A little bit more of the list completed...

Another busy week! Below is what turned out to be a very nice and unusual project, making a new cord and trimmings for this Bavarian pipe. The client decided that the red would be nicer than the original, which appeared to be green, though it was so faded that it would have been hard to tell the original shade anyway. I agree, and think the red tones have brought out the wood grain very well. The tassels were the most difficult - sourcing suitable bristles to make it from. The original actually used a strip of bristles still on the skin, which of course meant that it didn't need anything extra to hold the bristles in place. In the end I did have to resort to using some glue!

And below, 16m of gold & silver woven braid. I can't believe the damage to my cloth beam on my loom caused by the threads digging into the wood, especially as it's hard wood. The depression is probably about 5mm! I'll need to sand it down or something before I get on with the next bit of weaving, and in future for all work with metallic threads, I will be using a sheath of some sort (still to be devised!) to protect the loom! (Or perhaps just have a loom dedicated to metal thread work? that's a thought) Guess that's what I get for using such high quality metal threads - a synthetic wouldn't have caused this type of damage.

I am very close to persuading my husband to get a small lathe. I am tired of trying to find the right tassel molds for a job. And, despite the fact I wouldn't mind having a go at turning my own, I'd really rather he'd make the molds, so that I can get on with making the tassels!

Brocade and band weaving musings

Thank you to everyone who commented or sent messages about Togo, they were very appreciated.

The weekend before, I completed the very large order of tablet weaves. 9m of burgundy with gilt brocaded motifs, 8 meters of olive green with gilt brocaded motifs and 2 m of a threaded-in design.

Having worked so much brocade recently I've picked up a few things along the way. The first is that a good netting needle is a fantastic shuttle for the brocade threads. I am lucky enough to have some Victorian steel netting needles, they hold the threads in place very well and are thin enough to pass under the tie-down threads easily. As netting needles have been found in a medieval context, I wonder if weavers of the past also used these?

The other thing that I've been contemplating is the finishing of narrow wares. I don't mean how the ends of the weave are treated - this depends on the ultimate end purpose. (For instance, these are all garment trims, so no special treatment is needed for the ends). I mean the finishing of the weave itself.

Cloth weaving always uses some kind of finishing technique - if only washing to ensure the threads 'close up' and the weave is strengthened. It's not something that is normally considered when weaving narrow wares. Yet, when an item is found in the ground, the weave very often is compacted - basically a condition put down to damage and age. But what if the bands were treated in a particular way after they were were woven as part of the initial process?

This first came to me with the plate brocading I did earlier in the year. The pattern, like so many, is the result of finds of gold plate in graves which have the impression where the threads lie over the gold. Yet, many (especially from the Anglo-Saxon period) are assumed to have been woven with wool threads. Wool isn't as 'stiff' as silk or linen, and even with pure gold (which is very soft) I wonder if the impressions would have been so clear without further help. Likewise, the turn of the brocade weft at the back always seems quite flat. So, for my brocades, I used a rolling pin to flatten the letal after the weave was completed. This changed the overall appearance of the band very subtly, and, I thought, very nicely.

So should bands of other materials be finished in the same way as cloth? Should wools for instance be washed, so that the threads shrink somewhat? Or silks? This has taken me on a whole new tangent for trials, when all of the orders are completed!

I still have about 5m left to weave of a gold and silver band (like the one I'm using in my profile pic at the moment), for a total order of 16m, so that's on the loom now. I also have a really interesting bit of passementerie to complete, pipe decoration. It's taken me quite a while to find a the right materials for the project but I am finally happy with what I've bought and am looking forward to this as it's a very different sort of project. In between I've made some linen and wool laces, and then have another 5 metres of tablet weave to complete. It's nice to have things which must be completed when I'd probably otherwise like to sit around feeling blah.

Togo Barrett 1995-2009

Our darling Togo died in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It was, in the end, quite a shock, as he'd had a great day on Sunday, playing and even smiling despite his still slightly upset stomach (some new tablets from the vet were working and settling his stomach) and eating very well (he was particularly enjoying the fillet of white fish that the vet recommended!). Monday started well, but he seemed to have less energy as the day progressed. But he was still eating well, just seemed tired (his tummy meant he wasn't getting into a really deep sleep very often). He got worse very quickly, thankfully we were both awake and were with him in the end. We adopted him as a very small puppy in 1995 from http://www.huncote.freeuk.com/ and he had the most perfect nature, he loved everyone who came over (except a friend who regularly hunts - he was always wary of him) and would drop his latest favourite toy at their feet to play. He had an excellent bark (very helpful in the country!) and would put up with anything - even the cats fussing him and the other dog nipping him when she thought he should bark but he knew better. He always said hello when you came home. He was a wonderful friend and we are quite devastated.

Long week of weaving

I am still weaving...

Moved the big loom into my sitting room as Togo has a weird thing about the dining room, since we put the new floor in, he will only go into it when we have guests. So, he has happily rested by me as I weave. Now, for those of you who have seen my tiny sitting room, you'll be wondering how on earth it all fits. I'm still wondering, but, when I had the loom made I did measure the small distance between the settee and wall to ensure that it would fit. Just.

So, the pic above is 8 metres, I am now working on the next batch, 9 metres using the same brocaded motif, but closer together on a burgundy ground. Which means it is taking twice as long.

In an effort to cheer myself up a bit, I watched The Duchess the other night. Another woeful lack of Leek buttons I have to say, though I'd need to watch it a second time to really pay attention to the detail. However, what grated throughout was Ms Knightly. Too skinny - she'd have made a good peasant at that weight, and bad posture. Someone teach that woman to stand properly the next time she plays aristocracy. Her shoulders were far too rounded. And I reckon it was emphasised even more by the corsetry holding her back straight.

Thanks for your good wishes for Togo. He's doing ok. He has some trouble panting properly, and we've figured out that this becomes worse if he has a full stomach (besides of course getting too excited or exercising too much) so we are now encouraging him to eat more in a 'little but often' method. A client of ours who imports products gave him quite a few new toys the other day and he really cheered up - he loves new toys!