Tablet Backstrap

Remember this warp? I thought about finishing it off and using it for samples, but thought it would be more fun if I had some help. E. was the first to get hands-on with a modified backstrap setup. N. and G. were next to have a turn. We didn’t have a good way to use clamps so the weaving took a little more coordination, as both weavers had to keep the warp under tension. Overall, the results were a success and I wish that I had kept track of the total number of weavers that participated in the project. I would love to do it again some time. The weaving also had three distinct sections of various length once the warp was finally cut and the cards removed, so I resorted to “drawing straws” and each girl received a length of weaving to take home. I suspect at least one weaving will be made into a headband or a toy scarf.

Berwick Show 2012, Hands-On

I read about an idea in Tablet Weaving by Ann Sutton and Pat Holtom on p. 40 for double-ended tablet weaving. After a brief test run, I thought it would be a great activity for the Berwick Show. The tables were quite long, which gave me plenty of warp for two days of demonstrating. I occasionally had to be the weaver but most of the time I was able to get a participant on each end, while I turned the cards in the middle. Some participants really got into it. It was amusing to see the different weave variations depending on how lightly or firmly the shuttle was used to compress the weft threads. Each weaver definitely left his or her own mark.

The best part of this technique was that it did not matter how many time the cards were turned in each direction, the extra twist was never a problem. It was also very quick to wind the warp with two teal and two navy threads through each card. I used the second pattern from the left on p. 79 in Tablet Weaving that looks like a chevron when the cards are turned continuously in the same direction and a heavy cotton to make sure that the warp didn’t stick. The playing cards also held up well.