The Chinese puzzle

Twice a year, our group, which began in Wilhelminaoord in 2015, gathers together. Over the years, the composition has changed slightly, but the current group is incredibly nice. Those weekends are always wonderful! We enjoy all the beautiful things that have been made, but also each other’s company. It’s a weaving weekend that anyone would cherish.

This past weekend, we met once more. As per our tradition, we always set a goal, ideally involving a new technique, although finding fresh challenges for us as experienced weavers becomes increasingly difficult. This time, our focus was on the “Chinese band”. Agaath once went on a textile trip to China and bought a beautiful band there. She documented her experience with videos and photos of a weaver crafting the band. This band is unique, with a structural pattern where the weft plays a crucial role—something we tablet weavers rarely explore.

Normally, this band is made with hexagonal tablets, but at Vlechtschool, I once made a variant using regular square tablet. However, I couldn’t quite remember the exact method, and Agaath was also unsure about the specifics of the hexagonal variant. Our solution: Agaath would bring the videos, the band, and the setup with hexagonal tablets, while I had partial knowledge of the square tablet technique, and together, we would figure it out. With so much tablet weaving expertise in one place, we were bound to make progress.

And so, we set to work. Saturday was dedicated to threading the tablets, starting the project, and seeing where it led us. We had different variations to try out. Three of us worked with just the tablets, Agaath used a board with the tablets aligned to a reed, and I used a table loom with the tablets positioned behind the reed.

Tablets on a table loom with a reed… it was quite the brain teaser. While the “regular tablet weavers” quickly got to work, Agaath and I were still figuring out how to use the reed. How do you distribute the cards? One tablet per opening, ensuring the weft is visible between different sections, but what should the density be, and where do you leave gaps?

After my first failed attempt with a 30/10 reed, Agaath managed a reasonable setup with a 40/10 reed, while I was still fumbling with converting the 30/10 reed to a 50/10 reed. With sighs and groans (“Did you just curse?”), but also a lot of joy, I made it through the day. To the great amusement of the rest of the group, as I usually get started fairly quickly. By 5 PM, the setup was finally done, but by 6 PM, we had to leave for dinner. Ten weft passes, of which two were pattern rows: not a bad result for a day’s hard work.

Sunday continued, and the results started to look good! The “regular tablet weavers” made rapid progress: diamonds, squares, and even mushrooms appeared. Agaath achieved the desired result, and eventually, everything worked out for me too. Agaath even dared to start with the hexagonal cards after we watched all the videos in our “home cinema”. Now, it was time for fine-tuning: how do you start and finish a pattern neatly? What is the difference between square and hexagonal cards? In short, we all left with homework.

I’m curious to see where our collective puzzle will lead us, as we’ve come a long way, but we’re not quite there yet. Interestingly, our group has little contact between the weekends. So, it’ll be another six months before we see the results. I’m already looking forward to it!

To be continued…