Weaving a Chuppah

[Zygote]

Rather than plug up an existing thread, I'm putting this image heavy tome here.

The wedding is over. The brides absolutely loved the chuppah, which is good. By the end of this project, all I could see were the errors and shortcomings. But the wedding happened and was fabulous, so I suppose the chuppah functioned as it should have, which was the general idea from the start. So I'm here to celebrate three things: a friendship that has lasted over 40 years (with the bride on the left), her love for her new spouse, and the completion of the most complicated thing I have ever woven, or ever wish to weave.


Picture 1:

This shows the project on the loom. Each of the nearly 800 white warp threads passes through an eye on one of the four frames in the center of the loom. These are lifted by six treadles (one for each possible pair). The shuttles pass through the opening made when a treadle is pressed and the threads that are laid in place make the interlacement which is cloth.

In this case, there are two shuttles going. The peach one goes all the way across with each turn, weaving a plain over-one, under-one background cloth. The peach alternates with the purple pattern weft. For the purple, the warp threads are lifted so that sometimes the purple jumps over many warp threads at a time, making a pattern that shows. Two shuttle weaving like this is called "overshot." Historically, it was used in colonial coverlets and is considered to be a primarily American art form.

In this project, the purple does not go all the way across the cloth, but is pulled out according to the outline of the woven pattern. This is called inlay and is a pain in the butt, but I love the effect.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/OnLoom_P1030073.jpg


Picture 2:

To accomodate the brides' chosen colors and preferences, the pattern fades from teal to rose to teal on one side and from purple to rose to purple on the other. It's too many colors for a single weaving, IMO, but what are weddings for if not for wretched excess?

This fading meant that sometimes I was working with not two, but three shuttles at a time. The peach is still just for the plain background.http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/3Shuttles_P1030070.jpg


Picture 3:

This shows a detail of the pattern and weave structure.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/detail_0406.jpg

Picture 4:

Here's the whole thing. Two panels were woven separately and then sewn together. The chuppah can be taken apart at a later time and used as two shawls if the brides choose to do so.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/WholeChuppah_0180.jpg

Picture 5:

Here is the final result, all set up and ready to go.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/Ready_0199.jpg


Picture 6:

If you've made it this far, you deserve to see the chuppah in action. It was a beautiful wedding and the rabbi injected all sorts of asides that brought out personal, political and humorous aspects of the marriage. He was great.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/Wedding_0233.jpg

[Cath B]

Wow! I'm impressed!

That's amazing!

:clap::clap::clap:

[Christina]

That's incredible, Zygote. Thanks so much for posting the pictures. How many hours does something like that take?

It's funny how every little mistake jumps out at us in things that we make but we always judge other people's work far more charitably and don't even see the little things, just the overall effect.

[Zygote]

I didn't count the hours. Once I had gotten the nuances of the weaving technique down, I could weave about a foot an hour. The beginning parts took much longer as I worked out the fades, tensioning the pattern color so that it didn't tug holes in the middle of the piece, and the ins and outs of following the meandering pattern.

In the course of not following the meanders properly, I spent a total of at least an hour taking out incorrect bits. I was pressed for time and left the last error in. You can see it in the three shuttles picture.

Then I had to compensate for the thoroughly avoidable error of not having enough warp on and taking up too much warp on practice at the beginning. I had to tie extensions on to each and every one of the 800 warp threads to give me enough warp to be able to weave up to the end of the pattern. My original warp was long enough so that I didn't have to do splices in mid weaving, but I only had inches to spare. That little oversight cost me about 6 hours. But I had no other option. I had to do it to finish the piece.

If I were to do it over again now, it would take about 5 hours to thread and about 15 hours to weave) plus a few hours to sew the center seam and hems and tidy up loose ends. But this one probably took closer to 30 hours, maybe more. Like I said, I wasn't keeping track exactly.

[miss djax]

that is absolutely amazing! thank you for sharing!!!

[Christina]

I was pressed for time and left the last error in. You can see it in the three shuttles picture.
Maybe you can, but I can't.

I had to tie extensions on to each and every one of the 800 warp threads...
:eek:

I would have had to cry and throw an tantrum for an hour or 2 first.

[Anne]

that is amazing work, and an awesome memento.

And, to have two shawls for later? Great idea and lovely for the brides.

weaving seems like it should be so... great.

[Garnet]

Wow!

[frazier]

That looks beautiful.

I've always thought that looms were a fascinating piece of ancient engineering. I'm glad someone still uses them!

[VenDexter]

That's amazing!

You've got talent for sure.

Congratulations on such a friendship.

[Josie]

That is gorgeous. It makes my poor afghans look like a kids art class project.

[Zygote]

Where to start? First of all, thanks to all for your appreciation. I'm beginning to forget my dark thoughts as I wrestled with one error after another.

But Josie, I'd hate for this to contribute, even in the smallest way, to you feeling less wonderful about your afghans. Weaving has always struck me as cheating a bit when it comes to making blankets and stuff like that. Here's this big piece of machinery automating so much of the work that it feels like factory production sometimes. The two processes and products are so different, it's like comparing handmade sweaters and designer dresses. Honestly, I'd rather have the sweater.

[Josie]

I've always been fascinated by weaving, then I actually saw a loom, and all the work that goes into it, and thought "Oh hell, no."

I am pretty proud of my afghans, they do turn out nice. This is the nicest one I currently have, most of the others I've made have been given away.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k15/miorose/DSCI0033.jpg

Any guesses as to hubby's passion? :D

eww, I should have cropped that first, ignore the mess, please

[Zygote]

That is a gorgeous piece of work. Did you design it yourself?

Looms take a lot of time to set up, the equipment takes up a lot of space, and you can't take them with you to work on when you visit friends. I find the repetitive tasks to be somewhat meditative and peaceful. Those who find them burdensome or frustrating don't stick with weaving for very long.

It's a very different sort of process from crocheting and knitting. I knit fingerless gloves and take them along to work on when I go places.

[Christina]

I've copied the posts about both weaving and crocheting and moved the posts that were only about crocheting all to the Knitting Thread (http://www.secularcafe.org/showthread.php?p=43735&#post43735).