A Little Less Color

Playing around with some left over fabric. I think I wove this sometime last year. It is either Swedish Lace or Bronson Lace... they both go on the loom differently but look the same when off the loom. (the bit of background is overshot-it's a sample too!)

I have added some crochet snowflakes and distressed this to look like an old photo album. My photos are of some of the Weaving Divas. I am trying to get organized!

Bronson Lace continues...

Go the reed slayed to 16 epi, but I am still not satisfied with this sett. Not for a scarf-anyway! So I just kept weaving and wondering what I would end up with. A little crochet strap and you get this:

As you can see, it is wet. I think it is laying on a towel made by Dawn.

A few thoughts about this Bronson lace draft.

1... It had me put every other thread on the back (shaft 7). I don't know if that was my main problem or not. My shafts all raised instead of some staying down like they were suppose to.

2...... I tried to work with the sett to get more drape.(and help with the shaft problem)

3...... Made a nice dense fabric not suitable for a scarf, but OK for a purse.

Still working on the summer and winter painted warp scarf. But will be thinking about what to do with the rest of this Bronson lace warp........................................... any ideas?

Bronson Lace

I am "trying" to weave a Bronson lace silk scarf. I had the warp sett at 20- epi, but that was to close. So I am re-slayed the reed. I will try for 16 epi.

NO- Back to the Other Warp

Yep, this is the Bronson lace-spot warp. I threaded every other color into the heddles and dark thread all landed on shaft 7. I would usually put every other thread on shaft 1...but this had me put them on the back shaft. So I should be reading my treadling from the bottom to top.... but nah! I am used to seeing what I weave upside down. Crazy me!!

My sample, so don't look at the edges. Sloppy-sloppy!!

Another Project - Bronson Spot and Lace Combined

Yikes.... I just realized that by November and December I will need to have woven my 'surprises' for my two different guild gift exchanges. Well..... I am working one here. It is nubby silk, two colors in the warp, I wound them separately on the wrapping board, Now I am combining them as I pull them through the reed.
I am going to weave a version of Bronson lace and spot combined.

I am using two different 'threading blocks' to hold the crosses while I pull each thread into it's appropriate place. Keeps both of my hands free while I work.

If you have this publication: Versatile Bronson by Dorothy S. Burton, Monograph Five, you can find my draft on page 41.  I will either weft this with the yellow, beige, or I might try a cream. SAMPLING to come after I get this the tensioned on the loom.

New Project - A Kit

I found a "kit" that I had purchased a while back and thought I would give it a go. Of course, right of the bat it told me to measure a 1.75 yard warp and not a 2 yard warp or I wouldn't have enough yarn. Who ever does a 1.75 yard warp? So I found some same size, different color, in my stash and wound the required 159 ends.

The next thing I did was enter the draft into my weaving software so I would know how many heddles I needed on which shaft. I found out that I need two more threads than the kit calls for. Humm.

It's called a "Bronson Lace" draft. Well, as you know I will have to research that and see if it really is "Bronson Lace" or not. But for now, here is through the reed.

Summer and Winter Towels (Samples) Done

Yes, we have come to the end of the workshop summer and winter finger tip towels that were really samples!!! 

These two towels are threaded on a single two-tie THREADING (summer and winter) but woven with one shuttle. So they are not summer and winter, just some interesting towels using  Huck and Bronson lace-fashion of weaving. This was a lesson on using your single two-tie threading and getting several different looks with different treadlings, using traditional and non-traditional wefting.

So the next time you see a four shaft single two-tie draft, take a second look and think of some of the different effects you could do with it.

Another One Shuttle Weave on SW Threading- Bronson

This example could be called the Bronson Effect.

Using my summer and winter THREADING of two blocks and using only one shuttle this is called a 'Bronson Lace Treadling Sequence'. I think this will resemble a waffle weave effect when washed. These one shuttle weaves are much faster to weave than traditional summer and winter. This cannot be called S&W because we do not treadle according to the rules. It's more of a 'method' of weaving.

My treadling sequence is:

1-2, 1-4, 1-2, 1-4, 1-2, 3-4

1-2, 1-3, 1-2, 1-3, 1-2, 3-4    repeat for desired length.

For those who have access to the Handweaver Guild of America library you might be able to check out SUMMER AND WINTER STUDY of DES MOINES WEAVERS GUILD, Marian Powell. Their study of summer and winter has endless possibilities to explore. My example from yesterdays post and today's came from that source. I didn't see a date, so hopefully the title will help you find this publication.

Bronson Lace or Swedish Lace???

After reading more of Monograph Five, Versatile Bronson by Dorothy Burton, I am thinking that this kit for a Bronson Lace project is really Swedish Lace. According to the text in this monograph,  "To identify a Bronson threading draft on has only to note that every other thread is on a single harness." And as I said in the last post: Block A is 1-2-1-2-1-4 and Block B is 4-3-4-3-4-1.

Mary E. Black in her book New Key To Weaving (1949) says, "there is so little difference between the finished appearance of Swedish lace and Bronson lace that weavers are at a loss to differentiate them."

So I will continue to thread the heddles and weave with linen and have a lovely runner when done.

Linen through the heddles.

Bronson Lace Through Reed

I have the heddles counted out and was able to get the threads through the reed. So far the linen is behaving.

Next order of business will be to get the heddles threaded.......................

Bronson Lace History Lesson

Instead of getting my latest project on the loom, I have been doing a bit of reading about Bronson Lace. According to Monograph Five, Versatile Bronson (1984) by Dorothy S. Burton, there are three basic Bronson weaves "Spot Bronson, Bronson Lace, and Bronson II." She goes on to state that "in Scandivavia, it is called Droppdrall and in Germany it is known as Gerstenkornbindung, while Marguerite Davison calls it Barleycorn." She says that tabby is 1 against all others, but for this kit, they are having me use 1-3 vs 2-4.

For this kit "Dinner With The Bronsons"

Block A is threaded 1-2-1-2-1-4

Block B is threaded 4-3-4-3-4-1

Tabby is 1-3 against 2-4

Block A is treadled: 1-3, 4, 1-3, 4, 1-3, 2-4 

balance for block A: 1-3, 4, 1-3, 4, 1-3

Block B is treadled: 2-4, 1, 2-4, 1, 2-4, 1-3 

balance for block B: 2-4, 1, 2-4, 1 2-4



This is an example of what this draft can look like. It is showing what the two different blocks will look like.



Bronson Lace

Now that I have my woven shibori scarves ready for the Weaving Diva's Dye Day in June, it's time to think about what my next project will be. I purchased a weaving kit from Yarn Barn-Kansas a year or so ago, and think that is what I will put on the loom.

I will be using 40/2 Normandy linen. It's a four shafts, four treadles draft. The instructions says "this Bronson lace project uses a two-block threading and treadling sequence." The name of the kit is: DINNER WITH THE BRONSONS.