Thursday, April 15, 2010

CNCH Rigid Heddle Sampler


(click pictures for larger image)
This is the sampler I wove in Syne Mitchell's class at Conference of Northern Calif Handweavers conference at Santa Clara. The class was called "Rigid Heddle: Beyond Plain Weave"

We were told to bring a rigid heddle loom warped with 3/2 perle cotton on a 12 dent heddle or whatever we have, 8 dent with worsted yarn is fine too. I warped up with 3/2 cotton. Loom is a Schacht Cricket.

I used a #3 crochet yarn as weft. I just grabbed these colors since they were the right size and looked like they would go together. One of the other weavers called it the "Hello Kitty" sampler.

Syne is a very good teacher. The mistakes in the weaving were all my fault, not a reflection on the skills of the teacher.




Syne started with Leno lace and Brooks Bouquet which are weaver manipulated weaves. The split level bouquet is a variation I haven't seen before and I think I want to try that. The Spanish Lace is badly done, but that's my fault, not Syne's. I included a picture below of Linda's Spanish lace which looked like it is supposed to.

The clasped weft is easy and fun. The sides are kind of loopy, but I was trying get a feel for how much weft to weave in.


This is Linda's Spanish Lace with ribbon which looks like it is supposed to. Linda also has some Brooks Bouquet at bottom of picture done every four strands and in middle of picture is Brooks Bouquet again as intermittent accent.

This next group is made up with pick up technique. The trick is to pick up warps from behind the heddle with the heddle down and only warps in slots, not holes.

The warp float mistake is what happens when you leave the heddle up for pickup. It doesn't look that bad actually. It could be a feature in another piece.

The next item is Warp Float Lace, 1 warp up/1 warp down.

Window Pane is same but 1 warp up/2 warp down.

The warp float lace won't look right until it's wet finished. I have a couple more yards of warp to weave before I cut it off and wash it.

Next is a supplemental weft technique using extra yarn for added interest. The extra yarn is laid down under the warp floats (1 up/2 down).

The Honeycomb technique uses 5 up/5 down with a thicker supplementary weft yarn inserted.

So these the techniques beyond plainweave and I'll be practicing in the future.

That's all for now.
Have a good day!

12 comments:

slovakiasteph said...

I like the look of the windowpane... haven't seen that technique before. Honeycomb is the only one of these I've done. Do you plan to try any of these again?

ieva said...

This combined techniques textile looks very interesting.

Unknown said...

Hi slovakiasteph,
Yes, I plan to add some to the scarfs I will weave for Christmas gifts. I like the window pane too. I've down the leno lace before and I will definitely use that technique again.

Hi Ieva,
The combined technique sample will go on a wall as art and sample. There is still several feet of warp to weave on before I cut it off the loom.

Have a good day!

PattyAnne said...

Thanks so much for sharing this, Franco!

PattyAnne

Unknown said...

Wonderful stuff to learn, you inspire me.

Unknown said...

My weaving teacher said a rigid heddle was a waste of money if you have a regular loom. Obviously she didn't think it all the way through. I really want one.

Unknown said...

Hi Patty Anne! We mentioned your website many times at the class. pattyannesplace.com

Hi Katherine. Your weaving teacher probably did not realize that rigid heddle is great for sampling and testing yarn combinations. The heddle also challenges a weaver to create patterns and techniques within the limitations of the tool. As we can see there are a lot of possibilities.

Have a good day!

Unknown said...

Hi Oldweaver,

I had a good time and I find the rigid heddle loom is a lot of fun. Along with a lot of other weaving stuff.

Have a good day!

Cedar City weaver said...

It's amazing what can be done on a Cricket loom. I have several rigid heddle looms and I find that I do more weaving on them than I do on my larger looms. They are easier to warp and carry around, therefore they get used more. You had quite a workshop and accomplished alot. Nice job. P.S. I don't like Spanish Lace either, it moves around too much in the warp.

Anonymous said...

Hi Franco, this is really a great way to see the potential in using a RH loom. Thanks to you, and Syne, for showing us all.
After making this sampler, which technique appeals to you most?

Unknown said...

Hi LV, I want to learn the Spanish Lace. Actually I want to beat it into submission. I will! I will!

Hi fibrereflections, I like the brooks bouquet and the clasped weft. I haven't really used them before. I'll be trying it soon.

Have a good day!

Anonymous said...

Hi Franco, I thought I'd stop by to say hello and it looks like you had a wonderful class at CNCH. Even though I weave on a treadle loom now I also have a Beka RH loom that I wove many projects on. There are so many interesting weaves one can do and your sample shows that you learned a lot of new techniques. Thanks for sharing!

Eva