackle samplers, each with a different emphasis.
  • Part 1: manners of weaving on 4 shafts
  • Part 2: color and crackle
  • Part 3: manners of weaving on 8 shafts

Also, I need to figure out how to organize my samples so that I can refer to them easily. For all the benefits of using a computer and a blog, information does have the amazing ability to become buried who knows where. I started a Manners of Weaving blog page last year, but I think it will need to be revamped. I'm thinking to make each sample it's own blog post, so that I can use the Manners of Weaving page as a index, with pictures of the samples and links to details and more examples. 

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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Crackle Weave : Resources For a Proper Study

When I decided to delve into crackle weave last year, I started by taking a look at my 1961 edition of Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave. The book is set up as a study plan to accompany a workshop in crackle, with lessons instead of chapters and projects based on those lessons. My idea was to weave a sampler by working my way through the lessons. 

I confess it was over my head. So, I bought two more books: Weave Classic Crackle & More by Susan Wilson and A Crackle Weave Companion by Lucy M. Brusic. I chose these because of the way they explore crackle. They are resource books rather than project books. I gave them a prominent place on my weaving bookshelf, and these became my primary crackle reference books.
 
At first, I tackled crackle with a hit-and-miss approach, choosing whatever struck my fancy. I had some successes and some failures. I learned a lot, but found I still couldn't wrap my head around crackle as a whole. That's when I decided to read Susan Wilson's book from cover to cover, start to finish. After that, I started on Lucy Brusic's book the same way. With a little crackle weaving experience under my belt. what I read was beginning to make sense.

The core of crackle is in the threading. That's what makes crackle, crackle. But it can be treadled in numerous ways, each with it's own attractive effect. Both of these books explore those ways. Does that mean there's a lot of overlap in content? Not as much as you'd think.

The basic explanations are similar, of course. But I have to say I really like getting the basics worded differently by the two authors. That helped clarify the concepts, plus I gleaned some unique and helpful tidbits from each one.

Wilson prefers classic crackle and Brusic prefers traditional (overshot manner) crackle, although both books extensively explore other possibilities. Wilson's samples come from her own designs, while Brusic utilizes the early crackle literature: Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave, Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book, and Marguerite Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book. To her credit, she does a good job of not requiring the reader to have these books, although it really adds a lot to have them. What I appreciate about this, is that I've been inspired by some of the patterns in these resources, and find the modern interpretation and application very helpful. Lucy's book is helping me understand them.

Part of the "& More" of Susan's book is 8-shaft crackle. In studying her samples, I see that 8 shafts opens up whole new design possibilities by creating plain-weave-like blocks in addition to the pattern and background blocks of 4-shaft crackle. She also discusses turned crackle and has an extensive section on crackle in color-and-weave. Lucy's book sticks with 4-shaft, but she explores interesting ideas such as block arrangement and swapping treadling drafts with different threadings. She also has more ideas on unique ways of using color in crackle.

Would I recommend one book over the other? EDIT: No. They both have a lot to offer and between the two of them, offer a well-rounded look at what crackle is and can do.  That statement is still true, but if I could only buy one book, I would recommend Weave Classic Crackle & More to start. I found it a little bit easier to read through, and it's set up better as an introduction to crackle. Lucy's book is an excellent second resource because it adds more ideas and possibilities. So, I'd still recommend both, but in that buying order. 

After reading these books, I've come up with a plan. In Susan's Weave Classic Crackle & More, she recommends making a sampler to work through many treadling variations. My plan is to use Susan's book to work through these, while referring to both Brusic's and Snyder's works as supplementary material for each of these treadlings. Hopefully, I will end up with my own reference book, with all pertinent information plus the woven samples. That should keep me busy this winter. 

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Saturday, October 12, 2024

Of T-shirt Yarns & Twill: Wet Finishing the Sampler

Wet finishing was the test. It's a process of soaking and washing newly woven fabric, which serves to relax, settle, soften, full, and shrink the yarns according to fiber content and weave structure. My first two t-shirt yarn fabrics (wanna-be bathroom rug and wanna-be upholstery fabric) did not turn out as hoped after wet finishing. What I learned led to this last sampler. 

Fresh off the loom, unwashed, 5.75" by 24.25"

Wet finishing consisted of machine washing in tepid water and hot machine drying. Ordinarily, I line dry everything, but the dryer serves to help test the fabric to its limits.

After machine washing only. 5" by 21.25"

Most notable is the plain weave section on the right. It did not shrink as much as the remaining twill samples, with a width of 5.75 inches. This is characteristic of combining plain weave with twill.

After machine washing and drying. 4.75" by 20.375" (twills)

I was much happier with how these held up than with the crackle samples. The plain weave sample was, well, plain. But the twill samples were interesting because of the patterns the warp yarn made. 

From the left: twill & reverse, balanced 2/2 twill, and plain weave

From the left: crepe weave, vertical skip twill, and vertical herringbone

The longer warp float in the twill & reverse sample (left) wasn't as much of a problem as it was in the previous samples. Even though I like the zig zags, I think this twill is better suited for finer yarns. The vertical herringbone (yellow sample) resolved that with crisp neat lines. 

Overall, I liked the density and thickness of the fabric. I think it would work well for a throw rug.

I'm happy to have come up with a good structure for this yarn! I'm happy with what I learned and have to thank the problems for that. I learn so much better through experience that by just reading a book. 

So, a t-shirt bathroom rag rug is still on the planning board. I'll just need to collect more t-shirts first. 

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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Of T-shirt Yarns & Twill: Weaving a New Sampler

I still have a bit of t-shirt yarn left, and wanted to test my observations while they are still fresh in my mind. True experiential knowledge is gained through trial-and-error, which makes experiments very useful. I want to see how the t-shirt yarn behaves with a different weave structure. 

My sample is 6-inches wide in the reed, set at 12 ends per inch with the same rug warp as the cushion fabric. Threading is straight twill.

I deliberately stuck with balanced 2/2 twills (over 2, under 2) with this weft yarn, because the 3-thread floats in my crackle samples were unsatisfactory. A 1/3 or 3/1 twill would likely be just as unsatisfactory. 

My first sample is plain weave.


Then I played around with some twill treadlings.

balanced twill

twill & reverse

vertical herringbone

vertical skip twill

crepe weave

Observations


  • I discovered that quite a few of the twill treadlings gave me a warp float of three wefts, such as the twill & reverse above.
  • These aren't a problem with finer yarns, but I didn't care for them with this bulky yarn.
  • The vertical herringbone corrects this "problem" by skipping one of the treadles in the treadling order.
  • This limits my choices for weaving with t-shirt yarn.
  • I like the pebbly texture the yarn creates. 

The real test will come in the wet finishing! Both of my crackle experiments looked good on the loom, but weren't satisfactory after washing them. We'll see what happens with these.


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Monday, October 07, 2024

Weaving Stool Cushion: Fabric Analysis


The fabric is off the loom, washed, and dried. The finished size is on target, and I love the thickness of the fabric. But I think it is still too loose for the intended purpose, even with the tighter set. 

I think the problem is the rag pattern weft. Even though the recipe listed rags as one of the optional pattern wefts, my T-shirt yarn is chubby. Crackle floats skip only three threads, but with two of those threads being t-shirt yarn, the float is quite long and creates a gappy appearance in the warp yarn.


My conclusion is that t-shirt yarn is better suited to plain weave, or perhaps 2-end weft floats, such as in a twill. I'll have to experiment with that. 

All in all, it's been an interesting experience. Between this and the failed bathroom rug, I've gotten some important information about weaving with t-shirt yarn. I'm taking it to heart, because I love the idea of t-shirt yarn; what a great way to re-use and re-purpose an often discarded item. More sampling to test my ideas is coming soon.

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