A Visit with Eva Stossel

 

Above: My favorite piece among all the weaving I've seen by Eva Stossel, in networked double weave on 16 shafts, with warp and weft in 20/2 cotton. I really like the tesselation effect.

Which brings me to the point of this blog post: Eva Stossel (you can visit her blog at www.evasweaving.wordpress.com) is, in my humble opinion, one of the best weavers around the country these days. 

Take a look:

Another 16-shaft network-drafted double weave, again using tesselations. Even more interesting: If you walk far enough away from the photo on your screen, you'll see an overall pattern in this piece, sort of a vertical-ellipse shape, made by the squares themselves!

Here's a detail:

How did she DO that? I figure it's two colors in the warp and weft of the top layer (white and red) and two colors in the warp and weft of the bottom layer (purple and red), and her design is networked but not paralleled. And then she shifted equal-sized rectangles in both threading and treadling throughout the piece to achieve the tile-like effect.

And how about this?

Tied Lampas in 4 blocks, in a clean, refreshing design (and, by the way, using complementary colors of green and red and purple and yellow, which add to the aesthetic appeal).

And yet another:

Woven moiré in pearl cotton on 16 shafts

Eva is really generous in sharing her drafts -- both in her blog and as WIFs when asked (although at times, rightfully, she does keep some designs to herself). Her writing is clear and concise, making her blog a gift to the weaving community at large. 

I had no idea where she lived until I happened to mention how I admired her work to my friend Hedy Lyles, herself an excellent weaver from Willow Grove, PA. Both Hedy and Eva belong to the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers.

One of Hedy's twill scarves, on display at Convergence 2024 in Wichita in July.

Come to find out, Eva and Hedy are friends! Over a weekend when I was visiting family in Philadelphia, Hedy and I took a road trip about an hour out of town to visit Eva. It was a pleasure to finally meet her. She seemed surprised when I told her her blog has fans nationwide!

Hedy, left, and Eva, right, talk weaving. Note one of Eva's designs at the bottom of the photo, woven to create an Ikat look.

I remember Hedy telling me that she weaves on a 16-shaft Macomber loom, which surprised me, as I expected her to rely on the convenience of a compu-dobby. It takes a lot of strength (and a lot of tromping) to weave on 18 treadles to lift the cast-iron shafts of a Macomber!

Eva's Macomber, with an end-feed-delivery shuttle poised on the shuttle race.

She samples religiously and keeps detailed records, which is exactly what all the great weavers do, in my view.

Eva told us that often she will use her 4-shaft Structo for sampling -- clearly not to see how a 16-shaft pattern works, but just to see how the warp and weft yarns weave together. I consider that a noble endeavor, one that never even occurred to me ;o)

Eva with her files

More samples, more notes

Really, I wanted to meet Eva because I so admire her work and her generosity -- and I wanted to learn something about how a master weaver works. Of course, you can't access a person's mind and discover the source of their creativity (don't I wish). What I did learn: Start with a good idea, sample it, sample more, make sure the yarns and colors work, dig deeper, keep weaving, keep learning. That's the essence of what it takes.

And, as is so often the case, I found how much I enjoy making friends with fellow weavers. Thank you, Hedy and Eva, for a delightful afternoon!

Not the most flattering photo of any of us (from left: me, Eva, and Hedy) but it documents a meeting of hearts and hands, you might say....

Thanks for reading!

What to Do About Fraying Selvages...

 A brief intro here: I like to use lots of photos in my blog posts, because weaving is such a visual medium.

But this month's topic doesn't really require photos, because we can all visualize the problem -- and who wants to see a photo of a fraying selvage, anyway?

So with that out of the way, let us begin with my first text-only blog post ;o)

A weaving friend from the Potomac (MD) Fiber Arts Guild wrote me recently about a problem she was having with fraying selvages -- a problem that most of us are all too familiar with. What follows is my reply. I welcome comments from anyone and everyone who has any other pointers!

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The problem of fraying selvages is so common -- and there are lots of ways to deal with the problem. (I won't use the word "solutions" here, because often you have to analyze what's going on and then try several different approaches before you've found a solution.) 

For starters, you can have problems with the yarn itself (that is, poorly spun yarn can definitely cause problems with selvages). This means you might have to add something sturdy like Sulky machine-embroidery thread as floating selvages, in that way avoiding abrasion of the real warp selvages.

Aside from that, here's what I recommend.

1) Floating selvages definitely will help protect your warp ends. I typically recommend two floating selvages, sleyed together in one dent, on both sides of the warp.

2) Fraying is often the result of pulling too hard on the selvage after you've thrown the shuttle (that is, you throw the shuttle to the right, for instance, catch it with your right hand, and pull in too tightly on the left selvage). That makes for lots of draw-in on the selvage. (I'm right-handed, so I have this problem often on the left selvage, because that's the one my right hand pulls tighter on as it catches the shuttle and straightens out the weft.) Try being more gentle, "laying in" the weft rather than just yanking on the yarn to set it straight. (That's what we weavers are often inclined to do, because we want to make everything straight and tidy, don't you think?)

The best way to diagnose whether you're pulling on the weft too much is to look at the beater as it hits the fell line. If your yet-unwoven warp-ends at your selvage stretch at an angle, so that the fell line is several dents inside your weaving width, then you've got too much draw-in and you're putting lots of stress on your selvages. 

3) Beat on an open shed. This technique, I've found, can also reduce the draw-in on the selvages because it allows for more weft yarn to snuggle among the warp yarns at the fell line (thereby creating less tension at the selvages). What do I mean by beating on an open shed? Step on the treadle to open the shed, throw the shuttle, and then beat with your foot still on the treadle and your shed still open. Only after that do you close the shed. (The more common way we've learned to beat is to step on the treadle, throw the shuttle, release the treadle, close the shed -- and then beat. Beating on a closed shed is harder on the selvages because, in my view, the weft has less room to wriggle up and down among the warp ends, snugging it in so tight that it pulls more on the selvages.)

4) Also, you want to think about how you weave your floating selvages. Here's a technique developed by Janet Dawson and I share it because I've found it helps reduce draw-in. Instead of throwing the shuttle over one floating selvage, across the shed, and under the opposite floating selvage -- and then repeating this figure-eight throw for every pick -- try this: With each throw of the shuttle, weave OVER one floating selvage, through the shed, and then OVER the opposite floating selvage. Then, with the next pick, do the reverse: weave UNDER your floating selvage, through the shed, and then UNDER the opposite floating selvage. This, in my view, also reduces draw-in because the traditional "figure eight" of the weft yarn creates just a bit more tension than the circular approach that Dawson recommends. Weaving "over/over" and then "under/under" your floating selvages is a gentler approach, given that the alternative, the figure-eight approach, puts more tension on your selvages (again, in my view).

5) Try using an end-feed-delivery shuttle, which allows you to tension the weft more precisely so that it's not delivered as tightly. Also, with an end-feed-delivery shuttle, the weft is fed directly from the end of the pirn rather than from the wide slit in the boat shuttle, where the weft is fed as it spins erratically around the bobbin. That means, with the end-feed-delivery shuttle, the yarn is delivered in more of a straight line. You'll also find that, with an end-feed-delivery shuttle, the weft glides more gently across the fell line. Here's a link to where you can find excellent end-feed-delivery shuttles: https://blusterbaywoodworks.com

6) Many weavers swear by using a temple, which tensions the cloth, helping to take tension off the selvages. (I don't use one, but that's just me.)

7) I've read discussions that delve into the intricacies of the warp-yarn twist versus the twist of the weft yarn as it turns on the selvages, where pick-by-pick the weft slowly untwists one of the selvages because of its opposing S or Z twist direction. This I cannot even begin to analyze ;o) but I do see how  it might create a problem. Again, if you suspect this is the issue you're dealing with, you're best off adding floating selvages using a sturdy yarn like rayon embroidery thread.

Whew! This is a big topic for a small detail. Many of us, at least when we first learn to weave, beat hard and pull on the shuttle hard. But I've learned that weaving calls for a more Zen-like approach, you might say, drawing on the shuttle just enough but not too much. As Aristotle famously said, "In all things, moderation."

Thanks for reading!

Learning Curves

 

Learning curves, plural. For example: In the photo above -- a networked Echo threading on 32 shafts -- can you see two threading errors? I will give you a clue: They're pretty obvious ;o)

These are just two of nine, count 'em, nine threading errors in this project so far. I've named it "Learning Curves" because it's the inaugural project for a new-to-me 32-shaft Louet Megado.

I am thrilled, to say the least, to have this loom. However -- and this is a big however -- it may be 15 to 20 years old and may have sat unused for the past four years or more. Which means that, not only did I have to up my game to weave on such a complex machine (which meant hours and hours of designing on Fiberworks), but the loom itself had to be reconditioned, basically. (Spouses are useful in this regard, particularly if they are smart and willing to help out.) And learning how to recondition it involved making mistakes, lots of mistakes, in the process of weaving this first design.

For instance, ends fraying and breaking at the left selvage: Too much draw in (which I should know enough to avoid). My answer was to go easier with the shuttle and, more important, to use my lovely Bluster Bay end-feed-delivery shuttle, which really makes a difference on the "drag" of the weft against the selvages.

And then I needed Texsolv cord. Lots of it.

Texsolv: Don't weave home without it.

I needed -- well, rather, WE needed -- lots of Texsolv because the cords that ran the pulleys that connected to the dobby box that lifted the shafts... kept breaking. But what we didn't know was that, more than Texsolv, we needed Teflon spray to un-gum-up all the pulleys. 

Teflon spray: It works.

We did lots of consulting, too, primarily through that brainy listserve known as WeaveTech (weavetech@groups.io, an invaluable resource for all questions weaving). There I learned how to get in touch with Dave Vanstralen, president of Louet Looms, who got back to me immediately and gave me lots of pointers on how to get this ship out of dry dock. And then there was Mimi Anderson, president of Complex Weavers, who pointed out to me that I should actually check back on WeaveTeach to look at all the answers people had posted. And Fran Osten (www.danforthweavers.com) who suggested using heat-shrink tubing to protect the Texsolv cord from abrading when it meets a screw that's attached to one of the pulleys.

Heat-shrink tubing, which we haven't used yet, because painter's tape is doing the job. 

I won't bore you with a photo of painter's tape! And I may be boring you right now, if you've read this far, because this is a blog about weaving and I haven't shown you any weaving.

Well, long story slightly shortened, I am finally weaving. There is just one more threading error to fix, but here is where I am at this point, weaving an Echo design on 32 shafts.

This same is the same tieup and threadling as the design in the first photo of this blog post -- but here the weft is an azalea-colored 20/2 cotton.

I didn't mention that the warp comprises two highly saturated complementary colors in 10/2 cotton:

These are colors I would not ordinarily have chosen for an Echo warp, but that my previous blog post discussed the use of complementaries with Echo designs. I was thinking out loud about how complementaries can add so much energy and interest to a weaving -- and so I decided to go full bore with these striking colors. Not pretty, but striking.

I really like the results so far.

The top sample uses a dark forest green/emerald weft in 20/2 cotton, while the bottom portion uses a gold/khaki-colored linen singles that I don't think works as well as the cotton.

After this, I hope to do more samples: another Echo design, a few in Jin and a couple in double weave. I'm hoping to try some differential-shrinkage techniques with one of the double-weave designs. Here's the drawdown I'm thinking will work for pleating and puckering.

Meanwhile, I will keep the Teflon spray nearby. Thanks for reading!