The Art of Sprang
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Sprang Musings

Wait! That’s not how I expected it to look!

1/26/2023

1 Comment

 
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Sprang hat in S&Z.
The pattern for this green hat, based on the February 2023 SprangAlong motif, is a grid of diamonds in S-leaning stitches on a background of Z-leaning stitches. The design shows up well on the small sample with only five diamonds, but when repeated on the hat it looks like a series of crossing diagonal lines. There’s an overlying texture that hides the grid of diamonds.

How does this happen? Why do my eyes show me a design I don't expect?


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Small sample of diamond grid.
It’s all about the transition stitches. When we switch from S to Z stitches we work transition stitches on either two back threads or two front threads. When that transition occurs along a diagonal line in subsequent rows, one side of the cloth is higher and the other side is lower. In the final cloth, this 3D texture often overwhelms the direction of the stitches, so one sees this pattern of diagonals rather than the diamonds with a different lean. 
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So any time we work diamonds, or any diagonals of this sort, in S&Z we will create textured cloth. This is one of places Carol James talks about, where sprang logic deviates from what we expect. (There IS a logical explanation to this, but when I tried putting it into words the complexity overwhelmed me. Maybe I’ll try again in a later post.)

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Lace pattern 25 from Sprang Lace Patterns by Carol James.
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Same pattern worked in double cloth. The holes are replaced with yellow cloth.
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Same pattern worked in S&Z. The holes are replaced by opposite-leaning stitches.
Here’s another example. I love this pattern from Carol’s James’ Sprang Lace Patterns and decided to try it as double cloth and in S&Z. The yellow in the double cloth clearly follows the lace, at least until I reached the middle and couldn't complete the last third of the design. But what happens in the S&Z? The areas that were lace have been replaced by opposite-leaning stitches but the winding pathway is almost invisible. Our eyes focus on the texture differences caused by the transitions between S and Z and we have to concentrate mightily to follow the path defined by the lean of the stitches. When going one direction that path forms a valley, and in another direction it forms a ridge. My brain has a hard time accepting that the ridge is a continuation of the valley.

What makes this even MORE confusing is that sometimes our eyes shift so that what once appeared as low areas now look like high areas. This has been happening to me as I look at this S&Z image. At first glance it looks like a mess of diagonal lines with not much of a pattern. Then my brain shifts and the stitch directions dominate and OF COURSE it’s the same as the other patterns. Then, when I least expect it, the pattern goes back to its original mess. So maybe you're seeing first what I saw second. Maybe the pattern in S&Z does look like the other patterns and you have no idea what I'm talking about. That's OK, just more proof that we don't always see the same things when we look at the same picture. Such is life...

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One pattern, three labyrinths. From left to right: lace, double cloth, and S&Z.
One last example. I developed a pattern for a labyrinth in lace, double cloth, and S&Z. The three examples are shown together here. In the lace and double cloth it’s easy to follow the path, but in S&Z it takes great concentration to find the path as our eyes want to connect valley to valley and ridge to ridge.
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Log Cabin Pattern in Sprang

1/18/2023

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Thanks to a gorgeous bag shared by Navarana Hertzum-Hendriksen on the FaceBook Sprang page I have become fascinated with the log cabin pattern. At first I thought it required a complex method, but then learned it's a traditional  pattern in plain weave that can be done in 1-1 interlaced sprang. I'm not usually a fan of 1-1 interlacing; it's hard to get a consistent weave pattern and the cloth is thin. This pattern makes it worth returning and trying to make friends with 1-1 interlacing.

​All it requires is a specific thread order for warping the frame and attention while working to make sure none of the threads are displaced.


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The basic pattern for two contrasting colors A and B is
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meaning one loop (two threads) of A, one loop of B, and so forth.

​Repeating this pattern three times gives a warp of 21 loops with the sequence:
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The key to this pattern is the repeat of two loops of A that break up the straight alternating ABAB sequence.
Once the frame is set up, the next step is to work consistent 1-1 interlacing. I started with treating the first row as a normal plait row but found that I exchanged the two edge threads, messed up the careful arrangement, and didn’t get the desired pattern. In order to keep the threads in order I came up with the following sequence:

Instead of picking up both threads at the beginning of the first Z row I place the first thread as a back thread and pick up the second. Carol James calls this first thread a bachelor as it doesn’t have a partner this row. This starts the row with each thread going under a single thread. At the end of the row I put down the first of the two threads and pick up the edge thread (a second bachelor). This sets me up for working the next row in S as an overplait row.
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​Keep repeating these two rows, one in Z and the next in S and watch the pattern grow. The only challenge now is keeping an eye on the crossings and making sure that no threads jump out of place. When looking at the evolving pattern, look for sets of 3 lines in color B. 

In a previous attempt at this pattern I noticed that one of the sections didn't look like the others. On closer examination I saw that one section had only two white lines where the others had three. After determining this was a warping error I undid the entire sequence and started again with the correct warping. Glad I caught it early and not after another 20 or 30 rows!
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Happy spranging, and let me know how this works for you.​ 
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Christmas Gift Bags

12/12/2022

1 Comment

 
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A couple years ago Hubby made candied orange peel to send as Christmas gifts. Having recently become obsessed with sprang I wanted to share my creations with the family. So we packaged the orange peel in jam jars and I spent an afternoon creating gift bags, improvising S & Z patterns as I went.

I was proud of these first attempts at
S & Z motifs; it was the first step into trusting that I could make something others might be interested in, thus sharing my growing love of sprang.

In the past two years I have made many more pouches, creating many of my own designs while inspired by ancient artisans. I look forward to sharing those designs with participants in Carol James' 2023 SprangAlong.
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Selling and Demonstrating

12/11/2022

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It’s been a busy couple months in Sprangland, with several opportunities to share and sell my work. 

In early October I attended History Fest in Makato, MN, camping on site for four days. Thousands of students, with parents and teachers, came through to experience various aspects of history. My husband was one of the sword fighters putting on a show to draw in the crowds. Before and after the shows a few folks stayed around to check out the artisans surrounding the fighting field. They could visit the seamstress, gather around an open hearth and sample food made over the fire, watch chainmail being made, have a coin struck just for them, explore a scout’s camp, and learn about calligraphy. And that’s just in our corner of the site.
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I brought a few sprang items to show and several frames to work on. Even with a small sampling of my work, some of the children were amazed that I had made “all this” myself. The people who stopped to talk, mostly homeschooling moms and their kids, were fascinated by this technique they had never heard of. A few left determined to learn it themselves. I fell in love with demonstrating sprang and vowed to continue doing so at every opportunity.
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A couple weeks ago I was able to demonstrate and sell at the Duluth Fiber Guild’s annual Fiber Fair. Again I had a great time explaining and showing off this ancient technique, and a few people had a try at my practice frame. While it’s hard to part with some of my favorite sprang experiments, it was a joy to hear the excitement from those who appreciated the pouches they purchased.

This past weekend I attended Boar’s Head, a large Northshield event held near Milwaukee, WI. While Hubby poked at people in the rapier tournament, I sat at my merchant’s table working at my frame and talking to all who stopped by. In this setting full of folks immersed in the Middle Ages, sprang is known by some as an historical technique so I was able to compare notes with other sprangers. Again I enjoyed seeing people interact with my creations, and parted ways with several favorite pieces.

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With the proceeds from the sales, I purchased a domain name and upgraded to a “Professional” website. You can now find me at sprangart.com. 


Other projects keeping me busy lately are a study of how to wear sprang on your head, and the final stages of creating a year of S & Z sprang patterns for Carol James’ 2023 Sprangalong. More on those to follow.
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Sprang Designer

9/3/2022

1 Comment

 
I've found my happy place. I get to play with geometric puzzles and see the results as patterns in cloth. Initially I experimented with my fingers playing in the threads, always asking "what happens if...". As the designs became more complex I couldn't hold them in my head and finally relented and started writing the patterns down.
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Collection of S&Z-patterned pouches.
A year ago I answered a call for Arts and Sciences projects for Northshield’s new queen to give as tokens of appreciation. She asked for each participant to create ten similar items. I used it as an opportunity to explore the surface texture created when the direction of stitches changes from a forward slash or Z lean to a backslash or S direction. I had just started playing with these S&Z textures and was eager to create ten different patterns and turn each sample into a small pouch.
I had no interest in writing the patterns down as I worked, happy to create one-of-a kind pouches. But then I ran into some geometrical questions that I couldn’t wrap my head around without seeing it on paper. And after writing that first chart out I realized that I DID want written patterns for the other designs, and that I quite enjoyed the process of putting marks on paper.
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Pouch with pattern
For the past year the patterns have been piling up on my desk and I’ve been working through (and adding to) my yarn stash. I have created a range of new labyrinth patterns, participated in Carol James’ SprangAlong year of lace patterns, and assisted Carol in producing a new book of sprang lace patterns. We’ll look at the various projects in future posts and see what I learned from them. Much of the learning came when things that didn't go as planned.
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A variety of patterns
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    About Sharon

    I am a sprang designer, creating new patterns in this ancient textile art form.
    ​When recreating the middle ages with the SCA I'm Hildre Johannasdottir, living in the Kingdom of Northshield.

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  • Home
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