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Katrin Hieroglyphs.
23. Februar 2024
Yes, that would sort of fit that aspect - but you can also go from bits of woods to sticks if you ar...
Bruce Hieroglyphs.
23. Februar 2024
I think the closest English equivalent would be 'Down the rabbit hole'. It has one entrance (No, not...
Harma Spring is Coming.
20. Februar 2024
I'm definitely jealous! Mine disapeared except for one pathetic little flower. But the first daffodi...
Gudrun Rallies All Over Germany.
23. Januar 2024
Vielen Dank für den Beitrag. Ja, wir müssen darüber reden, gegen das Vergessen. Zum Glück haben mein...
Anne Decker Aargh.
17. Januar 2024
This is less likely to have an effect on your personal samples as you likely wrap the same way for a...
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...and it goes on...

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.

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Test Spinning 2 - Done.

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? 

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Evaluating.

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...

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Yarn.

So... things are progressing in that the yarns have been tested, in form of two tiny pieces of fabric, and we're now waiting to see how things look once the test bits are dry again. (Because, as we all know, no textile is ever finished before it's been washed and dried.)

Meanwhile, as opposed to some times in my past, I was smart enough to keep some of the test spun yarns for myself, for future reference, and that is how the storage for them looks: 

Neither of the fibres is, unfortunately, a really good match for the fibres used in the original textile. We're close enough, though, for practical purposes.

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Reconstruction Documentation.

I've been talking about textile reconstructions and some of the things involved in making them, but I think I haven't covered the topic of documentation for them yet... so here's a bit about that.

When I'm working on a reconstruction, I keep track of my work times. That's usually done with a time tracker for the research/planning tasks, such as reading up on textile finds, gathering information, and making plans and preliminary calculations. For the actual work away from the computer, I use a stopwatch, as that is handy and easy to use. A stopwatch is easily stopped for taking a break and started again, and that will guarantee that I have the exact times for how long things take.

Or... the almost-exact times. There's two reasons that I want to keep accurate track of times: For calculating the payment due for my work (obviously), and for gathering information about how long it takes to do things. The latter is half for being able to do better, more accurate pre-calculations and estimates, and half for research purposes. How well the times taken are suited for research depends, of course, on the tools used and the processes in detail, so I won't use my spinning times on the e-spinner for estimating spinning times in the Middle Ages, but there's plenty of tasks that are similar to what would have been done in the original creation to be of some value.

Now, of course, it would be helpful to separate different tasks and write down what each of them was. It makes a difference whether I'm sewing a straight line, or whether I'm hemming seam allowances. It is handy to know how long it takes to spin as opposed to weaving, and then there's the yarn skeining time, and time needed to set the twist. All of these could be just taken together as work time on item X, but it's of more help for my future work to have the extra detail.

Which, of course, adds some overhead work time for documentation.

It's also a smart idea to take at least some rough notes about how things are done, if it's not so simple that there's no other way. (Spinning would be an example for that. But it could already be interesting to note whether a pair of hose was sewn from the bottom up, or from the top down.) A few photos taken of the process also don't hurt... 

In some cases, when a reconstruction is ordered, the museum asks for a bit of "making of"-documentation, which could be pictures or videos, or both. That makes it easier to remember to do the visual documentation - for all the other things, having something to blog about also means I usually take a few photos of things going on.

Otherwise, regarding spinning, I record the following things in an Excel sheet: 

Bobbin number (so I can keep track of the yarn batches) and how long the spinning time for that bobbin was; how many turns on the skein winder (I have a counter for that, so this is a quick and easy way to measure yarn length); weight of the skein. Then my sheet does the calculation on yarn length (number of turns multiplied by 1.69, as that's my skein circumference), spinning speed in metres per hour, and nM as the yarn grist. I'm also getting a running calculation on how much yarn I have (adding the bobbins/skeins already done), and how much is left to do for the project according to my and the weaver's estimates.

So far, I have found that spinning time does vary according to the type of yarn, the amount of twist, and the fibre - but it's usually in a similar range. It does look like I have a normal drafting speed that I will fall into, and that limits the overall working speed. Not very surprising, but there you are.

Do you document your spinning? Or are you tempted now to do so?

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Yarn!

Since I was asked about progress on the reconstruction process... well. Here's a first glimpse of the yarn from the test-spin, still on the bobbin: 

I've done a bit of spinning with both Valais Blacknose and Gotland wool, and though I'd have preferred to like the Valais better... I'm inclined towards the Gotland right now, at least for the warp. It's a bit easier to spin, and it comes closer to my impression of the original warp. The weft, though... it might well be that the Valais is better suited for that. 

The new empty bobbin is already sitting on the spinner, ready for the s-spun weft test yarn. Now if I hadn't gotten sidetracked with a lot of other things to do today... 

Mind you, I'm not complaining. But sometimes juggling all the things that have deadlines, or do not have deadlines but still need attention... well. You probably know what I mean! 

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There's a Chosen One.

The fabric reconstruction project I was writing about on Friday? I've seen images of the two (quite similar) textile fragments now that will be our aim, and they are really, really beautiful.

At least to my eyes, that is.

Objectively, they are nothing really spectacular. 2/2 twill, with a hard-spun warp and a softer-spun, thicker weft. The warp, as is usual, in z and the weft in s; the fibres look quite thick and shiny. With only about 5-8 threads per centimeter, the fabrics are not even really fine, which is a good thing in this case - as much as I'm tickled by the idea of one day trying to recreate a really fine fabric (preferably one with a spin patterning, that would be extra cool), as we're a little short regarding the timeframe, I'm happy to have a bit less to spin. 

Next step: Test spinning! With the aim of spinning a yarn as similar as possible to that in the original piece. Which is always including some guesstimation, because the yarn will change when the twist is set, and then again when it's in the weave...

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