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The Human Factor. You're welcome.
I had been suspecting it for a while, and the last Textile Forum gave me the opportunity (and the willing participants, a big thank you to you all!) to do a little test.
If you'd like to play yourself, here is the photo of one hand-spun thread. What twist angle would you read out for this one?
Once you're finished, scroll down... and see what others measured.
Done?
Here you go:
As you can see, measurements of the eight participants of this mini-study range from between 20° and a bit to 48° and some, depending on where the measurements were taken... and who took them. Several people took measurement in a similar spot (there are two small black dots about in the middle of the thread), but even then, results range from 31° to 48°.
So. Twist angle. Hello there. It would have been nice to have a reliable, measureable something to describe threads with... right? Describing fabrics or threads with words is hard in any case, but this just seems to make it even harder.
Sigh.
Comments 4
Left column, picture in the middle looks like the most correct angle. The higher numbers only reflect what you see in the middle third part of the thread. I wonder what would happen when you also measured this exact sample and the exact fiber looking at the sides. Does the curving to the sides affect the visual appearance of the twist angle or should you even out what you see and measure in a straight line from where a fiber becomes visible to where it turns under again?
New experiment: spin a yarn with a few fibers in a different color and have a group of idiots, sorry "Forum participant" go wild on measuring one colored fiber from every angle possible.
I'm not so sure anymore that there is a "correct" answer to this question, as the angle changes so much. It would be really interesting as well to take a close look at how often outside fibres distort the picture by lying on the outside of the thread at angles not really related to the amount of twist...