Bookmarks: The Important Little Something

While not every one is an avid book reader, those who are, *love* their books!  They read them on Kindles and other e-book readers and even the old fashioned paper variety!  They (who ever 'they' are)  thought the paper ones would go out of style with the advent of e-readers but sales are even better than ever!

The coming summer is traditionally the reading season.  Kick back on a summer day and read a book! (these people must have maids, gardeners and a terrifically organized life is all I can say)

I have a love affair with books too and we have them scattered through out the house and in various stages of being read.   I had never given much thought to book marks other than you need one over turning down the corners of the pages which is BAD form!

Then last year I participated in the Guild of Canadian Weavers exchange where book marks were being featured and I wove off just enough to fulfill my requirements and a couple to spare. ( There is a copy of my 12 shaft draft there at the older post) It was quite an eye opening project. It made me consider miniatures in general and what type of pattern makes a good miniature or reducing a draft to bare minimums. Fine threads and close setts. What type of yarns would be best to use? I didn't want a limp book mark that flopped about so I chose fine cottons and linens. It was a great project where you had a lot of things to consider!

It took very little time to wind the warp, beam and thread it. A nice  little project and done in a snap. The resulting book marks were little works of art and the spare ones I had became much treasured gifts.  I decided to make some more  and wound this warp some time ago.  Other projects squeezed it out and it hung patiently waiting its turn in the roster.

After all the baby related items were woven off and gifted, it was time for the book marks. So I went from weaving  a wide warp of thirty six  inch wide warp down to a two inch wide one. From twenty four epi to fifty epi! The warp length this time was about four and a half yards and I planned on roughly nineteen or twenty bookmarks. I had increased the sett from forty seven epi at the last time, to fifty epi as my materials were a bit finer.  I used 20/2 black mercerized cotton and 40/2 Belgium natural linen as warp and the cotton also served as the weft (except for one where I tried sewing thread as an experiment... that one is mine!)

I got a nice fat cloth roll that looked as cute as it was satisfying! I was proud of getting the most from the warp as I had laced on and woven the warp right to the nubs! This is the back view behind the twelve shafts.

When the warp was unwound, it was a surprise as to how many I had as I had lost track. I played around with treadling variations and kept on going!  The result was twenty three book marks and one 'novel' sized for a total of twenty four.   

So what did I get? Glad you asked....

A bunch that are woven as threaded!  Dorothy says a gallery owner in the UK says this pattern looks like a 15th century reproduction textile!   Cool...

Then I started playing around with the treadling...

Here I abbreviated the treadling a bit....

This one is my favourite... I focused on one section of the treadling and repeated it...

Then I tried doing doubles of some portions!  I'm having fun now...

This is network treadled which is a twill progression. A lot of to and fro on the treadles and no interruptions!

This pair look more masculine for the men out there....

My husband admired (and got) one of these!  I hope he remembers which book he's left it in!  :)

I would like to mention that if you like any of these, I have placed them for sale on my handwoven sales page (see tab at the top below the picture).  I have been sorting through my studio and as a result I also have set up another page for gently used books and equipment for sale. I swear the stuff breeds and there is only so much room for it all!  I place the refresh date up there when any changes are made, either additional uploads or removals after a sale. The book marks are limited in number and I will keep a running tally of what is available.