Sir Gawain’s Green Belt Part 2
Aug. 25th, 2022 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flintheath_asHaving designed the girdle for my Golden Egg project (see Part 1 in the Baelfyr AS LVI 21(3) and at https://flintheath-as.dreamwidth.org/2570.html) I now had to weave it. First, I decided to do a practice run in modern knitting yarn to make sure I understood the technique well enough to manage the final project in silk.
The first problem was designing the lozenge pattern so that it would cover an appreciable width of the belt with an appropriate repeat, bearing in mind that I was using tablets with only four holes. The techniques I’d learned in the past of turning the cards forward and back to bring different colours to the front in a repeating pattern seemed inappropriate since there would be large fields of a base colour at the sides. I also wanted it to be reversible, since especially the tail of the girdle would potentially be visible from both sides. That meant that the back also had to look nice.
I settled on a technique in which tablets are threaded with two colours and turned so that one or the other is on top. The colours are threaded in pairs through the two holes on each side (Figure 1) and turned in three steps so a colour goes from having one thread on top in the first step to two in the second step and back to one (Figure 2). These three steps are then reversed. In the colour scheme shown in the figures, this results in a blue layer on top and a red layer on the bottom (also marked in the diagram with stripes!).
Figure 1: A threaded card
Figure 2: The turning pattern
The pattern is created by flipping cards round so the colours are reversed and then turning them in the same way (Figure 3). This means that although the cards are all turned in the same direction the cards that have been flipped have the other colour on top. It's also possible to create the same effect by turning the cards used for the pattern in the opposite direction to those used for the base, but I decided this method was easier to keep track of.
Figure 3: The turning pattern with flipped cards
The direction in which each card should be flipped is shown in a pre-prepared pattern and I made one on a twenty-by-twenty grid for my lozenges (Figure 4).
Figure 4: The pattern
In this pattern, a dark green square shows that the card is in the "normal"; configuration, as in Figure 2, and a light green square shows that the card has been flipped, as in Figure 3. These were also roughly the colours I was planning to use, so it gave me some idea of what the finished lozenge would look like. Then it was time to set up the loom and the tablets and start (Figure 5)!
Figure 5: The loom
The main issues I ran into were making sure I kept careful track of which tablets were in which configuration and the fact that the yarn tended to cling to itself, meaning that I had to be careful when turning the cards. However, an approximation of the lozenge pattern started to show fairly quickly and once I'd got the hang of it the only major issue was when the string holding the warp to the end of the loom snapped and I suddenly found myself with a lap full of tangled yarn and tablets. Fortunately I was in the middle of beating down the weft with the shuttle at the time, so the shed was preserved and with the help of the pattern I managed to reconstruct everything with minimal disruption; just a couple of "stitches"; missed from a line (Figure 6).
Figure 6: The disrupted lozenge
Since this was only a practice run I didn't make a band as long as the finished girdle will be (Figure 7).
Figure 7: The finished test piece
However, it was long enough to show the concept and the lozenges showed up well on both sides, as I wanted (Figures 8 and 9). It also showed that the direction in which the tablets are threaded matters; in this case, the pattern shows up much more clearly on the underside.
Figure 8: The front of the test piece
Figure 9: The back of the test piece
Now to do it all again with silk!
***
Image credits: Photos and line drawings created by me.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Jahanara for teaching me the technique, lending me a loom that works much better than the rush box I was going to use, and letting me come over to use her warping board!
The first problem was designing the lozenge pattern so that it would cover an appreciable width of the belt with an appropriate repeat, bearing in mind that I was using tablets with only four holes. The techniques I’d learned in the past of turning the cards forward and back to bring different colours to the front in a repeating pattern seemed inappropriate since there would be large fields of a base colour at the sides. I also wanted it to be reversible, since especially the tail of the girdle would potentially be visible from both sides. That meant that the back also had to look nice.
I settled on a technique in which tablets are threaded with two colours and turned so that one or the other is on top. The colours are threaded in pairs through the two holes on each side (Figure 1) and turned in three steps so a colour goes from having one thread on top in the first step to two in the second step and back to one (Figure 2). These three steps are then reversed. In the colour scheme shown in the figures, this results in a blue layer on top and a red layer on the bottom (also marked in the diagram with stripes!).
Figure 1: A threaded card
Figure 2: The turning pattern
The pattern is created by flipping cards round so the colours are reversed and then turning them in the same way (Figure 3). This means that although the cards are all turned in the same direction the cards that have been flipped have the other colour on top. It's also possible to create the same effect by turning the cards used for the pattern in the opposite direction to those used for the base, but I decided this method was easier to keep track of.
Figure 3: The turning pattern with flipped cards
The direction in which each card should be flipped is shown in a pre-prepared pattern and I made one on a twenty-by-twenty grid for my lozenges (Figure 4).
Figure 4: The pattern
In this pattern, a dark green square shows that the card is in the "normal"; configuration, as in Figure 2, and a light green square shows that the card has been flipped, as in Figure 3. These were also roughly the colours I was planning to use, so it gave me some idea of what the finished lozenge would look like. Then it was time to set up the loom and the tablets and start (Figure 5)!
Figure 5: The loom
The main issues I ran into were making sure I kept careful track of which tablets were in which configuration and the fact that the yarn tended to cling to itself, meaning that I had to be careful when turning the cards. However, an approximation of the lozenge pattern started to show fairly quickly and once I'd got the hang of it the only major issue was when the string holding the warp to the end of the loom snapped and I suddenly found myself with a lap full of tangled yarn and tablets. Fortunately I was in the middle of beating down the weft with the shuttle at the time, so the shed was preserved and with the help of the pattern I managed to reconstruct everything with minimal disruption; just a couple of "stitches"; missed from a line (Figure 6).
Figure 6: The disrupted lozenge
Since this was only a practice run I didn't make a band as long as the finished girdle will be (Figure 7).
Figure 7: The finished test piece
However, it was long enough to show the concept and the lozenges showed up well on both sides, as I wanted (Figures 8 and 9). It also showed that the direction in which the tablets are threaded matters; in this case, the pattern shows up much more clearly on the underside.
Figure 8: The front of the test piece
Figure 9: The back of the test piece
Now to do it all again with silk!
***
Image credits: Photos and line drawings created by me.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Jahanara for teaching me the technique, lending me a loom that works much better than the rush box I was going to use, and letting me come over to use her warping board!