My S and Z Spinning Study

I've been busily working on my presentation for the conference in Kalamazoo, but I thought it would be nice include my documentation from my study on the blog. So, if you are interested, you can find it under Projects. You will need to look at both the words and the samples for it to make sense. Most of the photos do not show the pattern very clearly (real life is much better), but at least you might get an idea of what I was up to.

King's and Queen's Arts & Sciences Competition

Saturday was King's and Queen's A & S competition. I went to the event to support my apprentice sister who was being inducted into the Order of the Laurel. Of course that meant, to keep the surprise, I had to enter the event. So, I entered my spinning experiment.

It made such a plain display compared to the work of all the other amazingly talented entrants. But, as I discovered last year, it is great fun to get to talk to people about what you are passionate about (whether that happens to be thread or subtleties - you should have seen the amazing dragon!). I was lucky enough to have a table in the sunlight. The best thing of all was that as I began to explain what I was testing - the impact of spin direction on cloth design - even before I was done, people's face would light up and they would pick up a sample and say "oh, I can see it!"

This is Icelandic, my most obvious sample, but it was usually a white sample that people picked up.

As I worked on the project I had begun to wonder if the effect was really real, or if people beside me, or experienced weavers would also see the change between S and Z threads. It really made me happy when people whose expertise was pottery, or woodworking, or metalsmithing, could also pick up on the subtle change. 

Unlike other years, the King and Queen narrowed the field down to 5 finalists with a wide range of talents, before choosing their champions. 

In the end, I was chosen as this year's Queen's Champion. It is a great honor, which I hope I can live up to.

the S and Z spinning experiment

I have spun the wool of 6 different breeds and woven 10 samples to test the effects of S and Z spinning in fabric design. You may think that is excessive, but it was so much fun, I kept wanting to try another breed. I won't bore you with all the results. The Romney wool was the most successful. Whether the wool was carded or combed, dyed or natural, the plaid pattern is easily seen.

The photos don't do it justice, but the slightly lighter stripes in this carded wool sample are the S threads.

While there is a slight variation in the natural fiber color, the threads are actually quite uniform in color. The stripes are formed by the change between S and Z threads.

I will have to add weaving a larger, usable piece to my 2013 to-do list. I already know from my samples that the larger the piece is, the more noticeable the pattern is as the fabric shifts in the light.

more sampling

For my next test I spun Jacob wool - "S" and "Z" - with my #6 cone spindle at 30 wpi. This wool has a higher luster than the Shetland wool. It also has a more uniform color. Here is a picture of my results:

It is more difficult to see the pattern in the photo than it is in person. The areas that appear to have a white haze are the "S" spun threads. There is an equal amount of white fibers in the "S" and "Z" threads, however, the sunlight is reflecting off the white fibers toward the camera in the "S" threads, making it more noticeable. Clothing made of this fabric would appear changeable as the person moved in the light. What a simple way to make a fashion statement!

More on my spinning project

As I am testing the effect of spin direction on fabric design, one of the things I am curious about is if and how the fiber choice impacts the looks and feel of the cloth. The artifact I am basing my study on is a 2/2 twill. My first test was made with the gray Shetland wool. I wove my sample in the same pattern as the artifact - 4s-4z-4s-4z-4s-32z...in both directions. Due to the natural color variations of the fibers it is difficult to see the pattern, except in bright light.

I then spun the same wool and wove the same plaid as a tabby instead of a twill. I was surprised to see that the thread difference was much easier to see.

twill

tabby

In both samples the S and Z threads lie differently in the fabric. With the tabby, the difference is more textural, and it can be felt when you run your fingers over the cloth, particularly at the narrow stripes (which are at the top of the photo). I hope you will be able to see the difference in the pictures.

ancient Egyptian textiles

Working with my apprentice sister, I have begun a very interesting volunteer project for the Albany Institute of History and Art. In 1911, the Institute acquired two mummies. The Ptolomaic period mummy is partially unwrapped. The 21st Dynasty mummy remains wrapped, but is in fragile condition. Little research was done on these mummies in the past, but now the museum is preparing for an Egyptian exhibition. Over the summer, the mummies were removed from their coffins and taken to the Albany Medical Center to receive MRIs. The mummies had been propped up in the coffins on scraps of fabric. The cut away wrappings of the Ptolomaic mummy were mixed with the other fabric scraps in his coffin. We have been asked to examine the fabric and determine as much as we can about it using non-destructive methods.

Weave structure (tabby) and ply (single) can be determined by close examination. With additional study we aim to determine spin direction, thread count and fiber type. We will also look for any differences between the textiles from the two time periods.

Museum staff placed the textile fragments in boxes and bags when they were removed from the coffins. Most of the pieces are small and in various states of decay. On our initial inspection we discovered three very interesting pieces - a scrap of fringe; a rectangle which includes the selvedge and a blue stripe in the warp threads; and a piece which appears to be clothing - we found a whip-stitched seam (we won't know for sure until we are able to flatten it out). I am very excited about getting back to examine these pieces in detail.

My current spinning project

On page 85 of her book " Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials," Margrethe Hald described a fragment of cloth where the pattern of the material is solely formed by the spin direction of the threads. The artifact dates from the second century C.E. When you look at the photo of the cloth, it is clearly a plaid. I want to test this phenomenon for myself.

The sett of the artifact is 47/38 per 2x2 cm (59/48 per inch). While I can spin a thread fine enough to match that, I am not yet able to weave successfully with thread that fine. Therefore, I am spinning at about 30 to 40 wpi for my test pieces. I am testing 5 different fibers - Shetland, Jacob, BFL, Icelandic, and Romney, which vary in luster. Just for fun, I've chosen a variety of spindles for the project. I don't expect the spindle choice or gauge of thread to have a significant impact on the results.

So far I have spun commercially prepared Jacob and Shetland top, as well as BFL that I have washed and combed myself. I spun a small amount of Shetland on my #2 whorl (a 15 gram cone) at 35 wpi, and a larger amount on my #6 whorl (a 26 gram cone) at 28 wpi. The BFL was also spun on the #2 whorl, and the Jacob on the #6 whorl, at similar gauges to the Shetland.