I am on the hunt for wonderful warp to weave wool transparent tapestries using Frida Hansen’s technique. This post is in part to share with friends who are spinners, since I lack that skill. Warp yarn needs to have the right technical characteristics, but it also needs to be interesting and beautiful.
When Frida Hansen wrote the patent for her wool transparent tapestry technique in 1897, she called the sections of uncovered warp “open ornamentation.” Clearly she did not intend the open areas to merely provide a blank canvas for the woven images; the open warp threads are critical to the overall effect of the technique.
The plied warp yarn used for Hansen’s designs was clearly handspun. Sometimes the yarn was uniform in its weight and twist of the ply, yet sensitively dyed to create subtle tonal variations. Other times the warps differed slightly in twist and weight. For example, at first glance the warp appears tan in Pioner [Peonies], 1928, but a closer look reveals an assortment of beige to brown threads.
This dramatically dark blue warp contains slight tonal variations.
Light-colored blue warp yarn provided a pale field for vibrant flowers, birds, and other natural forms in Juni [June], 1918. (Also see this museum video to admire this transparency.)
The Norsk Folkemuseum owns a panel of Hansen’s design, Vilde Roser [Wild Roses]. I love the variety of plies – some are of similar colors, and other threads twist together blue and white strands.
There are contemporary artists working with open warp who understand the importance of the unwoven areas. The title of Vebjorn Guttormsgaard Møllberg’s tapestry, Ingenting der det burde være noe [Nothing Where There Should Be Something], plays on the concept. But his ikat-dyed warp is not nothing! This two-panel piece was shown at the Sørlandsutstilingen in 1923.
So far the best modern commercial yarn I’ve discovered for the technique is Rauma åklegarn, a DK weight yarn from Norway made from the fleece of spelsau sheep. An equivalent yarn is Tykt Vevgarn from Hillesvåg Ullspinneri. The vevgarn only comes in white and grey, unless you can buy enough to have it custom dyed.
I wove once with handspun yarn, a beautiful combination gray/white/tan yarn spun by Angela Kalmus, who took my workshop in Philadelphia. Can you see the brightness and luster in the photo? You can definitely see how it has wooly-ness that will cling to the weft yarn. Angela spun white Leicester Longwool that approximated the åklegarn nicely. It is a strong, long staple fiber that stands up to the tension of a tapestry loom, and could be spun to the same thickness to use at eight ends per inch. She added some light and light gray Longwool fiber to add variation.
You can read more about my experience with this yarn in this post, “Testing Handspun Warp in Frida Hansen’s Transparent Tapestry Technique.”
Recently a friend, a former student in my class, told me she found a good American yarn substitute, Collingwood rug wool. It is designed to be woven at eight ends per inch, the same sett as the åklegarn I use. It is certainly strong and comes in a variety of colors. “But not a good blue,” she lamented.
I ordered a cone right away, excited that I might find a new choice. I opened the package with great anticipation, pulled out the cone, and was completely surprised. It was DEAD. Neither the color nor the fiber had any liveliness whatsoever. I happened to have a skein of åklegarn of almost exactly the same color in my cupboard. It was striking how much more sheen and twist and liveliness the Norwegian yarn had in contrast to the Collingwood rug yarn. I’m not sure how well this comes across in the photos, but it is clear in person. The Collingwood yarn is strong and might make a fine rug or warp for a rug, but it doesn’t have the beauty required of a wool open warp tapestry.
I welcome any comments or suggestions. And if there are any spinners who would like the challenge of emulating the beautiful warp yarn used in Frida Hansen’s workshop, I would be happy to subsidize it.
Frida Hansen did not detail many requirements for warp yarn in her patent for transparent tapestries. This is the relevant paragraph:
The inventor has been trying to solve this problem for a long time and has found that wool thread and especially tightly twisted wool thread is the only material that is suitable for the warp in open warp weaving.
Examination of Hansen’s transparent tapestries reveals more about how they were woven. Some include warp yarn consisting of two strands of two-ply S-twisted yarn that were plied together tightly with a Z-twist. The weft consisted of two-ply yarn with an S-twist. This particular type of plying was not specified in the original patent, but is evident in some of her transparent tapestries. A diagram from an un-named source in the files of the Nasjonalmuseet also shows this method in a diagram.
But even though “S-spun, Z-twisted yarn” is often mentioned, that was not found in all of Frida Hansen’s transparent tapestries. Because I never trust my own analysis, alone, I consulted the best wool expert I know, Annemor Sundbø. Annemor made this chart after I sent her some photos.
A tightly-plied warp yarn is desirable for two reasons. For one, it is beautiful and interesting, especially if the plies have variation in color or thickness. And second, a tightly-twisted warp yarn is under tension on the loom, and when the finished piece is released from tension, the ever-so-slight untwisting helps to lock the weft yarn in place.
If you have seen any of the original Frida Hansen-designed transparencies, or those woven since then by her followers, I would love to hear your comments about the yarn that was used.
Thanks! Robbie
lafleur1801@me.com