Seminar 210
Thursday PM
Thursday PM
Commemorate with Name Drafting on Three to Sixteen Shafts
Norma Smayda
Name drafting is often used by weavers to create original patterns. Starting with the code used by Bertha Gray Hayes to create original overshot designs, we will learn how to expand and miniaturize the pattern. We will learn how to make up different codes to find the most pleasing design, using both symmetry and asymmetry. Time will be spent using various codes to design patterns in summer and winter, lace, twills, crackle, krokbragd and combined weave structures. Many examples will be shown. This concept can also be applied to the tie-up.
Although using name drafting is a tool for creating designs, its use can lead us to an understanding of weave structure. Ultimately, it lets us look critically at the resulting pattern and realize how we can alter it to create a new design from the basic weave pattern we began with. It was in this way that Bertha Gray Hayes created many of her miniature overshot designs.
Although using name drafting is a tool for creating designs, its use can lead us to an understanding of weave structure. Ultimately, it lets us look critically at the resulting pattern and realize how we can alter it to create a new design from the basic weave pattern we began with. It was in this way that Bertha Gray Hayes created many of her miniature overshot designs.
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Norma is a weaver, teacher, exhibitor and juror who learned to weave at the Baerum Husflidsforening and the Statens Laerer Skole i Forming in Norway, returning there to teach. In 1974, she established and continues to run the Saunderstown Weaving School, with a year-round enrollment of 20 to 30 weavers. She earned the MFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth. Norma has written articles for major weaving publications (Complex Weavers Journal, Fiberarts, Handwoven, SS&D, The Weaver's Journal, Weaver's) as well as co-authored Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes in 2009 (Schiffer Publishing). She has taught seminars and workshops at Convergence and at numerous regional conferences and guilds.
Seminar 527
Saturday AM
Saturday AM
Three-Shaft Weaves: More For Less
Three-shaft weaving offers more complex weave structures and weave theory than the more straight-forward four-shaft weaves. This is because of the 2/1 shaft relationship as opposed to a 2/2 or other even number of shafts. Three- and other odd-shaft weaves present interesting considerations, not the least being the unbalanced tie-up. It is necessary to understand what restrictions this places on weave structures, plus we'll investigate the potential for creating more pattern blocks.
More often than not there is no plain weave, and alternatives must be found and understood in the making of good cloth. There are well-known three-shaft weaves such as jeans twill and krokbragd. This seminar will cover these and many others, some gleaned from the literature, others created following a what-if philosophy. Three-block summer and winter, overshot, lace, many twill variations, krokbragd (one- and three-block variations), and warp-faced weaves are all discussed, with examples shown. Methods for using counterbalance looms for three-shaft weaving will be explained.
More often than not there is no plain weave, and alternatives must be found and understood in the making of good cloth. There are well-known three-shaft weaves such as jeans twill and krokbragd. This seminar will cover these and many others, some gleaned from the literature, others created following a what-if philosophy. Three-block summer and winter, overshot, lace, many twill variations, krokbragd (one- and three-block variations), and warp-faced weaves are all discussed, with examples shown. Methods for using counterbalance looms for three-shaft weaving will be explained.
