I picked up a small table loom at Pennsic, and have been recently thinking about warping it up for a test run. I have two heddles, and I think I can do a twill with those. (Thread 1 through Heddle 1, Thread 2 through Heddle 2, Thread 3 on its own. Then weave using Pull up Heddle 1, Pull up Heddle 2, Push down both for a plain twill. Right?)
For some reason, my brain figured out how to do a twill using card-weaving. Finally, those triangular weaving cards make sense! I did a quick test and it sort-of worked. I think the twill part was fine, but the piece needed edge stablization that I didn't give it.
All I did was put one thread in each card: hole A, then B, then C, then back to A. (For a herringbone, I'd go ABCCBA. And for a broken diamond, ABCCBA three forward, three back... I think.) Since I was using square cards, I had to orient the pack with a corner up, not a flat side, and turned quarter turn, quarter turn, half turn. (Start with A up, throw the weft, turn B up, throw the weft, turn C up, throw the weft, turn past D to A again, throw the weft.)
Phiala's String Page does sell triangular cards!
The pack of cards wasn't very stable, as you might expect with only one hole threaded. I'd like to weave something 3-4" wide to use for winningas (leg wraps), and trying to manage that many floppy cards sounds nightmarish. But this could be a way to make "twill tape" in a very period way. I wonder if there's any evidence that this was done?
Anyhow, fun little experiment.
Comments