After have done so much weaving over the weekend, but I have also done just as much unweaving. On Friday after I realised what I was doing was not going to work, I did some serious pondering. I decided to try a thinner thread for the structural weft to see if that would help my picks get smaller, but what could I use? I was thinking something along the lines of #10 or #12 perle cotton, but I'd planned this project to be made with period materials, and cotton just isn't period. I ended up going to Spotlight and buying a reel of Gutermann linen thread, and another reel of polyester top stitch thread. I tried the linen first, since this would keep my materials period, and it seemed to work. I got to six picks per centimetre, but when I added the gold the linen really didn't agree with it. I couldn't pull the linen tight enough so the band started getting wider, and I had to really force the gold thread past the linen. Then after four picks the linen snapped.
I gave up at that point, but I brought my loom over to show to Mistress Catherine on Sunday afternoon to see if she had any ideas. I ended up trying a super tough polyester thread as a weft, which I found quite rough and hard to pull through the shed, then I tried my poly top stitch thread, which was a lot softer and easier on my hands as well as being more cooperative with the silk. I also used one of Catherine's fancy jarrah beaters instead of my ruler, which is a lot harder with a finer edge. It seemed to work much better and I could beat the picks closer together.
This is what I ended up with. You can see all the random wefts poking out the top edge, because I was trialing I didn't weave them back through neatly. I was always going to unweave it anyway. The first four gold picks are with the linen and my ruler, then the rest are with the two poly threads and Catherine's beater. It's not very neat but there is definitely a significant improvement.
Yesterday I decided to unweave the entire thing and start again with my top stitch thread, Catherine's beater, and adding an extra 5mm to the width of the band to see if that helped. That's when my stripes started going all crooked. The extra width made the whole thing look a little weird, and the middle stripe was really wide while the outside ones were narrower. The very outside ones were going all wibbly as well. So I unwove all of that and started again, this time with my usual one inch width. I almost wove my whole leaf last night before I started making tired mistakes, but I wasn't happy with it. The gold thread really hasn't been surviving the constant weaving and unweaving, and the gold was flaking off in places, which didn't look good at all. Even though the gaps between floats were narrower, it still didn't look how I wanted it to.
Today I came to the conclusion that I need to pack the gold thread away and not use it until I've had a bit more practice with silk. I have woven excusively with cotton until now, and this is the first time I've ever had any major issues. Cotton just worked for me, both threaded in patterns and brocading, and I've always been able to produce decent bands. Having had no problems ever, I just assumed silk and gold would work for me and I'd be able to make gorgeous bands like Guntram does, but I guess this plan was a little ambitious. I think I'll keep playing with silk for a while and different wefts until I can weave something fine enough to add the gold thread to and have good coverage.
Anyway, I ended up going over to the Stitcher's Corner and buying myself some DMC metallic floss, and some yellow silk embroidery floss. I only bought both because they had an EFTPOS minimum of $10 and I had no cash. Once again I unwove the gold I'd woven last night, and tried with the metallic thread. It seemed to have really very good coverage, so I redrew my leaf since I was still having the problem of it stretching too much, and wove this:
It's a leaf! It actually looks like a leaf! I think we have a winner. I'm going to continue the band, and I may even finish it in time to enter it in the A&S competition. It will be nowhere near the standard that I had in my head when I dreamed up this project, but it will be at least a decent looking band. Maybe in another ten years or so I'll revisit this project, dig out my gold thread and weave it again, this time with appropriate materials and skills.
I gave up at that point, but I brought my loom over to show to Mistress Catherine on Sunday afternoon to see if she had any ideas. I ended up trying a super tough polyester thread as a weft, which I found quite rough and hard to pull through the shed, then I tried my poly top stitch thread, which was a lot softer and easier on my hands as well as being more cooperative with the silk. I also used one of Catherine's fancy jarrah beaters instead of my ruler, which is a lot harder with a finer edge. It seemed to work much better and I could beat the picks closer together.
Yesterday I decided to unweave the entire thing and start again with my top stitch thread, Catherine's beater, and adding an extra 5mm to the width of the band to see if that helped. That's when my stripes started going all crooked. The extra width made the whole thing look a little weird, and the middle stripe was really wide while the outside ones were narrower. The very outside ones were going all wibbly as well. So I unwove all of that and started again, this time with my usual one inch width. I almost wove my whole leaf last night before I started making tired mistakes, but I wasn't happy with it. The gold thread really hasn't been surviving the constant weaving and unweaving, and the gold was flaking off in places, which didn't look good at all. Even though the gaps between floats were narrower, it still didn't look how I wanted it to.
Today I came to the conclusion that I need to pack the gold thread away and not use it until I've had a bit more practice with silk. I have woven excusively with cotton until now, and this is the first time I've ever had any major issues. Cotton just worked for me, both threaded in patterns and brocading, and I've always been able to produce decent bands. Having had no problems ever, I just assumed silk and gold would work for me and I'd be able to make gorgeous bands like Guntram does, but I guess this plan was a little ambitious. I think I'll keep playing with silk for a while and different wefts until I can weave something fine enough to add the gold thread to and have good coverage.
Anyway, I ended up going over to the Stitcher's Corner and buying myself some DMC metallic floss, and some yellow silk embroidery floss. I only bought both because they had an EFTPOS minimum of $10 and I had no cash. Once again I unwove the gold I'd woven last night, and tried with the metallic thread. It seemed to have really very good coverage, so I redrew my leaf since I was still having the problem of it stretching too much, and wove this:
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