A while ago, I marked out two weekends for giving workshops... and then it took me a while to decide on what topics to offer. In the end, I had decided on making one of the weekends a two-day tablet-weaving workshop. And that's where it got complicated.

For table-weaving, you need to tension your warp. Obvious, right? Well, for several people to have a nice setup where they can work with a nicely tensioned warp in appropriate length at an appropriate height, this very quickly means you need a system for the setup. Especially as every warp should be accessible without crawling on the floor to pass under other people's warps, or hopping over them (which would be an admirable feat, by the way). After all, the weavers might want to get up and stretch once in a while, or have something to drink, or go to the toilet, or whatever.

(Fun fact: I might actually do a bit of crawling underneath things in such a workshop, even though it would not be necessary - but it would mean a longer way to walk. So.)

In consequence, this means I need a room that is large enough to accommodate my setup of several tables and chairs, which will then accommodate up to a dozen weavers. And finding a room that is close enough to my home base, affordable, and available on the weekend in question - well, that has turned out to be a challenge greater than expected.

But finally, I have found a room for the tablet-weaving course. So there will be a weaving weekend in Erlangen on August 31 and September 1, teaching a deep understanding of tablet-weaving and a system that will allow you to freestyle patterns. No pattern draft necessary. (If you're interested, there is an Early Bird discount of 25 € with the code DerFrueheVogel - valid until May 31.)

With that course and weekend all settled, the two others were easier: I will be offering a filet netting workshop on June 22, and a "freestyle workshop" on June 23. The freestyle workshop is 3 to 4 people, we will chat beforehand on what you are interested in, and then everyone gets to work on their own project or issues - and can sneak peeks into the other participants' projects as well.

So if you're interested... check out the workshop links, and maybe I'll see you in a month or three!

I'm on the hunt - on the hunt for suitable rooms for giving workshops, for all those lovely topics where my home is not large enough - such as tablet-weaving with more than two people.
Since tablet-weaving workshops have been requested again and again, and I'm also really psyched about giving them (as teaching tablet-weaving is utter fun, for me), I need a room for that... with enough good light and enough space to place tables and chairs for a convenient setup, and preferably not too far away from home.
By chance I discovered that Erlangen's urban administration actually offers a "room search", where you can search for rooms for all kinds of events and all kinds of group sizes. That actually helped me a lot to discover the possibilities - and now I'm waiting for answers.
If I can find a room, there will be a tablet-weaving workshop on the weekend August 31/September 1, similar to the one I gave in Belgium in January: Understanding how tablet-weaving works, so you can weave patterns without needing a pattern draft. Which, if you ask me, is the coolest and most exciting (and fun!) way to do tablet-weaving!

 

 

There's something new in the shop - I have finally found someone to make some more copies of the weaving knife found in Dublin, DW80. It was found near Christchurch Cathedral, in unknown context, but is probably Early Medieval/Viking age.

 

They arrived looking like this:

 

 

It's beech, walnut, Zwetschge (a kind of plum) and ash wood; and of course I promptly went ahead and applied some linseed oil and sat the blades in the sun so the oil could soak in nicely.

 

 

The wood looks even more gorgeous with the added depths of colour and the shine it has. Linseed oil will harden by an oxidation process, protecting the wood.

 

These versions have the form of DW80 without the embellishments, by the way - but the functionality is the same as in the original. I've used (and had other people try) this form, and it is wonderful. The pointy tip can be used to pick out individual threads, or to single out a troublesome tablet, or to clear the shed. The main thing, though, is the form of the blade: its curve allows the weaver to gently yet firmly press the previous shed into place.

 

Yes, it's usually called "beating in the weft", and that is what a lot of people do when tablet-weaving. When you have a full-size standard horizontal loom, the motion to settle the weft is indeed beating. The type of loom makes this a sensible and efficient way of doing the task at hand.

 

Of course you can use a similar sharp beating motion to settle your weft on a band, but there are distinct disadvantages to this. One of them: You will need a lot of space between your tablets or your heddle to build up speed for your beating implement before it hits the fell. At least I do - otherwise, my beating is not hard enough to really get the previous weft packed in tightly. You also need to hit with the beating implement exactly parallel to
the fell, or you will end up with uneven weaving. The main reason against real beating in my opinion, though, is that you will put a lot of strain on your tensioning spots and/or knots. With both tablet and rigid heddle weaving, I find that finding the correct tension is one of the key points that will make your weaving go from "okay" to "smooth going with excellent results". Tension has an influence on the width of the band, the elongation of the motifs, and the ease of changing sheds. Fiddling with tension, to arrive at that point sometimes means working with very, very delicate adjustments, held by knots that will sit tight where they are... unless there are sudden, strong changes in the tension on these knots. Which is exactly what happens when you beat in the weft.

 

So I much prefer to press in the weft; I can even hold the band with one hand to build up counter-pressure if I want to press very strongly, using the weaving blade with the other hand. The curved shape allows me to use a kind of rocking or rolling motion across the fell, exerting pressure in a small spot at a time, so I can make sure that the fell is completely straight. No sharp, short motions, but a nice, quiet, gentle flowing move that fits in very well with my general style of movement when weaving.

 

In case you are curious enough now to want one of your own: Here is the shop link!

Because I'm busy with finishing up an article, and doing a bunch of other stuff in preparation of the fair season (which includes sorting through the goods inventory, and re-packing and re-organising things), you are getting a random tablet weave warping picture in lieu of a normal blog post:



I am easy to amuse or to make happy in some circumstances, and warping is one of them - I find it utterly satisfying to have the yarn flow out with even tension, and to have a nice, neat stack of tablets building up as I warp. (Which means, too, that my fingers itch to set tablets straight when someone else warps, and it's not a neat stack. Which, when you are showing how to warp to beginner weavers, is almost invariably the case...)

With the bonus warp, I've done some playing around - one thing I wanted to test was using a warp spreader (also known, in this testing instance, as "common comb") and see how this would work for me. Another thing on my list of stuff I'm itching to do was to play around with diagonals - when the ladies in the weekend weaving workshop in Belgium were in the diagonals stage, this desire suddenly jumped into my brain, and there it stayed.

So I spent a little time just fooling around - and I have some more ideas for the next bits.



I'm half pleased with some of the patterns and quite pleased with some others - and the overall impression would probably have been nicer with a purple weft thread instead of the white one, but ah, well, there's a few more metres to come...



... so I can fiddle with these eyes and peacock eyes and slanty bits some more.

Bruce's comment about the multi-spouted pot being maybe used as a lamp (thank you, Bruce!) was, it seems, not the first one. There's a German article about special forms, though, that comes to the conclusion that these multi-spout pots generally do not work well as a lamp. (See "Lampen im Barbaricum", p. 222, in Armbruester, Tanya, and Morten Hegewisch. Studien zur Archäologie Europas, edited by Joachim Henning, Achim Leube and Felix Biermann, vol. 11, Bonn 2010).
So... the spouty pot is probably not a lamp. Though it may have been used for some kind of drinking games, the one in Pfakofen was found in context with a spindle whorl, and there were cochineal lice inside the pot - placing it nicely in a textile work context.

When we were in Eindhoven with the first Textile Forum, there was also one of these pots replicated - and Viktoria Holmqvist mentioned that she'd always wanted to try one as a warping helper for tablet weaving. And so she did - with very good success.

It works like this: You thread the yarn ends through the spouts into the pot and out the middle hole, and then thread your tablets with them.



Then you place the balls of yarn into bowls or similar containers, so they don't roll about the floor like crazy, and you can start warping.



The trick is to pull upwards - if you do that, you will get a really smooth, evenly-tensioned flow of yarn from your spouty pot. I've tried this with a 5 m stretch between the warp end posts, and it still worked nicely, provided you pulled up (or as up as possible); for an even longer warp, I'd set a zigzag course instead of a straight line for warping, and then more length would not be an issue at all.

I've made quite a few warps, and pulling up is always a good idea, but using the pot makes things just... smoother, more evenly tensioned, and much, much more fun.

Bonus feature: It looks like dancing.



Second bonus feature: I now have a 5 metre warp with 20 tablets to play with...

Sometimes, things just line up, and then exciting things happen. Such as a weekend workshop on tablet weaving that I will give, on January 18-20 2019 - in a stunningly beautiful house in Méry, Belgium. I am utterly, utterly thrilled by this - and maybe you are too?

The house is the Merveille de Méry, a 19th century country house, lovingly restored and beautifully situated in woody grounds. It's near Liège, which means it is easy to reach by train (and there will be a shuttle service to the house).



My workshop will run from Friday late afternoon to Sunday afternoon, and we will explore in depth the structures of tablet weaving. The aim is to give you a deep understanding of how patterning in tablet weaving works:

- the differences in s- or z-warping
- their relation to patterns and turn directions
- how to tell where you are in a pattern
- how to see which thread colours will appear next in your band
- how to fix mistakes
- how to transition from threaded-in patterns with two colours to doublefaced weaves

These things are taught as part of a system, starting with making a continuous warp. The deep understanding of how tablet weaving works, together with this system, will enable you to:

- analyse, understand, and copy bands that you see
- draft your own patterns with two or more colours
- weave patterned bands without any pattern draft, similar to how bands have been woven in the past.

This workshop may even take you to the basics of weaving 3/1 broken twill - the type of patterning used in the most complex of medieval tablet woven bands.

Workshop start is Friday, January 18, 6 pm; you can arrive at the house from 2 pm. The workshop ends on Sunday, January 20, at 4 pm. If you are travelling by train, a shuttle service from Liège to Méry on Friday and back on Sunday is possible.

I'm so delighted to be able to offer this - I've been wanting to do a larger tablet weaving workshop for a while now, and to have the opportunity to do it in such a stunning house, where we will have one room dedicated to our weaving and the rest of the house to relax between sessions, this is just awesome.

If you are interested, you can book your spot - including food and drink! - via my shop. If you book before December 10, you get the Early Bird Special Price of 395 €; after this, the regular fee is 425 €.

I'm already looking forward to this so much!