I’ve been working on a research project the past while and today wound the next two ‘full sized sample’ warps to explore options.
While rough sleying this warp I started thinking but the upcoming Olds classes in Cape Breton and Olds, AB and about how weaving, as such, wasn’t all that difficult. It was just crossing one set of threads with another. There are many, many ways to accomplish this, from needle weaving, to back strap weaving, to rigid heddle weaving, to floor loom weaving, to draw looms and Jacquard looms. And a whole bunch of other options.
Recently I was talking with someone who just returned from a tour of India and we agreed that the complexity of the loom wasn’t what made great textiles, it was the skill of the weaver using whatever tools they had.
I have seen amazing textiles made on the most rudimentary of looms.
The difficulty, if you will, in learning how to weave is in the details. Because when one thing changes, everything can change.
And this is what I am doing with this project. Taking one type of yarn, trying various options, seeing what happens, then changing one thing, trying that, analyzing the results, changing one more thing, rinse, repeat.
Making cloth is truly in the details.
Whatever equipment you use, which ever techniques you use, really doesn’t matter. What matters is the cloth that comes off the loom. Learning all the little details makes the task more interesting to me, but really, weaving? Just crossing one set of threads with another. With details.