A blog about tablet weaving and how to design your own belts.
This belt is to be used as decoration on a viking dress that I (hopefully) will sew. So I have been repeating several leaf motifs and also a “flower” motif. I couldn’t help myself and added a few animals as well. I quite like the colour of the 2 subtle sage greens together.
Somebody asked in a group on FB if someone had the pattern to a band available on Pinterest. It was clearly Sulawesi, so I offered to draw it. I havent woven it yet though, but I thought I can share if someone is interested.
It is a motif for 32 motif cards (with approx 2+2 border cards). Below is the band, turning scheme and threading. Good luck and please let me know if you try it.
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 working on a type of 4 colour pebble weave and I would like to share how to weave with the motifs I have drawn for this purpose. It can look like this.
How to thread:
All cards should be threaded the same way (Z or S, it doesn’t matter). You need to have cards with holes in the middle of the side. you have 2 “framing colours” threaded in A and C (white and brown) and 2 “Fill colors” threaded in B and D (blue and orange). All my designs are (for the moment) for 24 motif cards. I also added 2+2 border cards (also threaded in the same way, Z or S, but the same colour in A, B, C and D.
How to weave:
Each row in the turning scheme corresponds to one pick and each little square corresponds to one card. In each pick, you move the corresponding color as in the turning scheme) towards you (if you need blue, “D” should be close to you, like shown above), please see my video below to understand better.
Also, You need 2 weft threads, one in weft 1 and the other in weft 2. The framing colors outlines le motif. You can chose between the 2 colors. You also need to “tack down” your fill colour with one of the framing colours every 4 picks, which is marked with a “0” in the turning scheme, creating little dots.
The turning schemes can be followed from top to bottom or the reverse. I will upload more later.
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.
After 2 tests with hexagonal cards in Sulawesi style, I can conclude that it works, but it’s a pain to weave. Is it worth it to get that extra colour? I will show you and let you decide wether to try it for yourselves.
My first attempt, where I used the rest of an old warp. 12 motif cards (3×4). More explanations below.
I also tried to cut out 3 threads (blue and red) out of the 6, to try 3 thread weaving (1 white and 2 brown). Result below:
I decided to set up a larger weave with 24 cards (3×8). I actually made some cardboard paper cards, since the wood cards were quite bulky. This is the result of Sulawesi weaving with more background colours.
So how is it done??
With hexagonal weaving, 3 cards make a “pair”, instead of 2 cards (in regular Sulawesi). If you see the setup below, you have 3 cards with the same orientation (S or Z), they need to be turned together always for 3 picks. So, when you weave, you do 3 picks instead of 2, before you change your cards between front/back pack. You need to test weave 6 picks to see where your starting position is. For me it was when 3 or 6 was towards me. (note the 6 dots around the hole towards me in the photo above).
To make the background repeat I started with hole 6 towards me, 3 picks forward -> hole 5 -> hole 4 -> hole 3 -> 3 picks backward -> hole 4 -> hole 5 -> hole 6.
Now with 24 motif cards, I have 8 pairs (3×8=24), which means I can use the designs for 16 cards (8 pairs x2 =16). I used a truncated version of the below to make my weave above. Each square in my weaving diagram then represents 3 cards and 3 picks (white forward and dark backwards).
To use the designs for “24 cards” (12 pairs), you actually need 36 hexagonal cards (12×3=36).
Good luck!
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:
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