Creating long, wide braided bands

​The German Archaeology Institute in Berlin, and in particular individuals working on their Silk Road Fashion Project have invited me to work with them in the past. My job has been to create braided bands. In 2016 I assisted with the project recreating the outfit worn with the world’s oldest known pair of trousers.
Check out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl7siWwzibs
 
More recently I was asked to create braided bands of a structure that is a 2-2 twill with a vertical rib. The desired length for the bands varied from some 1.3 meters to 11 meters long. 

Initially ​ I thought I could create the shorter bands using circular warp sprang. I have successfully worked 2-2 twill with horizontal ribs using the sprang technique and found that the line between the work and the mirror-image section is almost impossible to detect. Experiments to use circular warp to create the 2-2 twill structure with vertical ribs always had an irregularity between the cloth and it’s mirror-image cloth. Trying to work the initial row several different ways, I always came up with the same result, a flaw in the cloth where the work met the mirror image.

sample of 2-2 interlace, vertical ribs, circular warp. Note the irregularity in a line at the centre of the work.

 I then tried to set up the cloth with horizontal ribs, and then switch to the vertical ribs. I mistakenly thought that the difference is a matter of tension. It is not. The difference between 2-2 horizontal ribs and 2-2 vertical ribs is a structural difference. The way to shift from one to the other requires a structural change … hence that “flaw” in the cloth. Reflecting on Jacqui Carey’s method to chart braided structures confirmed this structural difference.

Horizontal ribs on the left, vertical ribs on the right.

The result of this was the decision to create all the braids using a takadai, a Japanese braiding table. The takadai has the weaver set up the threads on bobbins, and the bobbins are placed around the takadai. The weaver manipulates the threads by moving the bobbins. The takadai facilitates the weaving by holding the bobbins in place. 

​Making samples, I realized that the common modern takadai does not have the capacity for the great number of threads I would require for some of the bands. One of the bands required some 184 bobbins. This lead me to solicit the services of a local woodworker, who made longer arms for my takadai.

Local woodworker Paul Shipman modified my takadai to accommodate the project.

Working to create a sample of the wider piece, I found that the longer arms needed to be splayed out at an angle.

 

Back to Paul Shipman for adjustments to the longer arms.

Longer arms seemed to want to be splayed out to get the correct angle along the fell line.

Takadai arms now spayed to accommodate the angle of the fell line of the fabric.

The longer arms, loaded with 92 bobbins, caused the takadai to tip over. This meant that I fitted the far ends of the long arms with legs, and it worked nicely.

​The great number of bobbins meant that each koma travelled a significant distance before moving to the bottom of the row. This meant that each bobbin descended a significant distance before passing as weft. All this resulted in a need to mount the takadai on boxes to allow for the space for the bobbins to descend.

The large number of bobbins required for one of the bands created the need for an extra pair of legs on the takadai

I fit the far end of each outer rail with a foot, and raised the height with boxes.

​The frame that I have for measuring out warp for other weaving projects would have me wrap the threads around a number of times to make up the length required for the 11 meters of cloth. My samples gave me to calculate that I needed  to begin with 18 meters of warp in order to end up with 11 meters of cloth. That seemed to me to be a great number of times around my warping mill, and I was concerned that I might miscount now and then, resulting in some of the threads being too short. I then opted to measure out the distance across my house, and measured out in that manner.

​Normally takadai bobbins are 2-3 inches long. For the yardage of warp required for the 11 meters of cloth, I needed far larger bobbins. The bobbins, needing to sit close together, a long, thin shape seemed reasonable. I went to my hardware store and selected bolts of the right weight for the shorter bands, and 8 inch long galvanized nails (they have a large head) to accommodate the warp for the longer bands.
 
I used an electric drill to wind the bobbins

​The next challenge was to create that flat start to the cloth. Initially I followed the instructions in the book by Rodrick Owen, I set up the threads as in the drawing. Then following the structure I derived the track plan in the pencil drawing. 

​This gave me horizontal ribs … not the vertical ribs that I wanted.

​In the end I realized that I need to set up the warp using the rules for the Vertical Ribs.

​I measure out the warp threads two at a time. I mark the center of the two warp threads by tying a large loop.
 
In this manner I begin with a set of pairs of bobbins.

​ I place a tie around the loops on the rod at the top of the structure. I work first row of 2-2 interlacing, vertical ribs. This means move 2 front threads to back position, and two back threads to front position, all the way across the row. 

After each successive addition of bobbins, I will re-tie the string to include the added bobbins loops.

With each successive row, as I create the initial triangle, threads will pass to the sides, and out of the braid. To keep track of the triangle at the centre, I decided to tie a white thread to the red threads that will run along the sides of that initial triangle.
The threads that move to the side pull on the triangle, and this creates the risk of a loose structure.

​To counteract this tendency to loosen, I use a spring clip to prevent the most recent pair of bobbins from pulling on the structure. As pairs of warp bobbins move to the side of the takadai, I move the spring clip to hold that most recent warp thread pair. 

I add pairs of bobbins to either side, and I then work another row: 1 thread off to the right, then 1 back thread moves to the front. Then 2 front threads move to the back, and 2 front threads move to the front.
Repeat: 2 front threads move to the back, 2 front threads move to the front, all the way across the row, ending with one to the front, and two threads to the back.

​After each row of manipulation
-Re-arrange the bobbins
-Take the threads that have passed the triangle margin (white marked thread) off to the side

​The triangle grows, 
according to the rules 
of vertical rib 2-2 interlace

​When the margin threads (white marked threads) meet at the middle, your initial triangle is complete, and the structure has been established.

​Now the challenge is to add bobbins until the structure achieves the desired width.
I add bobbins in groups of 4 (two loops), one set of 4 to the left side, then a set of 4 threads (two loops) to the right side.

​The knotted loop marks the center of the warp, between the two bobbins.
 
Each pair of bobbins will have one bobbin going off to the side, and the other bobbin thread entering the structure.

jFind the entry path for the bobbin by tracing the path of the bobbin that is the 4th from the edge.

Here a thread added to the right side of the triangle will follow the path of the thread marked with the arrow.
Beginning at the point of the cloth triangle,
 the new thread will enter the structure by passing under 2, 
then it will follow an over 2, under 2 path, until reaching the rod along the top.

​The next added thread will enter the cloth by passing under 1, then follow an over 2, under 2 path.

​Pack each added thread tightly, using the sword.

​Untie and re-tie the cord holding the loops 
(the pink cord in the photo) to keep the loops compacted against each other, to help maintain a tightly braided structure.

​ 
Continue adding threads.
 
Pack each added thread using the sword.
 
 
Un-tie and re-tie the cord holding the loops along the bar at the top of the triangle

​To step away from the work I further stabilized the triangle using another pair of those spring clips at the upper corners of the triangle.

​Once the desired width was reached, it was a matter of putting in the time necessary to create the desired length. I needed to learn to check each row for accuracy. Common errors were inaccurate over-2-under-2, and Due to the fact that each bobbin holds three threads, another common error was splitting the 3 threads from a bobbin.  The other challenge was to pack each row consistently. Beyond that it was a matter of working a couple of hours each day .... for several weeks ... to achieve the desired 11 meter length.

​I found that the stretch of the cloth caused a bit of sagging at the center of the cloth. I noted a slight ruffling of the center of the cloth between the tori and where it winds up at the back of the takadai. To minimize this I decided that I needed to support the cloth when winding on. To prepare for winding the cloth onto the back of the frame each time I inserted a stick into the current shed on either side of the cloth. I used these sticks to push upwards (towards the tori) on the cloth at the same time as I wound the cloth onto the back of the takadai. This minimized the amount of sagging at the center of the cloth as it wound onto the back of the frame.