Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Knitting Chart: One cell per stitch, rows upward, counts numbered at both edges
- Type
- Set in Knitting Chart's manner (One symbol per stitch, columns held even where counts change), and let Tablature's lettering (Numbers sit on the lines, one line for each string) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Knitting Chart's material (Knitted fabric is not square, so set cell ratio from gauge); bring in exactly one thing from Tablature (Tuning and capo stated at the head, the instrument named).
- Colour
- Build on #ffffff, #d89c3a, #390f03 and admit one accent from #fafafa, #888888, #1b1b1b.
Where they fight
- Knitting Chart and Tablature both belong to Notation Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Knitting Chart and Tablature stand roughly 400 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Knitting Chart A chart drawn on square cells misstates the proportion, and the finished motif comes out stretched taller than the drawing promised.
- Tablature Fingering written without rhythm leaves duration unrecoverable in an unfamiliar tune, so the tab only serves someone who already knows it.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Knitting Chart (style, 19th century–) and their accent from Tablature (style, 15th century–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Knitting Chart exists for: replacing a written stitch procedure with a figure read at a glance, or testing a complex motif on paper before any yarn is committed. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Knitting Chart - The grid of stitch symbols - One stitch, one symbol - Row and stitch coordinates - Correspondence to the finished fabric Composition: One cell per stitch, rows upward, counts numbered at both edges. Type and lettering: One symbol per stitch, columns held even where counts change. ## Accent comes from Tablature, used sparingly - The string-and-fret grid - Letters and numbers for finger positions - Instrument-specific formats - Action encoded directly Let one material quality come from it: Tuning and capo stated at the head, the instrument named. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ffffff, carry the structure in #d89c3a and #390f03, and let a single accent come from #888888. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: intimacy, technique, nostalgia, play. ## Where they fight - Knitting Chart and Tablature both belong to Notation Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Knitting Chart and Tablature stand roughly 400 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Knitting Chart: A chart drawn on square cells misstates the proportion, and the finished motif comes out stretched taller than the drawing promised. - Tablature: Fingering written without rhythm leaves duration unrecoverable in an unfamiliar tune, so the tab only serves someone who already knows it. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Knitting Chart 19th century– / Style / Notation Systems
The sheet music of handwork, where stitches become symbols laid out on a grid. Japan's JIS stitch symbols compress each operation into one figure, so the pattern is visible before it is read, unlike the written-out instructions relied on in the West.
- Tablature 15th century– / Style / Notation Systems
Notation from the player's point of view: not what pitch, but where the fingers go. From lute letter-tablature to guitar TAB, the lineage of practical writing that encodes bodily action directly.
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