Embedded Files
Van-Eyck Portrait Belt
Materials Used:
Green wool yarn
Inkle Loom
Tablet Weaving Cards
I had originally designed this pattern and wove it as a MOD livery collar in silk, and then recreated it as a Knight's belt in wool. For this project, I specifically wanted to recreate I wanted to recreate the striking monochromatic wool belt that is featured in Jan Van Eyck’s portrait of his wife, Margareta Van Eyck (1439). This portrait features a wide wool belt with repeating chevrons. The pattern features only one color but uses the structure of the weave to create a 3D chevron effect.
The Pattern:
This pattern was created by myself using free-use GTT tablet weaving software. I ended up adding many more cards to the pattern to reach the correct width of the belt from the portrait, approximately 36 cards wide.
I knew that I wanted the chevron pattern, but had not previously designed my own pattern from scratch, instead adapting those created by others. I threaded the cards with one half of the band threaded Z and one half threaded S, with one opposite thread in the center where the two halves meet. The threading of the cards creates the slant of threads, which you can see in the pattern diagram; on the left hand side the threads slant to the right, and reverse on the right hand side. By moving the card forwards, you continue that slant, and when you turn it in the reverse, the slant changes correspondingly. Effectively, I worked out that I should reverse turn cards to change the slant of the threads, and therefore produce the desired pattern. The first seven passes I wanted to create the width of the chevrons, so I had all cards going forwards. I then began reversing two cards per pass, one on each side, until only the two centermost cards remained. I then turned all the cards backwards to produce the width of the reversed chevron, and repeated this process for the pattern.
Warping and Weaving:
I wove this band using tablet weaving on an inkle loom, and because the pattern is not twist-neutral (the pattern builds up twist as you progress) I utilized fishing swivels to disperse the built-up tension. In warping my weave, I tied the ends of the warp to a large gage fishing swivel. The swivel helps to dissipate the tension that builds up as you turn the cards forwards and backwards; a full demonstration of the method is available on my website. In order to have each card's tension independently adjustable, I tie the opposite warp ends in a taut-line hitch knot. If I feel a card is not taut enough, I can adjust the taut-line hitch knot and individually tighten or loosen each card. I initially came across this method from YouTube, by the user Know Knots, and have implemented it in my own weaving as well as taught classes to spread the knowledge.
In the medieval period these swivels would not have been available, instead many weavers used weights that could spin tied to the end of their warp in order to disperse built-up tension, in a technique called a warp-weighted weave. This technique is discussed further and depicted in the Now and Then section. Additionally, weavers can “flip” the cards which will disperse built up tension, but does produce a slight irregularity in the woven piece at the pass where the cards are flipped.
Wool vs Silk:
Both are period materials, but they are very different to work with. While silk is smooth and often has few issues with clearing the shed while making a pass, and does not fray, it also is very unforgiving and shows any mistakes in the pattern or in the weaving tension. Wool is much more forgiving to mistakes, and more durable for pieces that will be used for external trim or as a belt, but the fibers of wool tend to catch on each other. I found I had to make use of my fingers to carefully clear the shed each pass, to ensure no strings had gotten “stuck” and not moved to the correct position. I wove slower in order to make sure my weaving was clean. I also was not able to apply quite as much tension using wool for my warp, and had to be cognizant of any fraying or thinly spun sections of my wool yarn. Still, having worked with both, I find they both have their strengths and weaknesses. Which material I would use in future would depend greatly on the individual project and what I am attempting to recreate.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse