I found the leaf motif draft on handweaving.net. The original draft for this was 8 shafts and 30 treadles. (The links in the caption are to document the source. This will take you to a drawdown if you don't have an account. You have to have a paid account to see the full draft.)
 |
| Original: Draft #80360: 8-shaft version of 79845, 2004-2026 |
Someone later reduced it from 30 to 10 treadles.
 |
| Modified: Draft #80362: 8-shaft version#80360; reduced to 10 treadles, Ruth Barbour, 2004-2026 |
The reduced version requires pressing two treadles per shed. My problem is the mechanics of the countermarch loom, where the shed (opening in the warp to pass the shuttle through) is created by lifting some shafts and lowering the rest. Each shaft is tied to each treadle to go either up or down, depending on the tie-up pattern. In this leaf draft, the treadling pattern requires using treadles simultaneously that have shafts tied opposite. I can't raise and lower a shaft at the same time!
For some reason my brain did not catch this. It feels like it should have been obvious, except it wasn't. I think it's one of those things I had to relearn. (After a 17 year break from weaving, I'm finding there are lots of things in the relearn department.)
So.
It would probably work on an 8-shaft jack loom, because on a jack loom only the rising shafts are tied. Except I don't have an 8-shaft jack loom
I could try a skeleton tie-up. Except I'm not sure I could manage to press four treadles at the same time.
I could look for a different draft. Which is where I'm at now. The warp is already on, with a point twill threading, so I need to find a draft that will work with that and requires only one treadle at a time!
Stay tuned.
6 comments:
How many treadles have you got, what's the maximum skip/float you'll allow, and do you use floating selvedge?
Argh...I feel your pain. The good news is that you've used a pretty versatile threading so you should be able to come up with a fabric that you like.
Meg, 10 treadles, yes I use a floating selvedge, and the smallest floats possible! That said, I'm eyeing a draft that has a five end skip.
Val, that was fortunate! I'll just need to re-tie the treadles, which isn't such a pain with the new tie-up system. The draft I'm looking at may work. I'll give it a sample and then share. It was someone's drafting experiment, but it's only one treadle per shed, so that's hopeful.
Keep us updated. I'm away tomorrow, but I've been making stuff up a bit, but I do allow longer floats, so they are no good...
Thanks for the encouragement Meg! It's supposed to rain all day today so I'm thinking it will be a good day for re-tying the treadles and giving it a try. I'm going to rethink my purpose for these as well. Longer floats may not work well for dishtowels, but for wall hangings, it may be okay.
Post a Comment