the BIG tablet weaving sampler

I’m working on materials for a class I’m going to be teaching in Fort Worth next weekend, and also eventually for the classes I’ll be teaching in Santa Monica this August.

I teach beginning and advanced tablet weaving by starting with a simple sampler that teaches a variety of techniques, from simple checks and stripes to Egyptian diagonals and doubleface, moving on into brocade. I have several of these little samplers, but they’re small… usually I do them with something like 10/2 cotton, so the ribbon is about half an inch wide.

I decided to give it a try, weaving the sampler with macrame cord – so that I can hold it up and point to it, and an entire room full of people can see what I’m talking about. It was….. an experience. Weaving with macrame cord is tough; I definitely can’t recommend it as a delightful experience. But, it had the desired effect – the sampler is at this uber-magnified scale.

Checkers are one of the simple 4F/4B techniques.

Long checks are a little more tricky – 2F, 2B, 2F, 2B, 4F, 4B. It makes a nice simple trim, if you make the repeats regular.

Turning the tablets just a little to a different arrangement, yields these waves.

And the wave threading can be used to make Egyptian diagonals – which has a huge variety of design possibilities.

Doubleface lets you do lettering, graphic designs, etc.

The tablets on the copper loom. I can definitely recommend the copper loom – about $30 worth of Home Depot shopping to build, and it pops apart and together with ease. I need to put screws in the corner pieces, because it’s a little TOO flexible right now.

This is what you can’t really see from any of the other photos – the damned thing is FOUR INCHES wide. It’s huge.

35 replies
  1. sunfell
    sunfell says:

    Pieces that wide could be incorporated in the Folkwear Tibetian Panel Coat as showpieces in the center, or alternative panel elements.

    I’ve always admired your work- and your photography. Good luck in your classes!

  2. sunfell
    sunfell says:

    Pieces that wide could be incorporated in the Folkwear Tibetian Panel Coat as showpieces in the center, or alternative panel elements.

    I’ve always admired your work- and your photography. Good luck in your classes!

  3. misoranomegami
    misoranomegami says:

    Copper loom, huh? Hmmmm. I’ve been wanting to get back into weaving but I really don’t have the money or space fora floor loom. Do you know inywhere that has instructions on how to make one of those? I’ve been eyeing the inkle looms at the WRWC but even those are a little pricy for me. Or I could just give up and install that hanging wall loom I’ve been threatening to make every since I got Women’s Work the first 20,000 years.

  4. misoranomegami
    misoranomegami says:

    Copper loom, huh? Hmmmm. I’ve been wanting to get back into weaving but I really don’t have the money or space fora floor loom. Do you know inywhere that has instructions on how to make one of those? I’ve been eyeing the inkle looms at the WRWC but even those are a little pricy for me. Or I could just give up and install that hanging wall loom I’ve been threatening to make every since I got Women’s Work the first 20,000 years.

  5. admin
    admin says:

    I adapted based on a design by Archie Brennan: http://brennan-maffei.com/Loom.htm

    I added a bridge for the warp to pass over to elevate the cards to a comfortable working height, and also used longer all-thread rods, based on a suggestion from Sara Lamb. I’ll post some more notes on the loom, once I get it sorted out completely. The great thing – you can go to Home Depot and say, “I’d like a ten-foot length of 3/4 inch copper pipe, cut into the following lengths…” and they just charge you for the piece and not the cutting – so you get home and just pop it together.

  6. admin
    admin says:

    I adapted based on a design by Archie Brennan: http://brennan-maffei.com/Loom.htm

    I added a bridge for the warp to pass over to elevate the cards to a comfortable working height, and also used longer all-thread rods, based on a suggestion from Sara Lamb. I’ll post some more notes on the loom, once I get it sorted out completely. The great thing – you can go to Home Depot and say, “I’d like a ten-foot length of 3/4 inch copper pipe, cut into the following lengths…” and they just charge you for the piece and not the cutting – so you get home and just pop it together.

  7. admin
    admin says:

    It’s so funny – working with this stuff is like eating your dinner with a shovel. I had some guage problems, and I was able to go back and tighten the yarn, like tightening up boot laces, pulling the slack forward to change the guage. It’s very weird to work with.

  8. admin
    admin says:

    It’s so funny – working with this stuff is like eating your dinner with a shovel. I had some guage problems, and I was able to go back and tighten the yarn, like tightening up boot laces, pulling the slack forward to change the guage. It’s very weird to work with.

  9. admin
    admin says:

    It was tough to turn. I had to use both hands, and then carefully wiggle my fingers into the shed space. It wasn’t a cheap way to go – the yarn was $2.99 for a 50-yd ball, and I used 4 for the sampler, but it’s pretty substantial. I need to shoot some photos of the whole thing.

  10. admin
    admin says:

    It was tough to turn. I had to use both hands, and then carefully wiggle my fingers into the shed space. It wasn’t a cheap way to go – the yarn was $2.99 for a 50-yd ball, and I used 4 for the sampler, but it’s pretty substantial. I need to shoot some photos of the whole thing.

  11. admin
    admin says:

    I’ve got a Tibetan Coat that a friend made me, and she incorporated some narrower strips of my weaving as trims down the back. It’s such a great pattern.

  12. admin
    admin says:

    I’ve got a Tibetan Coat that a friend made me, and she incorporated some narrower strips of my weaving as trims down the back. It’s such a great pattern.

  13. joeguppy
    joeguppy says:

    I’ve always been fascinated by card-weaving. To me, it always seemed like one of those things that would crash with Y2K. BUT, much to my surprise, it didn’t.

  14. joeguppy
    joeguppy says:

    I’ve always been fascinated by card-weaving. To me, it always seemed like one of those things that would crash with Y2K. BUT, much to my surprise, it didn’t.

  15. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    Off topic — THANKS!

    Hey Michael–thanks for stopping by TECHknitting and leaving your comments re: smelly silk. That was very kind.

    –TECHknitter

  16. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    Off topic — THANKS!

    Hey Michael–thanks for stopping by TECHknitting and leaving your comments re: smelly silk. That was very kind.

    –TECHknitter

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