Warps and header bands

I found a way to wind the warp pairs for the warp weighted loom. YAY!

The chairs, back to back about 5 to 6 feet apart

I take two of my kitchen chairs, put them around 5 feet apart, and run the yarn through the hole in the top of the chair back. I wound it 4 times. I'm making warp pairs and the length I want is 10-ish feet, sort of. I don't have room to run 10 feet at once, let alone 20, so it's 5 feet: two down and back. Even that takes up most of the floor space in my kitchen.

I hear you wondering to yourself, "Why doesn't she just use a warping board?"

Answer: Because I haven't got one. I want a wooden one, but I don't want to cough up the money to buy the one I want. Besides, the wooden ones I've seen don't fold up. I think I would need to have one that can do that, even if I had the space.

Notes on Weave structures on the Warp weighted loom

I've been looking up weaving something other than plain weave on the warp weighted loom. I finally got a chance to go through some notes I'd downloaded and printed out from http://www.illuminatedspaces.com. They answer a lot of questions I'd had.

The natural shed counts as #1 on the shaft count of any weaving draft.

Apparently, once the heddles are threaded, I can do any twill pattern, except point and diamond (which use a mirror threading), it just depends on the number sequence I use for the pattern.

Now I just need to figure out what would have been used for numbers so I can make a pattern chart.

Making the header band.

The header band

I got the warping paddle/rigid heddle threaded for the header band. I got the handspun washed and weighted to dry out on the deck. I also found the wool box and it looks like most of the wool is still in very good condition, so I'm pleased about that.

one end of the header band

I went with a grey, black, brown and green on the cord. I decided to use the Patons from my stash for the warp. So far, I'm happy with what it's doing. I don't know if it will hold the weights, but we'll see.

I wove about 6 to 8 inches of the header cord tonight at craft night. I tried to take photos, but the battery was dead. I've got 36 ends so far and I'm dividing them into groups of 12. So far the color is working out like this: I've got 4 greys, then 4 black, 2 brown 2 green, 2 brown 4 black and 4 grey. Then I'm going and doing 4 black, 4 brown, and 4 green. That is as far as I've gotten.

the other end of the header band

I've come up with a way to weave the header band that works for me. I weave one end of the header through, but don't pull it in all the way. I then measure the rest of the warp for that end AND for the next one. I hold both ends together, and weave the other shed on the cord, and then pull them both through at the same time, making sure to keep the selvedge on the one side neat. It seems to be working well.

I brought it home to work on next week, so I will take photos and show step by step in the next post.

My back and shoulders really hurt! It's been a long time since I did this, and the chairs at church didn't work as well as my dining chairs here at home.

Making Loom weights

Making the weights is the first step in setting up a warp weighted loom, for me. They have to dry for a couple of weeks, so I make them first.



I made loom weights yesterday, 10/15/2011. I knew I would need some more than the ones I already had that are in storage in the wool box (which, I guess, is still in storage.).


I bought two tubs of this air dry activ-clay. It comes in other colors, but my other loom weights are terra cotta colored, so, fortunately, I was able to find it.






I used the wax paper to line a cardboard box so the weights would dry. It is good to put the weights on either parchment paper or newspaper or something while the clay is drying.





The pool shark toy is keeping the paper from blowing away while I make the weights. You don't have to use a pool shark to keep the paper from blowing away. It just happened to be handy, so I used it.



First, your hands need to be damp while you work the clay, so you need to have some water on hand.

Pull off a handful of clay.

Roll it into a ball.

Flatten the ball.

Pinch a hole into the center of the flattened ball and smooth it out.




This is the box of loom weights. Yes, they look like doughnuts.


The two tubs of clay (3 lbs. per tub) made 37 weights. They were made by feel, so the weight of each one is not exact.

The two that are lighter in color wouldn't fit in the box, so I put them on one of the box flaps to dry. They got more direct sun, so those are drier.


Traditionally, loom weights were not fired. It's not that they couldn't be, it's more of a "why bother" type of thing. They were probably made from a similar recipe to that of the mud bricks, which were also not fired.

Looms would be set up when the weaver had enough wool or linen to make a warp. The weft spinning can be done as you weave, if necessary.

Past photos of the warp-weighted loom

I went searching through the old photo cd's. I found some pictures that had been taken of the loom in Journey to Bethlehem, so I am posting them. They are in order of year.

December 2005, the first year we put up the loom.

I misjudged how long it would take to make the heddles, so that's what I'm doing here. And doing it wrong, as it turns out. I should have been tieing the heddles to the bar above me. I really didn't know what I was doing at the time. I had barely learned to weave on a regular loom.

You can see the loom weights. I got some air dry clay at Joann's and made those. I re-use them every year, but I always have to make more. Some of them break. Another problem is that they dry out and lose moisture weight. I've figured out that I need 5 to 8 ounces on each warp bundle. I had these at 10 ends per bundle and 1 weight on each one.

This is the loom in December 2006. It's blurry. I'm spinning, there on the near end in the pink and black. You can see the header cord, at the top, there.

This photo is from December 2008 or '09. It's a close up of the spacing chain on the warp.

Didn't find the wool box

Well, we attended third service this morning because the 9:30 one was too crowded last week. We hung out in the lobby during 9:30 time.

I didn't find the wool box. I was looking behind the curtains in E-1. Of course, I didn't know where it was going to be put, either. Maybe she didn't get time to get the box down. Not sure what to do now about the spinning wool.

Blue Whales and More things for the loom

Gregg and I went got up REAAAAL early this am and went out to the Starbucks in the PV Peninsula where PCH intersects Hawthorne. There weren't any clouds and the view was beautiful. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue whales that we'd heard were hanging out along the coast, but I don't know that we saw any. There's a really nice patio that faces the ocean and runs along the Starbucks, the Subway and another couple more stores whose names I don't know. The prices are the same as any other Starbucks, but the view!

Then we went to Home Depot. I got three 4' dowels for the loom, in case I get ambitious and decide to go ahead with the 3/1 or 1/3 twill sett. One is black walnut, one is reddish...maybe oak, because it doesn't smell like cherry and the third is just plain white--maybe birch or something. They were all the same price.

I am thinking up what I am going to say to make a set of really short videos on how to make the header band and tie it to the beam, chain the warp, make the cross, set up the loom, make and hang the weights, spacing chain(s), tie the heddles, and then, finally (sigh!) weave. I'm also going to include the tools I use in the video, and what the Aramaic is for the various parts.

I still need to ask if someone can tape the set up parts that are necessary before you start making the cloth, because THAT is the thing that makes or breaks the loom. I will make up the script for the whole thing, with camera cues first, e-mail it to Thersa, AJ and Jon and see what happens.

Stash Dive

Went stash diving and found THREE purpley colored wool cones, plus a cone of fuschia or something like that. hmmmm.

Something else. I want to film the weaving of the band. Part of it, at least. Maybe Annaliese could help me? I don't know. Have to ask. How much is a digital camcorder? Can I get good quality on a cell phone? I could do this myself, maybe.

Getting ahead of myself. Need to make warp calculations for the header bands and for the actual warp. Need to figure in twice the amount of intake. I didn't do that last time.

I want a finished width of about 36 to 42 inches at about 10 ends per inch. Length doesn't matter, but I think about 10 feet--a little over 3 yards--is good. Now to the project page!

Notes for the loom

I was looking back over my older posts and came across one from the last time I set up the loom, two, maybe three years ago, now. I got some more technical I'd forgotten.

Warp bundles of 10 ends need about 5 or 6 ounces of weight to make them hang properly. The clay weights weigh around 1 ounce or so each. The new ones weigh more than the older ones, obviously.

I was reading a blog post the other day from someone in England who weaves on a warp weighted. She addressed a problem with "waisting" selvedges which I've also encountered. There you are, weaving happily along and all of a sudden, you've got a cloth narrowing into a triangle and you didn't want that. It's similar to what happens in crochet when you don't chain up to begin the new row. Her solution was to graduate the weights--more on the sides, less on the middle bundles. I will try that, but I need to ask her how much more on each side or if she just did what worked and didn't calculate how much.

I'm toying with an idea of making the band out of two purpley colors...a Roman Senate look, maybe. I've got the wool on cones for that. hmm. Or maybe just go with a blue band and not be so controversial...I've got the blue in wool for that one, also. Or I could really play with fire and do temple colors on the band. We'll see.

Gearing up for Journey to Bethlehem, 2011

So my church, Journey of Faith in Manhattan Beach, is putting on Journey to Bethlehem in the lower parking lot after a sabbatical year in 2010. I'm back doing research and development for this.

I had cut the project off the loom last time because I didn't know if we were going to do this ever again. This time around, I have to start from scratch. Right now, I'm planning the new project for the demonstration. I'm thinking of making a 2/1 twill set, but I'm not sure how to go about that on the loom.

They should get the box down for me from the attic by Sunday, then I can see what I'll need to order as far as spinning wool and the like.
I need to get more clay for loom weights and more lead fishing weights.

I'm going through my boxes here at home and digging out all the wool handspun that I can find, to see if there is enough to make a header cord. There probably is. It's going to be rather motley, though.

My oldest is a senior so he's got an SAT class tonight, I've got to find out where at Hamilton the class meets, so I'm stopping here. More later when I start with the header cord.

What I need for the warp weighted project

I need to make some more weights. The ones I had are in storage with the rest of the props. I need a dowel about an inch or two thick for the beam, and some 2 x 4's. I don't need to make sure it's period for the frame.

I want to do a soft warp, so I may see what I can do with (gasp!) acrylics, so I don't have to spend that much. I do have some weaving yarn in cones, so I may use that and see how it goes. I've got gold, brown, and some heathered lavendery-purples. We'll see.

The plan for this summer

So this is my plan for the summer.

I want to work on a few things.

I'm trying to lose weight, and I'm considering weight loss surgery as part of that. I need to lose between 130 to 150 lbs. I need to be a lot more active than I have been. I'm already cutting my diet, but I find I'm cheating.
I intend to go to Curves at least 3 days a week, even if Ashley IS there.
Spend a little while in the pool every day--that's IN the pool, not watching the kids in the pool.
Keep busy.
Daily scripture reading. Curves/Exercise. Menus. Drink water constantly. Set out time each day/week for spinning, weaving, knitting/crochet. Keep up with laundry and housework. Plan time for research and revision of the J2B articles on the various trades. Research tapestry techniques and incorporate into warp weighted project. Time in evening for updating facebook, blog, and food journal.

Goals:
Spinning--finish spinning the tussah and dye the resulting yarn. (get more bobbins)
Weaving:
Begin a warp weighted project for J2B this winter. Begin it on a separate beam and tie the beam to the J2B loom later. (Need to make weights.)
Make a Greek key, a flower, or a palm tree design in a contrasting color on the hems and the sleeves? This is rather ambitious.
Knitting: finish scarf and hat for Anna. Socks for Matthew, Scott and Lenore for camp.
Deadline for socks: August 1st. Deadline for scarf and hat: September 30th.