I finally finished this beast. It was much longer to weave compared to Sulawesi, also in part since I drew new designs all the time. Some photos below, and I will update the pebble weave page with the new designs. Please go ahead and use them if you’d like.
The pebble weave is actually double face, meaning that the contrasting colours are on the back (from and back side above). Please also note how you can switch between the 2 outlines/tack down colours (white and brown), to create different effects.
I have had quite some other things happening (I finished a 3 year long education and right after I found out I have cancer, so quite a ride…). I have not had much time to weave (or to write), but I will upload a few more photos and patterns of 4 colour pebble weave.
I have been researching the Andean pebble weaving style for a while (check the work by M. van Epen). Even though I wasn’t sure I got it, I set up a test weave (with 4 colors), and to add to complications, I decided to draw some designs before I started weaving!! But I was amazed! I love it! It really opens new doors!
So, I will add some tutorials here on how to do it, I just need to master it first. Here are some pictures of my first 50 cm.
I made another belt in Sulawesi style, but I need to experiment with some other weaving styles a bit. It is not the same as before, I don’t have a lot of new ideas for new designs, even it I honestly haven’t woven all I have drawn. I have 100s of designs in various folders, but I lost the motivation to weave the same style over and over. I tried playing with some brocading, but it was not a great success. I think it would work better with a 2 hole weave.
So here is the belt, and I will be back (soon I hope) with a belt using another weaving technique. I have some ideas, but let’s see how it works out.
I have to admit that the weaving with 6-hole cards required a lot of concentration, so after weaving a bit, I decided to change to regular 4 hole cards, cutting out 2 threads. The results is below. The 4 hole is nothing spectacular, but more relaxing to weave. I took the opportunity to weave some designs I drew 3-4 years ago but didn’t really test, mainly various dragons and keltic knots.
The silver-blue belt in silk and wool is finished. I really love the feel and look of it. The wool is matte and the silk shiny, which means that the two quite similar shades of dark blue appear quite different and contrasting. Here are some pictures:
I really enjoy working on this belt in wool and silk. The silver and blue are pure silk and the dark blue (accompanying thread) is 100% wool. I was worried that they would stretch differently, but it works out great. So a sneak preview!
I wanted to weave with some lovely pinkish-mauve yarns for a while, so I set up a regular 16 cards weave with Oseberg edging using these these colours (even though I don’t really use much pink, but the colours spoke to me). But when I started weaving, I feel that it turned out a bit too pink and I hesitated to change it by cutting out one or 2 threads per card. In the end I flipped the motif colors (mauve) and the background colour (green) and continued to weave approximately 2 m. I also worked on some variations of the leaf theme for 16 cards, which I will upload on the design page.
Then I attached the weft and cut out the accompanying colours to do some pebble weave with 2 missing holes, and it turned out much nicer than my initial weave. I regret not doing it sooner, since I only had enough warp to weave around 60cm.
The 1st belt looks like this:
The second, shorter pebble weave looks like this:
It’s amazing how the mauve colour looks so different (nicer) when the lighter thread is gone.
It took some time to complete, but now it is done. I like it, but not my favourite. Maybe it is a bit to complicated with all the colour changes going on. It is nearly hypnotising when you look at it.
