Yesterday I was able to start weaving on my sampler. The workshop is going to explore five weave structures. Besides huck, we will learn huck lace, spot Bronson, Bronson lace, and Swedish lace. The five yard warp I have on the loom will give me an opportunity to learn and explore these. It will require some cutting and rethreading, but that will be better than dealing with separate warps for these!
First on the list is huck. Huck is not technically a lace weave, but it will lead into huck lace, so it's a logical place to start. Also known as spot weave, it is actually a loom controlled textured weave which creates spots of either warp or weft floats. Harriet Tidball (The Weaver's Book) classifies it as a grouped thread or linen weave.
Helene Bress has an entire chapter on it in The Weaving Book: Patterns and Ideas. From her book and the workshop notes, this is what I've learned about traditional huck so far:
- It consists of short warp or weft floats on a plain weave background.
- Warp and weft are the same or similar yarn.
- It requires a minimum of four shafts; two for the pattern blocks and two for the plain weave.
- The blocks are treadled the same number of times as there are warp ends.
- How and where the spots form depend on the treadling.
And my third:
The pictures are not exceptional. The flash washed the pattern out and natural light doesn't show it off that well either. We've been assured that is will look better once they are off the loom and washed. You can see how the different times of day effect the color.I really enjoyed weaving these and can't wait to try the next samples. There are several variations to explore. I'm envisioning blouse fabric and curtains. It is fascinating to me to watch the pattern reveal itself before my eyes. It's almost as much fun as experimenting with color! (Oops, I can't believe I said that. Do note the “almost” :)
I admit that I can't help but wonder how color would effect these. But I'll save those experiments for later. For the moment, I'm content to follow the plan.
© 9 Nov. 2006 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com
Related Posts:
Lace Sampler - Beaming The Warp
Lace Sampler - Huck Lace 1
Lace Sampler - Huck Lace 2
Colored Huck Lace
Huck Towels 1
5 comments:
I'm really looking forward to watching your progress on this workshop. As a relative newbie weaver, I'd like to try experimenting with lace weaves. Your samples look nice!
Gorgeous! I am not a weaver but these are beautiful.
We used a huck lace pattern on the shawl we made for the sheep to shawl contest at the fair. In fact, it looks just like you're second example.
Looking good! I've woven huck before and never knew that there was a difference between huck and huck lace. Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
There is something compelling about the texture of these weaves.
Beautiful work
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