Brocade Sampler, 8th and maybe the last post -- it's finished!

Done!

Here are the last few in-progress pics:

The top photo is a 13-tablet pattern taken from Ecclesiastical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstances, p.120.  It's the border from band "2. Band on the chasuble attributed to St. Wolfgang, Bishop of Regensburg, 11th/12th century".  I did two repeats.

The middle photo has two motifs.  The one on the left is a 9-tablet pattern from the Saxon Rabbit handout, from Grave 44 mid 6th century, Lyminge, Kent, pattern 10 in the Crowfoot paper.  I did 4 pattern repeats.  The longer one on the right is a 13-tablet pattern from Anna Neuper's Modelbuch, No. 76 (fol 79v), p.56.  I did 4 pattern repeats.

I ran out of background weft at this point.  The new stuff is the same color but maybe a bit thicker and softer.  It doesn't matter.

The bottom photo has the last two motifs.  The motif on the left is a 9-tablet pattern from Roslein und Wecklein, #214, p.179.  I did 2 repeats.  (Hmm, it would look nice with a pearl or pretty bead in the spot between motifs.)  The motif on the right, the last one, is a 13-tablet pattern, a motif adapted from EC&AC, p. 134, pattern "17. Bands on a pontifical skull cap, 11th/12th century".  I did the little diamond motif on the upper left part of the chart, 2 diamonds and then one more row to close up the upper diamond.

I maybe could have gotten one more small motif in, but I decided that was enough, and so endeth my first brocade sampler band.

Fresh off the tablets, unblocked, the band is about 5/8" wide and about 63" long.

There are 25 different motifs.  Wow.  I didn't even get to all of the charts I'd printed out, and also didn't end up making up more of my own patterns.

Many of the motifs look better in person.  The brocade weft is shiny enough that it affects how the pics look.  Not surprisingly, the later motifs tend to look better than the earlier ones I did.

I'm still working on consistency though I'm getting better.  Adding a brocade border stripe, as many of the historic patterns did, probably helps with that since then the slight angle difference at the turning points will be in the edge stripe rather than in the main motif.

I really like the interplay of positive and negative space -- both the brocade and the tiedowns (in the background warp) make interesting patterns.

I'm pretty sure I managed to not accidentally weave any swastikas.

Brocade is pretty easy as tablet-weaving techniques go, at least for the basics, and really about the same, time-wise, as other fiddly tablet-weaving techniques.

I'll definitely do brocade again!  It'll be interesting to do it with silk and/or metallic threads, similar to the materials used for many of the historic bands.

Now to decide what project I feel like doing next.  So many possibilities but nothing is screaming at me.  So I'll do some thinking and browsing of books and websites and what-not to see what appeals.

Brocade sampler, 7th post (and still going....)

Another three samples in my brocade sampler are in this pic.

The left one is  a 13-tablet pattern from Roslein und Wecklein, #169 on p.151.  I did 4 pattern repeats.  The middle one is a 13-tablet pattern from Anna Neuper's Modelbuch, pattern No. 74 (fol 78v), p,54.  I did 3 pattern repeats.  Since the left is 12 rows long and the middle 16, each one is 48 rows long.

The one on the right is a 13-tablet motif from Roslein und Wecklein, #164 on p.147.  I did one repeat because I didn't feel like doing two.  I assume this little motif is a standalone star rather than a repeating motif.  And of course I could have added pearls!

I like all of these.  I'm also able to unweave fairly quickly when I notice a problem, assuming the problem isn't so far back that I prefer to ignore it.  I feel fairly comfortable doing brocade, so this band achieved its hoped-for purpose.  I can add brocade to the list of techniques I have experience with.  I'll do it again, for sure.

What next for this sampler?  Possibly a few more 13-tablet patterns from R+W and ANM.  Maybe another coptic.  Maybe some free-association stuff, or another Birka (if there are others that fit into my band's number of tablets).  I'm also going to see if anything from Ecclesiastical Pomp is narrow enough.

I probably won't bother switching brocade thread since I still have plenty of this stuff left.  But you never know.  And if nothing else appeals, I can plain-weave until the end, or play around with texture patterns on the monochrome warp

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Brocade sampler, fifth post

I might do another motif or two today, but just in case I don't, here's what I've done recently on my little brocade sampler band.

The one on the left is another 6th century Saxon band, from the Saxon Rabbit handout.  (I don't think it's in the Crowfoot paper.)  It's from Sarre, Kent.  I think I did about 6 repeats.

The middle one is Birka B18.  I used the chart on Aisling's website, not that it really needs a chart.  I did 5 repeats.

The one of the right is from Anna Neuper's Modelbuch, pattern number 85 (fol 83r), the middle pattern on p.47.  I did 2 repeats.

Birka B18 is a 10-tablet pattern and the other two are 9-tablet patterns.

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Random free-association verbiage:

These Saxon patterns are still a bit hard for me to do well with this particular brocade thread.  The over-1-tablet vs over-3 tablet sections don't quite have the same consistency in the way they look, which obscures the pattern somewhat.  They look good at some angles but not all angles.  Looking back at the earlier ones I did, the little ones where most of the brocading went over 1 tablet are the most effective, at least for this brocade thread and my current level of competence (near-novice).

I like the Anne Neuper pattern.  The pattern of the background is interesting and sufficiently contrasting with the brocade.  And most of the brocade is over 2 or more tablets so the pattern appears more consistent.  A lot of the smaller patterns in the Modelbuch are these kinds of zigzags and diamonds -- they've very distinctive and self-consistent in their design sensibilities.  And yeah, it would have been cool to see the original patterns with their distinctive notation in addition to the modern charting.  I like that Claudia Wollny did that for the Col. Pad. Germ. 551 patterns.

The Birka B18 pattern is also nice.  Simple and easy, but effective.

I don't know how many Birka patterns I'll want to do (not now, but eventually).  Some people have a goal of weaving all of them.  Many of them are not particularly appealing/attractive to me.  Several have swastikas, which are too poisoned by modern political horrors, and I won't knowingly weave that motif.

I like the version of B2 I've seen, where there are interlocking braids separated by Xs, sometimes alternating with a stretch of the variation that is shown in fragment f (figure 19 f) in the Birka report.

B12 (figure 19 i) is something I've woven as a 4-threaded diagonals pattern, many years ago.  I didn't know it was originally a brocaded band from the Birka find.  I don't know if I'd want to do it again as a brocade.

B22 (figure 20 b) is kind of interesting, both the lower part (the interlocking brickwork) and the more elaborate upper part.  The lower part of B6 (figure 20 a) is cute, but the upper part has too many swastikas.

None of the others that are in the Birka report on p.82-83 interest me at the moment.  Hmm, I wonder where the other bands can be seen, since B18 is not in the sketches on p.82-82.  Oh, duh, they're photographed in the back of the book, in the various tables.  I should see if there are more motifs that look fun, though it's kind of hard for me to make out the patterns except for a few fairly clear areas.  I greatly respect the people who decipher and re-create the patterns in these archaeologic specimens.

There are some cool patterns I want to do from the Nancy Spies Ecclesiastical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstance book.  That might be another warp, since a lot of the ones I want to try are a minimum of 15 tablet patterns and I only warped up 13 tablets.

There are other patterns that are on Aisling's website I want to try.  Some require more than 13 tablets, alas, but a few are narrower.  They're on my list...  And maybe I'll do more from her Egyptian tablet weaving book.

Now that I'm starting to feel comfortable with basic brocade, I'm thinking about "what next?"  Do I want to try anything else new with this band beyond a sampling of motifs, such as a second brocade color or a different brocade thread?  What kind of brocade do I want to make an entire band from, if anything?  Or should I do shorter sections?  Something that could be fun is a belt with occasional brocaded motifs, possibly made with little metal studs every now and then between the brocade.  Or I could do short lengths for cuffs or keychains or bookmarks.

Also, what do I want to tablet-weave next?  (and that's in addition to thoughts about sprang, fingerloop braiding, kumihimo on the marudai, spinning, knitting, and other semi-obsessions)  Icelandic double-cloth or pebble weave?  More brocade?  Some 2-hole or Sulawesi or 3/1 twill?  More cords?  Or something else entirely?

Here's a close-up of the Anna Neuper pattern no 85 again, just because:

No, it's not perfect, and yes, my cat has been sitting on it.  But it is cute.  And it shows that I am improving.

I'm glad that brocade is now something I've tried, that I'm comfortable doing, and that I'm willing to do again.