Tangled Webs and Cardboard.

Weaving class is over--for this quarter, anyway. I got the string heddles done and put on the loom.

The  warp beam has been residing in the back of my van for the past two weeks. I had to move it when the family went out to dinner on Friday. I had the boys put it on top of the washing machine in the garage. I did laundry today, so now it's in the front room.

I've been trying to untangle the bottom part of it. I got the old spacing chains from last year off. That was a major hassle in trying to untangle things.

You are probably now screaming at your monitor "Why is it so tangled? How did she let this happen? Didn't she know it would be an Herculean task later?" Angst, angst, angst!

(Since you're probably reading this because I posted the link on my facebook page, you may NOT be yelling things at the computer and are getting the glazed eyeballed stare of impending death from boredom. If you are related to or are well acquainted with me, asking the above questions is kind of pointless, isn't it, because you know the answer is "Because it's Audrey!")

For all two of you who may not have known me since kindergarten and before, I will answer the questions in the form of a prescription for rolling up the loom with a work in progress. But briefly, Yes, I did know it would be this difficult later when I rolled up the beam the way I did last year.

Last year, at the end of the last night of Journey to Bethlehem, it was fixing to RAIN. Hard. I got the beam down and took it up to the props room, somehow. I don't remember that exactly. I packed up all my things, and then got my son to help me roll up the beam very quickly, so we could get it to my van before it started raining. It was starting to sprinkle as we walked to the car. Not just sprinkle spray, nope, it was slooooow, BIG, fat, drops of water, picking up speed with each succeeding drop.

If you are doing a warp weighted loom for demonstration someplace, a renfair, an SCA war or a re-enaction event, you will have to disassemble and move the beam and the loom with an unfinished project on it, unless you are a blindingly fast weaver.

Put a tarp, canvas, or a large piece of corrugated cardboard flat on the ground in front of the loom. Take down the beam, and place it just above one end of the tarp. Roll up the beam the way you do when you are rolling the woven cloth onto a modern floor loom with the cardboard.

Cardboard isn't period at all, unless it's late 1800's, in which case, you wouldn't be using a warp-weighted loom. It would be difficult to wind a sheet of cardboard on the beam because of the way the loom is configured. I suppose you could use sticks, but then you risk snagging the fabric. If you are rolling it up to move and "historicity" is important, then you could use a canvas, or maybe one of those bamboo mats like they sell at a hardware warehouse store in the garden department.

By the way, when you started weaving did you know that you need to have a refrigerator box worth of corrugated cardboard for both beams? I didn't know this. What is more, I haven't come across much on this important little tidbit of information in any weaving pattern, magazine, or book I've seen. Of course, it's possible I may have missed something. I haven't read absolutely everything there is out there on the subject and I usually only read English language publications.

You get this information from another weaver, and it's usually an offhand, "oh, roll some cardboard in between the layers on the threads and the cloth beams so they don't stick to each other."

So what did weavers use before cardboard was invented? Most likely they used sticks. I've seen that  mentioned, once, fairly recently in a magazine article, I think. I tried to Google this and was unsuccessful in finding the topic. So if you see this and have any historical information on it, please comment and let me know.

Ricotta 2

Making Ricotta again! 

This time, I'm doing things a little differently. I made a half batch, that's a half gallon of whole milk and two cups of buttermilk. I'm checking how long it takes to get from fridge temperature to the required 180 degree mark.

At 10 minutes in, the milk was at 100 degrees, according to the candy thermometer.

At 17 minutes, it is looking  "cottage cheesy" and resembles the ceiling texture in most of my house. The temperature was 150.

It has now reached 180, and that is at about 20 minutes. Now to ladle it out and let it drip for an hour.

It's easier working with a half batch.

Plans and spacer chains and heddles! Oh, my!

It occurs to me that you might be interested in my warp weighted loom plan. I need to give credit where it is due. The plans I have used are mainly from the old Early Period Magazine. It was an SCA publication, I think. It has not been published in quite some time, but here is the link to the archives: 

http://www.housebarra.com/EP/ 

The articles are in Issues 2 and 3, Making a Warp Weighted Loom and Warping Your Loom, respectively. These plans have been THE most helpful to me, mainly because there are drawings to look at. If you want to use the plans from these two issues, send the people who run the website an e-mail and ask for permission. I'm sure they will give it--when I asked, they were very nice--but it's better to ask first.

When I began researching this topic, there wasn't a lot of information out there. There is more now, including some particularly good videos on YouTube by a young man who was doing a college project. I have not found any plans that are the equal of the ones from Early Period Magazine, which was the first set I came across. The videos give additional visual impact, but merely add to the information already presented. What I'm doing here is relating my experiences with warp weighted looms.

Some plans I came across call for "sizing" the warp. Sizing means putting a mixture of glue and water (or starch) on the warp threads so they will be stiff and strong while you are weaving them. You have to wash it out of the project when you're done. I don't think this is a necessary step for the time period I'm working in (1st century BC-AD). I also fear that if I tried to do this, it would result in a huge sticky mess. It also assumes that you are using crochet cotton for the warp. I don't really want to think about trying it on wool.

The sizing recipe calls for 4 to 5 pints of water per one pint of Elmer's school glue. You mix it up and toss the skeins of warp into it, squeeze out the excess and hang it up to dry.

If you don't have a wide-ranging primitive or small loom background, such as a familiarity with backstrap, rigid heddle, tapestry or inkle looms you may have problems with some aspects of the Warp Weighted loom. When I started this, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or getting into. I had woven two projects on a table loom in high school some 25 years ago (30 now!). You may be far more ahead on this than I was.

As I mentioned before in the post of September 29, 2012, entitled Making String Heddles for the Warp Weighted Loom, I have trouble making the continuous heddles. Another blogger here on blogspot used a netting shuttle to make her continuous heddles, but she has experience with backstrap looms. (I, on the other hand, had to look up what in tarnation a netting shuttle was!) On my current project, I've decided to make loops. The author of the Early Period articles covers string heddles in much more detail than anyone else, including diagrams of how to make a continuous heddle and spacer chain. If you have trouble interpreting a static image diagram, such as stitch illustrations for crochet or knitting, you will have difficulty interpreting these, also.

My loop string heddles.

I do my loom set up before Journey to Bethlehem opens. Weeks before, in theory, but sometimes life happens. I don't do it in costume and I don't use period correct tools; I use scissors, crochet hooks and a tape measure. During production, if anyone is interested, they can weave a couple of picks.

Another thing to consider is spacing the warp with a chain (I crochet mine, that's the easy part) and your eyesight, if you are using weaving threads. You don't have to crochet it, you can make the chain using just your fingers (that's in the House Barra archive, too). Crochet is not period (1800's I think). Unless you are doing the set up as part of the demonstration and need period accuracy (and there are people around who will KNOW the difference and will take points off or something) or you don't know how to crochet, I wouldn't worry about the anachronism.

This is a spacer chain on a previous project from 2006.

Either use the same type of thread you are using for the warp, or at least the same or smaller weight or ends/wraps per inch for the spacer chain. My current project uses a wool yarn warp and weft. If I were to use the same yarn, then it would stick together. I'm going to use a blue cotton/bamboo size 3 or 5 crochet thread for the spacer chain and heddles. This is so I can see and feel the difference the chains and heddles from the project in the dark, since our production times are always at night.

If you are crocheting the spacers, use the crochet hook recommended for the gauge of the thread. For example:size 5 to 7 steel crochet hook for a size 10 bedspread cotton. The larger the number on a steel hook, the smaller it is, whereas it's the opposite for the aluminum and plastic ones. Why does it depend on the gauge of the thread? Because I used a plastic M or N size hook, once, when I had a warp that (if crocheting) normally took a size D or C hook. The spacer made the warp too wide for the weaving width and I had to re-do it.

This post is a bit disjointed and skips about. I'm sorry for that. I may come back at a later date and redo all of  my posts on the Warp Weighted Loom, but not right now. Thanks for reading!

Warp Weighted Loom Update

So last night was Tuesday and weaving class. Someone at class mentioned that I should take pictures to document what I was doing. So I will do that next time I'm at class and post them here.

Last week, I had counted the warp threads and slip knotted them by groups of 10. The final count was 440! This week during class, I spent the time separating the front and back threads. I used a weaving sword or pickup stick (whatever) and lease sticks.

Here are a few terms for you if you are new to weaving (I can feel eyes glazing over):
A weaving sword or pickup stick is a long, thin, flat, slat of wood that is pointed at one or both ends. Its purpose is to slip in between the threads so you can lift or pick up all of the warp threads at once in order to weave.

A lease stick is also a long, thin, flat slat of wood, with the ends rounded, not pointy. It is slightly thicker than the sword. Lease sticks are usually included when you buy a modern floor loom. A lease stick should be slightly longer than your warp. If you have a place that sells lumber, like one of the warehouse hardware stores, they would be cheap and easy to make. Lease sticks must be sanded smooth so the warp won't catch and snag or fray.The purpose of lease sticks is to keep the cross of the threads.

The cross (weaving, not Christianity) is where the front and back threads cross each other so you can pull the back threads forward in order to weave.

In order to make things a little easier, I am going to refer to the group of warp threads in front as the A threads. The warp threads in back will be the B threads. With a warp weighted loom, the front and back threads are divided by the bottom brace, and weights are hung on the warps instead of wrapping the warp between two beams as in more modern looms.

Now that we have definitions of terms, we can proceed. I picked up every other thread in a group of 10, and slipped it on top of the sword, so that I had 5 in front and 5 in back. When I was done, I stuck a lease stick in the shed.

Next, I took the back threads and brought them forward through the front ones, and slipped the sword in between them. I did not finish this part by the end of class. I only have a few more bundles of 10 to do, though, so I am happy with my progress. Besides, next time, I will bring my camera so I can take pictures!

The bottom stick is a lease stick and the top pointy one is a weaving sword.
The threads in front of the bottom stick are the A threads..

Taking a group of threads and dividing them.

A pair of threads: A and B.
A is on the right.

I slip the A thread to the front of the lease stick.
Note that both threads are to the front of the weaving sword.

Now the A thread has been slipped behind the sword.
The B thread has been slipped behind the lease stick and to the front of the sword.

Note: It is much easier to do one set of threads (A or B) at a time. The reason I'm doing them at the same time is because I messed up. I skipped several when I was slipping them from the sword to the lease stick.

The blue thread on the counter is a loop heddle.

I still have to make more heddles. I have 10, so far, so that's 430 more to go! Ha. I also have to make more weights.

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.