Glory of Gamps: Study in Bronson Lace

Designed and woven by Rachel Simmons

Instagram: @dogwoodweavingstudio

Gamps

Gamps are a special category of sampling in weaving using a grid to focus on a certain aspect of a textile. The warp is divided so that each section of the vertical grid contains a change in a chosen warp variable. Then the weft is divided into a horizontal grid where each section contains a change in the chosen weft variable. For example, in this project, I did a deep dive into Bronson lace. For my first gamp, I divided the warp into four sections that each featured a different threading sequence of traditional, six-thread A and B units of Bronson lace. Then, as I was weaving, I divided the weft into sections that each featured a different treadling sequence of Bronson Lace. The end result of a gamp is a complete grid that shows all of the combinations on your chosen warp/weft.

A gamp is a powerful tool that serves as a reference to inform future projects and helps a weaver understand a process or structure in weaving.

Bronson Lace

Bronson Lace is a weave structure that utilizes weft floats to create textured patterning in cloth. (These weft floats on the front of the cloth are warp floats on the back, which can be equally stunning.) It is traditionally created in six thread blocks that alternate between tabby and pattern threads. The number of Bronson lace blocks possible is equal to the total number of shafts subtract 2. On a four-shaft loom, you can create two blocks of Bronson lace, an A block and a B block. Shafts 1 and 2 are reserved for tabby, leaving shafts 3 and 4 for the pattern threads. Shaft 1 serves as the main tabby whereas shaft 2 occurs every sixth thread as the “other tabby” that ties down the floats created by either shaft 3 or 4. Any lace block can also be woven in true plain weave. When a series of lace blocks are placed together, you get that classic little window between the units. For example, the block I chose to carry through my second and third gamp was an A, B, A, A, B, A block sequence. The two A blocks in the central area of the six-block pattern created an A block unit.

The six-thread block A is threaded as 1,3,1,3,1,2 and B is threaded as 1,4,1,4,1,2. As you can see, the tabby thread 1 is alternating with the pattern thread (either 3 or 4) and the final “other tabby” thread on 2 ties down the float if you are adding another of the same block in a unit. When weaving a design with both A and B blocks, you have four choices in the cloth:

1. Lace in A, plain weave in B

2. Lace in B, plain weave in A

3. Lace in A and B

4. Plain weave in A and B

By choosing different unit lengths and combinations of your four choices of weaving in each of the block, you can create some amazing woven lace.

The Project Gamps

In this particular project, I made a series of three gamps so I could focus on a different aspect of my textile in each. The first in the series was an exploration of the Bronson lace structure. Because Bronson lace requires that every other thread be a tabby on shaft 1, I was limited by the number of heddles on the front shaft of my loom. Wanting to keep this purely a four-shaft process, I had 100 heddles to work with on my Baby Wolf loom. I chose to make four sections of 36 threads that each had a different combination of traditional 6-thread A and B blocks of Bronson lace.

From the structure gamp, I chose a square I found interesting that included A and B blocks and a short two-block unit of A and threaded all four sections with that sequence. On top of the structure, I introduced the variable of color and weave. Each column has different sequences of black and white thread. The treadling throughout the entire gamp was maintained, the only change came in the color thread that was used in each pick. Once this gamp was complete, I chose a column I found particularly inspiring, which was the dark/light threading. For the third and final gamp, I maintained the structure of the warp but used colors from a pre-selected palette to alternate dark/light and light/dark in each of my four sections. Each section of 36 threads had 18 threads that followed the dark/light color sequence and 18 threads that followed the light/dark color sequence throughout the Bronson lace 36 thread warping sequence (giving the final section a log cabin-type threading). Once again, I treadled the Bronson lace consistently in each of the sections changing only the color of threads I used as I wove. Each block contained weft of half a dark/light and half a light/dark patterning in the tradition of log cabin so that more color possibilities could be seen.

Project Specs

Gamp 1: Bronson Lace Gamp

Finished Size: 8 5/8” x 16 ¾”

Gamp 2: Color & Weave Gamp

Finished Size: 9 ¼” x 19 ¾” with 1” fringe on either side

Gamp 3: Color Gamp

Finished Size: 9 ½” x 20 3/8”

Weave structure: Bronson Lace

Number of warp ends:

Gamp 1: 168

Gamp 2 & 3: 178

Warp length: 1.5 yds

Width in reed: 20"

EPI: 15

PPI: Approx. 15