Today was Warping Day. Well, Warping Afternoon - fortunately, the relatively small warps of limited length that we use in the weaving workshop are quite quick to make. So now I have this, waiting to be packed up: 

On the left there's a few "oh no bad things happened" warps, prepared in case something bad happens and we need a quick new one. On the right... that's a stack of edge tablets, waiting to be installed at some point. 

Edge tablets - usually all threads in one colour, and two or more of those monochrome tablets per edge - are an absolute fixture in historical bands. They make for neat edges, and if you weave patterns with my system, they are one way to tell which tablets turn in which direction. 

However... adding edge tablets also makes warping a little more time-consuming, and it means one more thing to keep track of. That's why I did my workshops without edge tablets in the past. (Remember what I wrote about things evolving? That's one of them.) I've thought about a few different options on how to include them without making things too weird at the beginning, and I think I have found the solution and the hopefully impeccable timing for adding edge tablets: The point where they are actually helpful, and where the basic understanding stuff that does not require extra "empty brainless twisting" has already happened.

Next Monday I will know more. Now there's a tad more preparation to do, but the main stuff has all happened. 

Oh, and due to the Bahn going on strike on Thursday and Friday... I will have to figure out whether I can go by train (probably not) or will have to take the car after all. Sigh.

I'm already looking forward to the next weekend - a group has booked me for a tablet weaving workshop, so we will spend the weekend twisting tablets and brains, and making straight and diagonal lines, and understanding where to look and why things work just as they work. 

So I'm now preparing for the workshop, which includes prepping the tablets:

The workshop starts with warping tablets, and then we weave our way into understanding how patterns happen, and how to make them look just like you want them to look. It's the system I've developed that can be taken further into weaving 3/1 broken twill without a written pattern (though we won't go that far during this weekend). 

All the tablets we'll need are now ready for warping, with all the punched holes empty and waiting to be threaded. I have a list of some more things to prep, and a few printouts to make, and some warping for the edge tablets.

Like all workshops, my tablet weaving workshop evolves over time - sometimes there's a chance discovery of something that works very well, or there's a "snag spot" where participants seem to struggle regularly, so these things get updated in my master script after a workshop, and are done a little differently next time. I really like to see how these things change and evolve and grow over time. And then there's the additional changes made to adapt the workshop to the group's wishes, so while the workshops are somehow the same, they also feel quite different every time... and part of the fun and joy in giving these is discovering their own specific vibe. (Plus, of course, the joy of seeing those little aha!-moments when something suddenly clicks.)

Terminology is always an important thing - and especially in textiles, it can be a real nightmare. There's a lot of terms that are used differently in a professional and in a casual/everyday setting, and then there's regional differences, and then there's different uses of the same term in different disciplines, and that's not even starting with the issues that can arise in translations to other languages.

To make things at least a little bit easier, terminology lists and glossaries exist. There's several of them, of course, and they may also differ from each other. One of the probably better-known ones is the list compiled and hosted by the CIETA, the Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens. If you think it might be helpful for you, or if you're just curious, check the lists out here.

Since I've decided to play it safe(r) and do another test run, here's the result of my not-so-perfect weaving:

Yarn twist in the warp is now definitely closer to the original. Also, my selvedges are quite uneven (sadly, that's pretty normal for me) and there's a bit of a weaving mistake at the start (but on the other side of the fabric, so you can't see it here). 

 I have some warp left, so I can do some fun weaving when I feel like it, and maybe improve a little bit... and otherwise, I'll take another closer look at the sample tomorrow and see how well it matches our goal fabric. And then... spinning can more or less start.

A second round of test spinning has happened, and now it's done and the yarns have had their hot bath and are drying, with a bit of weight to keep them stretched. Next step in the adventure will be to activate all my weaving skills and do a little bit of test weaving with the stronger-spun warp yarns, and see how the fibre combination we're planning to use will work. 

You can see the difference in the amount of twist in the two skeins - the grey one is obviously contracting much more than the white one. Fascinating, isn't it? 

A good while ago by now (I can't believe how time flies!), Gillian Polack and I co-wrote "The Middle Ages Unlocked". A few days ago, we got asked if we'd contribute to an article about co-writing at Artshub, an Australian website, and of course we said yes. There were a few questions to answer, and it was lovely to re-visit, in my mind and memory, those wild and fun times writing the book together with Gillian. 

The finished article is now up at Artshub, and you can read it here. I really enjoyed it - it's a very good one, and if you are thinking about co-writing something with somebody, you will definitely find some interesting advice in there (even if I say so myself...)

Here's the next step in our adventure of fabric reconstructions: Evaluating the tests. 

I've spun the yarns, my partner-in-crime Silvia has done test weaving, and now the samples have been washed (hot! because some like it hot, you know) and it's time to take a close look at them.

First step is to see if the thread count matches - which it does, satisfactorily, in the warp, but it's a bit too low in the weft. Next step is the close-up, and checking to see if thread twist and thread thicknesses, and the overall look of the fabric, matches our goal. 

Which.. well. Let's say there's room for improvement. In this case, the warp yarns can actually have a good bit more twist to match our original fabric; the weft yarns, to me, seem to be okay. Thread thicknesses are within range, too, I'd say.

Now we'll have to decide if we want to do a second sample piece with changed yarn parameters, or if we can gauge the necessary changes well enough to go for the piece proper straight away...