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View Full Version : First crack at a multi layer weave



Owen
11-04-2007, 11:42 PM
I decided to test out the output from the weave software I'm working on.
I'm building a 10-15kg Live Fibre spin rod as a gift for one of our staff, so it became the test bench for the great white shark weave I'd developed using the software.

It's my second weave of any sort and my first multi layer one.
It didn't come out particularly well, but I learned some valuable lessons, both from a weaving perspective and for further development of the software.
This stuff probably seems obvious to some of you, but other newbies might find it useful.

Firstly, when I did the colour layout for the weave I thought I'd try to make it as photo realistic as possible. So I selected three shades of grey, and white (and black for the eyes) for the design colours.
The design ended up with five layers to accomodate all the changes of shade.

Lesson number one.

Although the colours were distinctly different shades on the reels, when you start laying them out and working with individual threads, it's almost impossible to tell them apart............
Also when I applied the CP, they all went "muddy" looking, further reducing the colour difference.
In future I'll stick to different colours, rather than different shades of the same colour. Even if it means taking artistic license with the actual colours of the subject. All the extra layers were a complete waste of time on this one as they can't really be distinguished.

Lesson number two.

Rayon thread is hopeless for weaving.
While in Hervey Bay, we came across a shop with a wide range of Madeira threads. Trouble was they were rayon, not polyester or "polyneon" as it's trade name is for Madeira.
The thread weaves and wraps fine, but when you apply CP it swells and loosens badly. It also breaks easily when tightening the wrap.

Looks like I'll be buying from the states. The locals only have speed band in C :(

I think I may have had better results if I'd used more tension on the weave, but I was worried I wouldn't be able to tighten the wrap.

I also found it hard keeping each successive layer in line with the one below. Probably because the wrap is a different diameter as you move further from the rod surface, so keeping say thread number ten directly on top of the same number thread on the layer below it was hard.

Any suggestions from the old hands on this issue?

Here's a pic after the CP was applied.
Prior to that, the colours were much more distinct from each other and the background.