Crackle Manners of Weaving: Polychrome

Samples #7 & 8 of my 4-shaft crackle manners of weaving sampler.

Poly (many), chrome (colors). In weaving, polychrome describes a category. The effect is produced by using a variety of weft colors, treadled in one of several ways to create blocks of color. 

I particularly like Susan Wilson's definition of polychrome, because it's based on her research of the weaving literature to find the common factors in all the definitions. I think this is important, because I'm seeing that many books describe only one of the various polychrome treadling patterns.

Polychrome Characteristics

• multiple weft colors (2, 3, or 4)
• typically a single warp color
• the treadling pattern creates blocks of color side by side
• includes a variety of treadling methods
• commonly used with crackle, but also overshot and summer & winter

Because polychrome covers a number of treadling methods, I chose a few to start and added examples from other blog posts. I may try more later, depending on how much sampler warp I have.

Resources

Usually, I put my resources at the end of the post, but since I'm picking and choosing from them for my sampler, I'll list them here and refer to the page numbers with each sample.

• Snyder, Mary E., The Crackle Weave (1961 edition)
• Brusic, Lucy M., A Crackle Weave Companion
• Wilson, Susan, Weave Classic Crackle & More

Sample #7: Polychrome Blocks (Snyder page 101, Brusic pages 52-53) 

 

#7 Polychrome Blocks

• 4 weft colors
• woven in overshot manner
• rotates 2 colors per block
• pattern weft is one color
• tabby is a different color
• rotate through the four colors as follows:
• Block 1 (lift shafts 1-2) 
• pattern: color #1
• tabby: color #2
• Block 2 (lift shafts 2-3)
• pattern: color #2
• tabby: color #3
• Block 3 (lift shafts 3-4)
• pattern: color #3
• tabby: color #4
• Block 4 (lift shafts 4-1)
• pattern: color #4
• tabby: color #1

Sample #7 polychrome blocks detail

Weaving Notes

• In my first picture, I can't see my blocks as distinct entities and am pondering this.
• Firstly, I'm thinking heavier pattern wefts would bring out the blocks more.
• Snyder's study recommends using 10/2 for both warp and weft, set at 24 e.p.i. I'm using 10/2s but my sett is 20 e.p.i. (as per Wilson's sampler instructions.) Can't help but wonder if I wouldn't like the tighter sett better.
• Also, I'm thinking the light color warp washes out the color effect of the blocks. I'll have to experiment with a darker warp in the future.
• Getting the sampler off the loom and wet finished with make a difference also.
• In general, the draft seemed complicated at first, but the sheds and color rotation are logical and easy to follow.

Sample #8: Traditional Polychrome (Wilson, pages 54, 57, 58) 

 

#8 Traditional Polychrome Crackle

• 3 shuttles
• 2 pattern wefts in different colors
• 1 tabby weft, can be same as warp or a different color
• colors and tabby are rotated in the same sequence throughout
• treadling is a 6 pick sequence (translated here as a lift plan because I'm using a table loom)
• Block A
• 3-4 (weft color 1)
• 1-4 (weft color 2)
• tabby a
• 3-4 (weft color 1)
• 1-4 (weft color 2)
• tabby b
• Block B
• 1-4 (weft color 1)
• 1-2 (weft color 2)
• tabby a
• 1-4 (weft color 1)
• 1-2 (weft color 2)
• tabby b
• Block C
• 1-2 (weft color 1)
• 2-3 (weft color 2)
• tabby a
• 1-2 (weft color 1)
• 2-3 (weft color 2)
• tabby b
• Block D
• 2-3 (weft color 1)
• 3-4 (weft color 2)
• tabby a
• 2-3 (weft color 1)
• 3-4 (weft color 2)
• tabby b

Weaving Notes

• In light of my observations for sample #7, I decided to use a heavier pattern weft.
• warp and tabby are 10/2 in natural
• pattern wefts are red and dark gray in 6/2
• I think that was a good choice.

More examples of polychrome from previous posts projects

Classic Crackle sample #2, details here.

On Opposites Photo is from my Cottage Windows table runner 

• In weaving, opposites can refer to either:
• Alternating opposite sheds. For example, a shed from shafts 1-2 is alternated with 3-4. Contrasting colors are used for the wefts. Tabby is optional, but produces a more stable fabric.
• Pattern blocks. For example, one pattern block is treadled with shafts 2-3 for so many shots, and then treadled 1-2 for so many shots. The second block is treadled with the opposite shafts 4-1 and 3-4. With this treadling, tabby must be used to avoid long warp floats.
• produces a weft-faced fabric
• See Weaving On Opposites for more information.

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Polychrome

© Oct 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts

Crackle Weave Study Part 1: Manners of Weaving on 4 Shafts

Crackle Weave: Manners of Weaving (an index)

Crackle Weave: Manners of Weaving

Change is in the air! I'm revamping this page, so it's changing frequently.

Initially, I was going to call this blog post "Crackle Weave: Treadling," because treadling seemed like the next topic in a logical progression of notes:

• History
• Resources
• Threading
• Tie-Up

Except with crackle, there's so much more to it. Treadling is where the fun begins because this is when the patterns reveal themselves on the loom. But also part of the equation are yarn choices (colors, number, and types of weft, etc.) plus the way it's threaded. So I changed the name of the post to better reflect that. 

This page has evolved over time to become an index of sorts. Each example is (i.e. will be, as I update the page) linked to pages discussing the particulars of each manner of weaving, plus more examples of the variations.

Classic Crackle

Bathmat in 4-ply cotton

Summery: Classic crackle is woven with 3-shuttles, using a pattern and two background wefts instead of tabby. It's popular for color weaving as different colors can be used on each shuttle. Details and more examples here.

Overshot Manner (also called traditional crackle)

threading - Scandinavian Favorite

Summary: Overshot manner crackle is woven with 2 shuttles, alternating pattern and tabby wefts. This is probably the most popular form of crackle. Details and more examples here.

As-Drawn-In (also called tromp-as-writ)

• treadling simply follows the threading draft
• uses two shuttles
• alternates pattern and tabby wefts
• pattern weft - contrasting color to warp and tabby wefts and heavier
• tabby weft - same as warp (but may be different color)

Plain Weave

threading - Scandinavian Favorite

• one shuttle weave (no tabby)
• alternates plain weave sheds: 1 & 3 and 2 & 4
• typically used to start or finish off a warp
• threading pattern is pretty much lost with plain weave treadling

As Twill

Twill treadling without tabby (here, a birds eye variation)

Summery: Crackle is a twill based structure, so any of the balanced (2/2) twill treadlings will work. It can be woven with or without tabby. More examples and details here.

Polychrome (poly= many, chrome = color)

Summary: Methods of treadling that produce blocks of color side by side. More examples and information here.

On Opposites

"Cottage Windows." An on-opposites pattern produced from opposite pattern blocks.

Summary: "On opposites" can refer to alternating opposite sheds or weaving opposite pattern blocks. More examples and details here.

Italian Manner (also called Italian style or Italian method)

• three shuttles
• one pattern weft (often the heaviest yarn)
• two background wefts (called "a" and "b," and typically similar in size to the warp)
• often a three-color weave
• pattern is typically one color
• background wefts can be two different colors or the same
• various methods of treadling
• can be applied to a variety of weave structures
• treadling sequence is four shots
• Pattern
• Background A
• Pattern
• Background b
• background wefts use opposite sheds between the pattern shots, either
• 1-2 and 3-4
• 1-4 and 2-3
• no tabby. The Italian manner replaces tabby with a different set of opposite sheds.
• emphasis is on color
• The color sequence remains consistent throughout, it is the treadling that progresses with each block. Eg. 
• A alternates 1-2 and 3-4
• B alternates 2-3 and 4-1
• C alternates 3-4 and 1-2
• D alternates 4-1 and 2-3
• can also be woven with one or two shuttles
• See The Italian Manner for more details

There are others, but I'm going to stop here for now, as this will give me plenty to work on.  Hopefully, I can add more in the future. Also, I plan to add photos of each as I work my way through them. 

Crackle Weave: Manners of Weaving

 © 2023 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:

Crackle Weave: Somewhat of a History 

Crackle Weave: Resources

Crackle Weave: Threading 

Crackle Weave: Tie-Up  

Shams And Rags

By Leigh

I finished my quilted pillow shams!

They aren't perfect, but I think they look well enough with the comforter.

I've also been cutting rag strips for the matching rag rug.

If you recall, this is going to be a summer & winter polychrome rag rug. This means that I will use a S & W threading, but will throw two different colored pattern shots between tabby shots. The whole thing is straightforward enough that I don't need to make a full drawdown for it. The threading will be a 2-block (4-shaft) summer and winter.

My sett will be 16 epi, and I want the squares to be the same size as those in the shams, 4 inches. That means each square will have 64 ends. With a threading unit of 4 ends, each block will be 16 units. I haven't calculated the width yet, probably four feet, for which I would need about 12 blocks and 768 ends. Length needs to be about 6 feet, which will probably require miles of rags!

Treadling will alternate two colors per block, following the same sequence as my pillow shams:

Pattern shot - blue
Pattern shot - green
Tabby a
Pattern shot - blue
Pattern shot - green
Tabby b
Repeat for four inches

Pattern shot - green
Pattern shot - brown
Tabby a
Pattern shot - green
Pattern shot - brown
Tabby b
Repeat for four inches

Pattern shot - brown
Pattern shot - blue
Tabby a
Pattern shot - brown
Pattern shot - blue
Tabby b
Repeat for four inches

Repeat

Rag cutting is rather slow going, I admit, but I can't get to my loom anyway, until we get the dining room floor down (which is next on the indoor project list). I started out measuring the width of the rags, but quickly abandoned that in preference to the eyeball method. It's faster and it will be close enough!

To be continued ........ one of these days.

© 12 November 2009 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
A Little Quilting
Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 1
Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 2

Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 2

Thank you, All, for your good wishes on my first year of blogging. I have a quick question about my new template, and would appreciate feedback. I use the Firefox web browser, but checked my new look in Internet Explorer 7 (since different browsers tend to do different things with the codes). I was dismayed to see that in IE7, the blue line at the top overlaps the bottom of my title and description. I couldn't figure out what to do in my template about this, especially as I found that the overlapping didn't occur in the preview window. Is anyone else seeing these overlapped?

Now, here's what I want to show you......

This is my second rug in polychrome, using the same threading as the first one. It measures 19 by 31 inches, plus 3 inch fringes on either end. Of course, I was silly enough to ignore the wise advice I have heard repeatedly, "Always put on more warp than you think you'll use," and had to tie on more to weave this one.

Marie asked about the rug filler I used. Yes, it does look like mop cotton!

Now, I did not purchase this, it came from the weaver from whom I bought my loom, who included all her weaving yarns too. I suspect the wrapper is exceptionally out of date; indeed, I wouldn't even know where to get this stuff.

It is a 4 ply worsted weight cotton yarn, similar to the sugar & cream type crochet cottons. It measures 12 WPI (if one thinks like a spinner) or 750 yards per pound (if one thinks like a weaver).

It does not make for an especially thick, nor sturdy floor rug. It would probably do best in low traffic areas or as a run-and-slide cat toy across a hardwood floor. I think it would be better suited for heavy blankets, or a throw across the back of a chair than for the floor. But what the heck, I just used what I had. In fact, I would never have purchased this color combination, I just challenged myself to use what I had. It took quite a bit of experimenting to come up with a color scheme that I liked, but once I got weaving, the spring-like Easter colors grew on me.

I took both my little rugs to the monthly WNCF/H Guild meeting where, in preparation for the program on rug hooking, the show-and-tell theme was "rugs."


Quite a few gorgeous rugs to admire, as you can see. Lots of good ideas to tuck away for future use. I can't say that I see myself as a rug weaver, but I do like the idea of creating items which are both useful and functional. So ........ maybe someday ........

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 1
Summer & Winter: Structure and Theory
My Fascination with Fibonacci
Gallery Photos: Rugs

Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 1

I finished this little rug over the weekend. Annie Ham of The Netherlands, who led the Online Guild's Summer & Winter Weaving Workshop closed the month out with a handout of various treadling possibilities for summer & winter. The first was polychrome. After my polychrome sample dishtowel, I wanted to explore this a little further.

The idea to do a small rug came because April's meeting of the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild will feature a rug themed show-and-tell, since April's program is on rug hooking.

Here are my rug's particulars:

Warp - 10/4 cotton rug warp
Sett - 12 epi
Pattern weft - 4 ply crochet/rug filler cotton, alternating 3 colors.
Tabby weft - 6/2 cotton
Threading - 2 block S&W with repeating 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 Fib stripes
Treadling - as drawn in
Finished size - 20 by 32 inches plus 3 inch fringe

Ordinarily I wouldn't choose to use these colors; I just used what I found in my stash. I had to experiment a little, but am happy with the result!

What makes polychrome a little different from traditional summer and winter treadling is rather than alternating pattern and tabby shots, two weft picks (of different colors) are thrown and then the tabby shot. The resulting effect is a lot of fun to weave. One's mind goes on and on with endless possibilities!

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 2
Summer & Winter: Structure and Theory
My Fascination with Fibonacci
Gallery Photos: Rugs

Summer & Winter: 1st Dishtowels

By Leigh

After I completed my summer & winter sampler from the Online Guild weaving workshop, I decided that I needed to go back to the beginning and work more slowly through the workshop notes. Samplers are fun to weave and an excellent way to explore ideas and to test yarns, colors, setts, shrinkage, etc., but I find that if I really want understand a weave structure, then I need to spend some time working with it. It is not only my head which needs to understand it, but my hands and feet need to understand it as well. So I went back to my idea of weaving dishtowels as samplers.

I warped my loom in 8/2 lime green cotton, set at 16 ends per inch; enough for 6 dishtowels. My tabby weft was the same as the warp, and my pattern weft was a navy 5/2 cotton. I threaded a simple repeating Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8) and treadled it the same way, aka "as drawn in." I previously shared the threading for two block summer and winter with you in this post.

The tie-up I used is on the left. I believe that it is pretty standard for a four shaft, six treadle loom. The first two treadles on the left alternate to create the tabby weave. A tabby shot is thrown between each pattern shot.

With this tie-up, I wove through the four basic summer and winter treadling ways, and then tried two more for the last two towels.

First is the traditional way of treadling which close-up, makes the weft look something like bricks in a wall. (Can't see it from this photo I'm afraid.)

The pattern is treadled by alternating the pattern shafts, 1-2-1-2. So one block is woven on treadles 3 and 4, the other on 5 and 6, each time with a tabby shot thrown between.

Next is the X's treadling, which requires paired pattern shafts, 2-1-1-2. So one block is woven on treadles 3 and 4 (4-3-3-4), the other on 5 and 6 (6-5-5-6), each time with a tabby shot thrown between.

You can see the X's in that pattern above. I liked the look of that one.

Then I wove a towel in the O's treadling, which is also a paired treadling, except that it starts on the other pattern shaft. So it is treadled 1-2-2-1.

One block in treadled 3-4-4-3, and the other, 5-6-6-5, with the tabby shots in between. You can see the O's in the above photo.

The thing about the X's and O's is that since summer and winter is a reversible weave, then no matter which of them one weaves, the other appears on the back side. While I like the X's pattern better, I found that the O's was easier to keep count of while I was weaving.

The one I really like, however, is the dukagång treadling, which weaves columns.

It can be woven two ways (on a four shaft loom) by choosing either the first pattern shaft or the second. Mine was woven by simply alternating the 3rd treadle with tabby, or the 5th treadle with tabby, depending upon which block I wanted to weave. I could have used the 4th and 6th treadles if I'd preferred. But I didn't.

The next towel I tried in polychrome, which is a variation of summer and winter which requires two pattern weft colors in addition to the tabby. Each color is shot, and then the tabby, so that the tabby shuttle is thrown every third pick.

At this point I hadn't figured out how to alternate for the blocks, so I wove stripes, but I really liked the effect and immediately started the mental planning for a polychrome project. In addition to the lime green tabby and navy blue weft, I added a dark gray 5/2 cotton for my second pattern weft and got the above result.

After this I had enough warp for one more dishtowel, so I switched the tabby and pattern wefts, using the lime green for the pattern shots, and the navy for the tabby. This resulted in a muted effect, below.

These barely scratch the surface of what can be done with summer and winter, and I have the feeling that I may be spending a long time exploring the possibilities.

© 6 April. 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
Summer & Winter: Structure and Theory
Summer & Winter: 2nd Dishtowels
My Fascination with Fibonacci