More Explorations in Parallel Threading: Playing with Strickler #728

Among the 10 or 20 most popular contemporary weaving patterns, Strickler #728 (first photo) is among them, I would guess. I've seen many iterations on Facebook and it never fails to dazzle. And if you "Google" the pattern, the variations go on and on, as you can see in this screen shot from my computer....

Credit goes to Joan McCullough, who designed this intricate, ornate gem -- a Rosepath motif in multiple tabby, which is one of the favorite structures of my "weaving mother," Joyce Robards. (Shout out to Joyce, whose "Many Friends" design appears on the facing page in Strickler.)

It's the endless possibilities for interactions of color and pattern, I believe, that entice most weavers. But for this post, I would like to play with the design potential of #728 using an extended parallel threading, otherwise known as an Echo threading. Once again, McCullough's pattern shines!

The original draft of #728

Above is the original threading, tieup, and treadling you find in Strickler. To create the same pattern in Echo, all you need to do is click on the "Warp" dropdown menu in Fiberworks, choose "Parallel Repeat," then "Overlapping Repeats Shifted by 4," and then "Apply." (Please note that the "Parallel Repeat" command is available only with Fiberworks Silver. Also, I am using a Mac, which has slightly different commands from a PC.)

Here's what you get:

Yes, there are some threading issues: above, you see there are eight sections where two sequential warps are threaded on the same shaft. My answer is simply to alter those threads by moving one of each pair up a shaft, reflecting the pattern below them (on the right) and above them (on the left). Here is the result:

Now we have a viable Echo design, using the same tieup and treadling as the original twill pattern.

I could see using different-colored stripes in the warp as weavers love to do with the original twill design, so that the linear motifs are outlined and clarified.

What about Jin? Using the same parallel threading, all you need to do is create a 4/4 descending twill tieup and add tabby shots in between. (Note that I changed the weft color to black to emphasize the patterns.)

The appeal of 728 continues. So let's try Shadow Weave, which is also on a parallel threading -- as well as a parallel treadling, with a 4/4 ascending-twill tieup.

"Instrestring," as my son used to say when he was a toddler. This may be a bit dizzying, but then again, it all depends on the colors you choose and the function of the piece.

Not much different from Shadow Weave is Rep: same threading, tieup, and treadling. The only changes are that the sett goes from plain weave to denser than double weave and the weft has alternating thick-and-thin yarns.

I like this. Again, I see a lot of potential for playing with different-colored stripes in the warp. 

Last, there's double weave, yet another structure that can be designed on an extended parallel threading. 

728 in double weave, front

And back, although not much different

McCullough's design comes through in so many variations -- and on just 8 shafts! I got to thinking: I have a 32-shaft Megado, so I wonder what would happen if I expanded the threading to 32 shafts, using a 4-color, 4-end parallel threading?

The way I see it, this pattern is something like Beethoven's Ode to Joy, endlessly pleasing, whether it's performed as a piano solo or with a full symphony and chorus. 

And who knows? Maybe I could develop a workshop on this? From Echo to Jin to Shadow Weave to Rep to Double Weave, from 8 shafts all the way to 32...

Thanks for reading!

More Explorations in Extended Parallel Threadings

Pictured here: a 12-shaft design woven on an Echo threading in 20/2 silk. I call this design "Burano" because it has a lacy look, reminding me of the lace-makers on the island off of Venice. 

So let's walk through the steps in creating this design and weaving the different samples in Echo, Jin, Shadow Weave, Rep and Double Weave. (This is exactly what we do in my workshop, "One Warp, Many Structures: An Exploration of Extended Parallel Threading." I must really like the process, because I keep repeating the format on my own, at home....)

First, how to create the design itself? I think I found the original pattern, a twill pattern with elements of a Crackle threading, on Handweaving.net. Can't remember, exactly, because it could also have been on Pinterest. Both are great places to scan weaving drafts for ideas. Here's what the original draft looks like.

Intricate, symmetrical, appealing -- reminds me of a butterfly! I starting playing on Fiberworks, expanding the design to 12 shafts using an extended parallel threading. And this is one of the designs I came up with: an Echo tieup on an advancing and descending twill treadling.

Following one of my other workshops -- "Paint Two, Beam One" -- I hand-painted two warps of 20/2 silk. The first was in a range of blues and the second in purples and rose colors, but I decided I needed more color, so I added two more painted warps in complementary colors, creating four stripes bordered on both sides by two ends of black. And here's how it wove up. 

This sample is the same pattern as in the first photo of this blog post. I used a bronze-colored weft in 20/2 cotton, because the gold tones really warm up the overall tones of the warp. And then I proceeded to weave up samples in Echo, Jin, Shadow Weave, Rep and Double Weave, varying my tieups, treadlings and weft yarns, all on the same extended parallel threading.

I am so grateful to my weaving teachers, particularly Bonnie Inouye and Marian Stubenitsky. I first learned about the potential of extended parallel threadings through a workshop taught by Bonnie, "Opposites Attract," in which she explores the potential of Echo threadings to achieve a broad range of structures. And I also continue to learn from Marian Stubenitsky's definitive work, Weaving with Echo and Iris, in which she took Echo designs and ran with them, showing countless possibilities for variations on 4 to 32 shafts.

Here's how my Jin sample wove up, offering yet another example of why I love Jin so much:

And here's how the threading works with Shadow Weave, shown here in a detail:

As for Rep (below): Well, not so great, but I think it was partly owing to my choice of wefts, where I alternated 20/2 cotton (thin weft) and black rayon chenille (thick weft). I think this sample would have been better if I changed my sett, making it much denser, and chose something thicker and less textured than the chenille for the thicker weft. Nevertheless, I see some potential here!

And then I wove up a double-weave sample, which I also like very much:

Just one more, this one in another variation of Echo:

Subtle, yes, but still I like it -- particularly the way the diamond shapes change in both size and color throughout the stripes.

Weaving at home and teaching weaving on Zoom have both given me great comfort this past year. And we all need comfort, even as we are painfully aware of how others lack food, shelter, health care and health itself. This year has given us hardship and hope in equal doses. Friends and loved ones are farther away and closer in our hearts. May you and yours enjoy the blessings of this season of light, however you may celebrate, and may you take comfort in every way you can in the year to come!

 

O Canada!

Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies, 

viewed from the lakeside trail

I wish that everyone could experience the beauty, friendship, laughter and food (oh the food) that I enjoyed while teaching in Canada over the past three weeks.

Cappuccino made by Dave Connelly, 

some of the amazing food and drink I enjoyed in Alberta

Thanks to Lyn Pflueger, a wet felter, spinner, and weaver who teaches at the Alberta College of Art and Design (and to whom I am forever grateful), I was invited to teach four workshops for the Heritage Weavers and Spinners Guild of Calgary, the Sheep Creek Weavers and Fibre Artists Guild, the Crocus Country Fibre Arts Guild, and the Edmonton Weavers' Guild. 

How to begin to describe the talent and skill of the weavers I met over 21 days? I guess the best way is to start at the beginning....

Above: Lorel Dederer (left) and her sister, Cammy Desjardins

Lorel Dederer shepherded me about and organized everything for the Heritage Guild workshop, "One Warp, Many Structures: An Exploration of Extended Parallel Threading." The 14 weavers who took the class -- from beginners to advanced weavers -- showed an awesome degree of skill and creativity.

Norma Camman talks about her samples of the 4-shaft pattern "Op Art."

Ellen Kovar experimented with collapse techniques 

using the 12-shaft pattern "Pink and Green."

Tracy LaRose painted two warps for her samples 

of the 8-shaft pattern "Falling Stars."

Siri McCormick pretty much knocked it out of the park 

with her warp choices for the pattern "Falling Stars" 

-- even though she insisted she was just using up yarns she had in her stash.

Next stop: Teaching "One Warp, Three Structures: Weaving with 60/2 Silk" at the Sheep Creek Guild. The space was lovely and my accommodations could not be beat: I was staying in the foothills at the timber-frame home of Deb and Stu Turner. Standing in their living room and looking out the front windows, you had a 180-degree view of the Canadian Rockies, the rolling foothills, hundreds of aspens, and the occasional grazing deer. 

The 60/2 silk samples were beautiful as well.

An array of samples: at the top, using hand-dyed bias-cut silk ribbon as weft, 

on the bottom, using 60/2 silk as weft (apologies: can't remember who wove this)

60/2 silk in warp and weft checks, woven by Janine Jones

Sample woven by Brenda Geddes using overtwist wool 

to achieve a collapse effect

After class each day, Deb and I went exploring: She took me to the Leighton Art Center, the former home of landscape artist A. C. Leighton, who started what became the Banff School of Fine Arts... and to the Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond, where I purchased one of Deb's beautiful scarves... and to the Tin Roof Fibre Studio, where Judy Sysak teaches Saori weaving and dyeing....

Judy Sysak (left) and Deb Turner at the Tin Roof Fibre Studio

Some of Judy's Saori-woven pieces

So I'm thinking to myself: talented fiber artists seem to be everywhere. Is it the medium? The people? Maybe the fact that fiber itself is so universally compelling that gifted folks around the world always manage to find a way to weave, knit, spin, dye, braid, sew and otherwise manipulate and organize soft twisty cords.....

And on to the next workshop: "Paint One, Beam Two: Painting Two Warps and Beaming Them as One" for the Crocus Country Guild. I stayed with Dave and Jan Connelly -- more five-star hospitality -- and was delighted to learn that they raise and train Shelties for agility competitions. They currently have four running about the house and fields.

Flash, who has placed third in Canada in agility competition

We spent the first day dyeing warps in the barn and the next day rinsing and drying them before beginning to dress our looms.

Warp painting in progress: MX fiber-reactive dyes on cellulose fiber

Warps hanging to dry. Dave pulled out a cooler 

that also works to keep food warm. We cranked it up 

to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit 

-- about 29 Celsius -- to cure the warps overnight.

Beaming in progress

Millie Tsuji's loom, dressed and ready for threading

Sad to say, I can't show you any of the final results, because this 2 1/2-day workshop is designed so that the weaving is done at home. (For any program chairs out there, if you're interested, let's talk about a full five-day workshop! We'd start with dyeing warps, then curing them and dressing looms, then threading and weaving up color samples. I think of this as a real weaving retreat.)

Then it was time to head north to Edmonton, with Robin Nixon kindly driving me some three-and-a-half hours to get there. (Fortunately she also got to visit her son, who lives in Edmonton, so it wasn't just a drive up and back for her.) The workshop there was the same as the first one I taught in Calgary, "One Warp, Many Structures: An Exploration of Extended Parallel Threading." Kyla Fischer was the program chair for the workshop and, once again, made sure I ate and slept well and was otherwise comfortable. Plus, she is a master at organizing people and looms! 

People tell me there is something of a good-natured rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton -- so, for the record, I will say that the weavers in both cities were equally skilled and creative.

Sandra Schulz's 4-shaft Echo sample in the "Blooming Leaf" pattern has a dimensional look.

The 8-shaft "Fun House" pattern woven in Echo by Joan White

had some beautiful variations using different weft colors 

-- particularly using a yellow weft (bottom section).

I love the weft-color choices in this Echo sampler in the 8-shaft Falling Stars pattern (readers, if you can remember who wove this, please let me know).

Double Weave sample using the 4-shaft "Blooming Leaf" pattern, 

woven by Bonnie Watt

Kyla Fischer discusses her samples of 8-shaft "Fun House" in Echo and Jin.

Shadow Weave sample woven in the 12-shaft "Lake Water" pattern 

by Catherine Melnychuk

Differential shrinkage sample woven by Kathy Buse 

on 12-shafts in Double Weave using the "Fish Tank" pattern

8-shaft "Many Rivers" pattern woven in Rep by Mary Ann Jackson

8-shaft "Falling Stars" pattern woven in Double Weave by Maryanne Hawryluk. 

Notice the warp colors and how the fabric colors are changed completely by the wefts.

For the record: here are the weft colors used in the sample above.

So much more to say... but I would have to spend many more hours writing about all that we wove and shared. At this point, all I can say is thanks for reading!