Samper or Sample? Here is a post from May 25, 2020, that I found interesting. It shows samples and finished pieces I made awhile back. See it HERE
I’ve been thinking lately of the different weave structures you can easily get with only 4 shafts. I’m going to be teaching a 4-shaft workshop to very experienced weavers in April. I want them to see the extensive ideas that you can accomplish with only 4 shaft and the 14 different tie-ups possible. It is in coordination with a talk about Dorthy Liebes given by Liz Schott to be given to the Santa Rosa California Weaving Guild.
Just in case some weavers have forgotten how to read a weaving draft, I’ve included it here. I think most weavers know the upper left quadrant is the treading draft. So, how do you know what to do to get different weaves? This information is given in the remaining two quadrants of the weave draft. The tie-up draft quadrant shows all the combinations of shafts that will be used for a weave. The treadling draft quadrant shows the order these combinations are to be used.
Now, this is a real sampler! I wove off a warp I’d made for a class and tried warp face and weft twills on the 4-shafts. I found out later this is called damask. I got the inspiration, then, to make a third level: warp face twill, balanced twill, and weft faced twill. I made little compositions within the sampler thinking about pages in a book. It is still intact. I call it my “Clown Sampler” and it has never left my studio.