Loom Weight Re-design

This is a step-by-step how to on the re-designed loom weights.

I needed something that would be around 8 ounces for this warp. 6 ounces was not enough to hold the bundles of 10 warp threads taut and under tension.

Some friends of mine found some very large washers about 4 inches wide. Two of them put together weigh around 8 ounces, maybe a bit more.

This is one pair of washers after I glued it together.

I used Glue dots in line form to glue them together. 

You can see the line on the right side of the washer in the photo.

This is a glued weight. I'm wrapping it using brown florist's tape or stem wrap.

Here is the finished weight.

Two down, 34 more to go! :)

The one thing that concerns me is that the ends of the stem wrap don't stick very well. I wonder how they will hold up to a weeks' worth of clinking and friction. I may want to make yarn holders for them like I did for the clay ones, so that the yarn is not rubbing on the tape and getting sticky.

Making String Heddles for the Warp Weighted Loom

I've started making heddles. I'm making loop heddles because I'm not sure that I can make a continuous string heddle to a consistent length.

Some years ago, I bought some wooden dish drying racks at a 99 cent store with the idea of using them to wind warp crosses. There are too many prongs to do that right, so they've been sitting in my garage for several years. I have a problem throwing things out, especially wooden ones. I decided to use a rack to make string heddle loops.

I am making two sizes, one using all 8 pegs on a side which makes it about 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and one using 6 pegs which makes it about 4 to 6 inches. I made a loop using 4 pegs, but I decided that would be too small.

This is the 8 inch loop. I decided to use this one.

There are two options with loop heddles.

The first is to just "fold" the loop around the warp thread and slip the heddle bar through the two ends of the loop. This is the method that is set out in the Schact Tapestry Loom instruction manual. You can   look this up online at http://www.schachtspindle.com/instructions/weaving/tapestry-loom.pdf. The heddle instructions are on pages 5 and 6.

The second option is to make a slip knot with the loop around the warp and a slip knot around the heddle bar, or just stick the bar through the other end of the loop.

Putting the string heddle around the warp thread.

This is what the larks head should look like around the warp thread before you pull it tight.

The back threads, with the heddles attached. The threads are to the "front" because I was creating the "cross" with the flat sticks you can see.

I will probably use this second option, because it gives more length on the heddle. The shed depends on the angle of the loom and the amount of weight you have on the warp strings. Because the warps are attached to weights, and not to a beam or to the loom itself, the shed width is not predetermined, like a modern floor loom, tapestry, or frame loom. This is why all the instructions on making and warping a warp weighted loom deal with the heddles last and are not very specific about the length you need.

A third option, if you are not concerned with "authenticity", would be to make or use a frame or harness or rigid heddle. Another blogger I read did just that, but her loom project was more concerned with getting children to weave than with having a period working loom. She made a rigid frame heddle out of popsicle sticks.

To my knowledge, using a rigid heddle on a warp weighted loom is not period to first century AD, but I'm not an expert. Who's to say that it couldn't have developed? As far as I know, there is no documented period evidence for a harness-type heddle used on any warp weighted loom. If anyone finds any evidence for this, I would love to see it. I'm sure anyone else who has studied this would, also.

Weights, warp and very tangled threads!

Well!

Note to self: 

When you are gluing things with superglue you only need one drop! I did not know this, so I had to pry the prospective loom weight off the kitchen table. Some of the finish on the table went with the loom weight. Oh well.

The florists' stem wrap tape worked very well to cover the metal weight, but it isn't very sticky at the ends. It does the job, though. Maybe I just got some old tape, or something.

I started back at the T.U.S.D. adult school with the hand weaving class again! Yay! This class is a super deal! You can weave whatever you like on any loom and you just supply your own yarn. This session, I'm trying to figure out a better way to rig the heddles on the loom.

The class started last week. I spent the whole class trying to untangle the threads and unroll the weaving. I got most of the weights untied last week. 

This week, I got it unrolled and re-grouped the threads in tens. I have 440! What was I thinking!!!! I will have to mix the weights, but I think I have enough to put the heavier ones on the back threads and the clay ones on the front threads. It's the back threads where the weight matters. Most people will see only the front weights, if they notice them at all.

I need to get a cone of butcher or kitchen string, or something and make a variety of sizes of loops. I think I will try 8, 10, and 12 inch loops. That should give me a 4, 5, and 6 inch pull...I think. So, I will sett a 1-3 twill, to practice the loops and see what works. That way, I will only have to make around 110 of each loop, and only make 330, because the front ones don't need them.

A couple of other notes about loom weights: The heavier the warp, the more weight you need to create the proper tension. With a lighter or finer warp, you need less. How much is missing from most of the instruction material I've examined.

Here's what I think:

For heavier, "normal" (i.e. worsted weight) yarn that you'd buy at a craft store (like Joann's, or Michael's, or your local yarn shop), you'd need between 8 to 12 ounces of weight per 10 to 12 warp threads.

If you are using a lighter yarn, like a sport weight, then you will need between 4 and 6 ounces.

If you are using weaving yarn like an 8/2 or smaller on the warp weighted loom, then you might only need 2 to 3 ounces per 10 to 12.

You should also seriously question your sanity, in that case. Of course, since you are going to set up a warp weighted loom, you're probably already halfway there, in the minds of your friends, relations and significant others.

Why? I'll spell it out for you: a fine warp and weft are harder to see. It is easy to miss threads. It also takes longer to weave yardage on your project. It becomes what is known as a character-building, educational, bonding experience. ("no discipline seems pleasant at the time, etc...").

Now that's not to say that you can't do this, it's just more difficult to do. It is possible to use a weaving-type yarn for the warp and a thicker one for the warp. That was and is done quite a bit. You could, for example, use a linen warp and a wool weft, unless you are terribly concerned with shatnez, or intend to actually wash the resulting cloth with modern machinery instead of, say, pounding it clean with some rocks, or something.

I would not use a warp heavier or bulkier than the "worsted weight" yarn. A bulky-chunky yarn would have you up to about 12 to 16 ounces per 10 and that may be too much weight for the beam, altogether. You could make a thicker beam, if you wanted, I suppose. I wouldn't.

I'm about 5' 2". My beam is about 5 to 6 feet long and 4 inches in diameter, it's wood. As I mentioned above, the current project has 440 wool warp threads. I can not carry the beam very far when it's weighted and have serious problems lifting it into place.

The more ends per inch, the more weight you're dealing with. It's not just the loom weights, either. There's the weight of the beam, yarn, heddle rod or rods, as well as any sticks, cloth or cardboard you use to put in between the woven layers. This is something you need to consider when you are making your loom and warping the project. Do you have help to lift the beam, or is it just you? Don't go giving yourself a hernia.

New idea for loom weights

I got hold of some very. large. washers, not the laundry kind. (Thank you Bill and Alice!) These washers weigh about 4 1/2 ounces each. I'm going to put two together and see how that works as a loom weight. Now to buy some fabric tape.

What I did with the ricotta (and spaghetti sauce)

If anyone was wondering what I did with the two cups of homemade ricotta, your angst is over. I will relate what I did. Are you ready? Are you sure?

Okay, okay! Enough already.

I made lasagna. I used a jar of spaghetti sauce, fried up a pound of ground beef and onions and then layered that with the no-cook noodles and the ricotta. I topped it with some mozzarella and Parmesan. Except for the ground beef, I pretty much followed the recipe on the Barilla package.

I always add fried ground beef (with a chopped up onion) to my spaghetti sauce and then zap the whole thing for 10 to 20 minutes in the microwave. Okay, if you want to use the fancy French word, then I sautee the onion and the beef. I'm not sure what the difference is between sauteeing and frying, if any. I'll have to ask my husband what the difference is--he speaks French. I have low moisture cookware and usually don't add any fat to the things I'm cooking.

If I'm using frozen meatballs (for spaghetti, not lasagna), I just dump the meatballs and the spaghetti sauce in the casserole and stick it in the microwave.

I don't make my own spaghetti sauce. I don't have access to loads of free or dirt cheap tomatoes. I have to buy them. Buying enough to make it worthwhile to do spaghetti sauce from scratch would be cost prohibitive, here in Southern California. I like chunky spaghetti sauce that has lots of veggies in it, and then I add the beef. If you're out of lettuce or your family won't eat salad, you've got meat, veggies and carbs all in the one dish. If you have picky eaters, you can whirl the sauce in the blender so they won't know the difference. I add seasoning, of course, but I don't measure it.

Back to the lasagna. I think it came out very good. I liked the ricotta with it. When my mom made lasagna, she always used cottage cheese. It's more runny that way and you have to sit the baked lasagna in the refrigerator for a day if you want it to set up and not run all over the pan when you cut it.

I stored the whey in the empty whole milk jug in the fridge. I've been using the whey instead of milk or water when I make bread. There was about a half gallon or so of the whey left after straining.