Designing from architecture: the Casa Batlló, Barcelona Part Two

Course Work; a valuable resource. 

 I was fascinated by the buildings by Gaudi, in particular the Casa Batlló in Barcelona. The outside of the building is wonderful but the staircase inside is a lovely exercise in  the use of shading. 

Robert Hughes says that 'Under the skylight where they take the most light, the skin of the internal walls is flat, a cobalt blue. The walls get lighter in colour and develop a ripple of texture (to catch the light falling from above) as they descend from floor to floor. They pass from cobalt to sky blue, and thence to pearly grey, before becoming white at street level for maximum reflection.'

Roberto Hughes Barcelona (1992) p 512. This is my picture of the internal stairwell.  

I was fascinated by the way in which Gaudi had used shading to bring the light down into the stairwell. The tiles shaded upwards so that the top of the stairwell is darker blue and resembles the sky when looking up.  The bottom of the stairwell is white to reflect the light. Nowadays you can go on a virtual tour. This is amazing and you get to see so many areas of the building which were not open to the public when I went. 

https://www.casabatllo.es/en/virtual-tour/

The remit from the HNC course was to design materials for a range of purposes. Here are some of my samples inspired by the stairwell tiles.

Weave structure: Monks belt - for a cushion cover.

This is an interesting structure with regular floats on a plain weave background. 

Weave draft Monks Belt

The woven sample

Weave structure: Boulevard weave - for a cushion cover

Weave draft for Boulevard weave.

For the weave draft, I used different colours to show up the weave structure. For the actual design I used five shades of blue 16/2 cotton. 

Boulevard weave

Weave structure:   Inlay

Inlay

reverse of inlay sample

Some of the entries in my sketch book.

  

Weave structure:   Double weave 1  cushion covers.

I used 16/2 cotton at 32 epi for both layers. The weft is 5 shades of blue 16/2 cotton. 

I have used this design for cushion covers for my living room. 

Double weave 2

Once double weave is set up on the loom, the weaving can be varied.  I tried to shade the colours and to change the length of the coloured pattern on the surface.  It gives a pleasing effect.  

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these old samples.  They may be old but are a rich source of inspiration for me particularly as I had not viewed them for some time.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes 2023

Bath mats in double weave 2

This wonderful illustrated book is an inspiration for any weaver to try double weave. It is a timeless classic.

Double weave on Four to Eight Shafts by Ursina Arn-Grischott.
Published by Interweave Press in 1999.  ISBN 1-883010-74-8

Using a double weave pattern with two blocks gives more flexibility to design.

Bath Mats

Warp and Weft: 2/3 cotton set at 10 epi for each layer

A double warp is used therefore sett at 20 epi.
Twelve shafts are needed for this pattern. There are three blocks

Warp

Black   16   60   12   60   12   60   16
White   16   60   12   60   12   60   16


Here is the drawdown. I simplified the drawdown so that you can see the blocks clearly.  For each square the number of threads is 60 white and 60 black so 120 heddles are needed. In the diagram only 24 warp ends are shown.  For the space in between each block 32 heddles are needed but only only 4 are shown. This makes the diagram smaller so that it will fit onto the page and you can see the threading and treadling clearly.

From the diagram you can work out which treadling to use for different effects.  If you want all white on the surface and black on the reverse use treadling 1 - 4.

If you want all black on the front and all white on the reverse use treadling 13 - 16.

For each of the two blocks you can use the correct four treadles to place the block.

Drawdown showing possible treadling order to produce different effects. 

 You can vary the pattern in many ways.

Warp

When making the warp, use a strand of white and a strand of black for each group.  The white and black ends are threaded as shown. The black ends are threaded through the odd numbered shafts and the white ends are on the even numbered shafts.

Weft

Note that the weft is alternately white and black. Two shuttles are required.


I wove two mats.  The width was 23.6 however with double weave and cotton this will shrink considerably.

Generous allowances were made for take up and ends of the mats.

Two mats 

Here is a closer look at one of the mats.

One side of the mat

the reverse side of the mat

Here you can see the two sides of the mats. I deliberately varied the height of the 'squares' as it is difficult to end up with an exact square in double weave. I counted how many weft throws for each square. You can alter this to  make your own variation. The  warp and weft shrink when off the loom and washed.

To start and end the mats I used a thinner cotton yarn to weave 12 picks in plain weave in the same colour as the warp.  This ensured that I could turn in the hem to the inside of the mat without adding too much extra thickness.

Here is a close up of the hem. I think that it is neat.

The second mat is shorter and I used a different size of square in the pattern.

Black dominant on one side

As you can see at the selvedges, it is difficult to keep the black and white from showing. The two wefts should be twisted around each other so that the edge is as neat as possible. 

White dominant on the reverse side

I enjoy double weave but it is time consuming both the warp and weave. I have only used thicker threads. One day I will try a pattern with fine silk.

Double faced Rugs

When I first started to weave, I quickly became fascinated by rug weaving. I wove a simple rug but I wanted something more creative.  Double faced rugs are amazing.  Here is one that I wove many years ago and is still in use in the lounge.

It is a heavy rug as it is effectively two rugs on top of each other. Double weave produces very sturdy fabric.

For obvious reasons I called it my rainbow rug.

Here is the reverse side.

Two surfaces of the rug. 

Peter Collingwoods classic book on rug weaving was my inspiration.  Unfortunately, I found rug weaving too physically demanding and had to sell my sturdy Finnish Toika 8 shaft loom. The final item I wove was another double weave rug in blue which is carefully packed away.  I did not finish the edges at either end so when I decide that I want to use this rug I can decide upon the type of edging I would like.  For the rainbow rug, I used one of Peter Collingwoods ideas for no plaited ends.  This involved weaving each linen warp end back into the rug as the knots were made along the edge.  The ends are very neat and have no awkward plaits but as you can see, the linen shows through on the final navy stripe.

 I have used many of Peters designs for finishing the ends of rugs.  They are very time consuming to do and I remember one which took longer to do than weaving the actual rug!

I particularly liked the effect of weaving the date at the end of the rug using a second colour of linen warp thread.  Peters book is such an inspiration.


Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes  March 2019

Bath Mat in double weave

I wanted a hand woven bath mat for my bathroom. The tiles have a black and white pattern of squares so a double weave mat in white and black would be perfect.

The Drawdown 

Drawdown showing one side of the mat in the double weave structure

This is a two shuttle weave. The weft is alternately white and black.

Drawdown showing the other side of the mat in the double weave structure

The warp is threaded alternately black and white and is woven with two shuttles alternating black and white. The colour order for the weft is not shown on the second drawdown.

Warp and weft: 3/2 cotton in black and white. I used a unmercerised cotton 3/2 cotton which is very absorbent.

Sett: cotton  3/2 sett at 10 epi

It is a double warp therefore 20 ends per inch. Make the warp with two ends, one black and one white.

It is always difficult to weave exact squares in double weave. I wove the same number of picks as the warp. The squares looked square on the loom but after washing they became oblongs.


As you can see, the pattern is a white border then a black block, white strip, black block, white strip, black block then border.
The warp is made using white and black threads alternately. To make the first set of 16 black and 16 white, take the black and white ends together and make 16 of these double warp ends. These are threaded alternately. For the second group of 60 black and 60 white, take a white and black thread together and make 60 of these double warp ends. Continue until the full warp is made.
i use a warping frame and when i warp with two ends together, I make sure that the two ends are ekpt apart on my fingers as i pass the ends around the pegs. Try to ensure the ends do not twist around each other when making the warp;.

black  16  60  12  60  12  60  16
white   16  60  12  60  12  60  16

Total number of warp ends:  236

The border on each side has 16 black and 16 white ends
The blocks have  60 black and 60 white ends.ends
The white strips have  12 black and 12 white ends

Side with black oblongs

Side with white oblongs

Mat turned so that you can see both sides. 

Finished size of the mat after washing. 

Length: 31.5 inches (80 cm)

Width: 19.5 inches (49.5 cm)

I was very pleased with the mat once it was off the loom. It sits on the tiled floor without slipping and looks really effective with the black and white tiles.

Of course, it also goes very well with the handtowels I wove last month.

Happy Weaving


Susan J Foulkes May 2018