My experiments with a warp weighted loom...and other fiber arts projects.

Busy, busy, no weaving for me for a bit...

2010-08-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I had hoped that after all the preparation for my elevation was completed that I would have a little more time to work on my loom. This is not the case. My husband and I decided it was time to start fighting in Crown Lyst since we were running out of excuses (we're in college, we're getting married, we're buying a house, we're going to have a baby, we have an infant...) Lorcann fought in Trimaris' summer Crown Lyst (Memorial Day weekend) for the first time...and won. We weren't too stressed about his fighting in this Crown because he had never done it and no one wins their first Crown Lyst...except Lorcann. So that being said - I will not have much time for loom pursuits for at least 6 months :)
I am however quite thrilled that I was able to attend Wadmal I and Wadmal II taught by Mistress Thora Sharptooth at Pennsic last week. It was wonderful to be able to take a hands on class and learn to warp 2/2 twill - along with discussing warp weighted weaving with someone who has done it a number of times. I wish that I could warp the loom and start right away - but at least I have hands on knowledge for when I do it later! I had so much fun in those classes and learning to use a spring lathe while I was there was a bonus for when I make my new loom with period tools. I would have attended Pennsic just for those 5-6 hours - they made my war!

Long time - No posts...

2010-04-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

It has been crazy busy and the loom had to go on the back burner so that I could complete all the other projects that needed to be done.
Between Jan 15 and March 30 I had sewed:
1 14th century cote, complete with hand cast buttons courtesy of the Hubby.
2 pairs of hose
2 pairs of brais
1 Anglo-Saxon under dress
1 Anglo-Saxon over dress, complete with hand dyed silk trim and a little embroidery.
1 Anglo-Saxon Coif
1 Anglo-Saxon head scarf

I'm also almost finished with my Naalbound socks and already have an order for another pair for a friend...

I'll post pics soon :)

The loom should be going back up again soon and then I will have to do a lot of sorting out since it has been in storage...It also bugs me because I know what's wrong with it and there isn't a lot I can do except continue and just have a very widely woven piece...I'm guessing that by my third piece I will have most the kinks out of tabby and will move on to another weave....

:(

2010-01-05T09:05:00.001-08:00

My plan was to bring the loom to A&S this weekend. After the test run at Yule, I have had to re-think this plan. While it is portable, it is not as portable as I would like for such a trip. This was well illustrated by what happened transporting it to Yule. In one 30 minute trip 7 warp threads were broken. I tried to "fix" them at site as best I could so it could still be used at site. It worked, but I would not want to enter what is currently on there in any kind of competition :)
I am building a smaller, more period loom for events. My OCD just couldn't handle all of the glaring issues that I still need to address (i.e. water bottles - even in bags, are still not right, 2X4's, non-period fiber... and the list continues). The portable loom should be up and running fairly soon so I will have it out and about for people to play with...I'm really bummed that I'm not entering, but it's for the best.

...and a new warp is born :)

2009-12-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

The second warp is on the loom. I have to admit that I have been very lazy about pics this time around and will have to fix that :)
The header band has a warp of 57" - Yep...I went ahead and went for width. I think it was because I was reading on a website about the limitations of fabric width and how that effected how they made their clothes in early period. Umm. Yeah right!
So I am sure that I will have some drawing in...I am guessing that the finished product may be about 54 across...more than enough :)
I measured on the warping board and I should also have about 4 yards in length...I hope. We'll see how that goes.
I have decided to use water bottles for weights this time around for a couple of reasons:
1-They are a uniform weight
2-They are cheap
3-I don't have to make them
4-I need quite a few of them since this warp is wider and 700 threads
I sewed the warp to the beam last night and then separated the sheds for tabby. I just need to weight the threads and tie 350 heddles and I should be up and running!!

Total hours = 15 or so

Moving along....

2009-12-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

I finished the last few inches on the piece and cut it off the loom. I was very surprised to see that I had no drawing in (meaning the beginning and the end were almost exactly the same size). I had a spot in the middle where it got a little wider, but only by an inch or so. I will post pics soon. I am going to wet finish it in the bath tub with some soap and water and then let it air dry. I will have it all in one piece at Oldenfeld's Yule if anyone wants to see it before I cut it up and make things with it :)
As far as the next piece. I have around 480 threads woven into the header band and I'm going to keep going for a bit more. We'll see how many threads I end up with since using the header band keeps the threads much farther spaced apart then when I tied them on the beam and then chained the spacer chain. The fabric that produced is a little warp heavy. I think that the header band will make it so my fabric is a more even tabby, which is of course the goal :) I'll also post pics of that process soon.
The hubby is making a new header beam for the loom because after the test run it was determined that something thicker was needed so that it didn't bend under the weight of all the weaving and weights. I hope to have the loom re-warped before Wednesday of next week.

I'll be past 300 threads this evening..

2009-11-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

So with the 11 cards...I started the warping process. I am now close to 300 threads and have come to realize that this way is indeed faster and easier. I have the borrowed warping board next to the loom and I pass the ball of warp through the shed, turn the cards, pass the ball around the pegs of the warping board and back again, back through the shed, turn the cards again. Each pass makes two threads that we have guessed are about 5 yards long. The spacing is also much better with the this process so I'm curious to see how many threads I will use this time.

Rough hour count: 6 so far

So...

2009-11-23T22:21:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the part of the hole saw that my hubby needs to drill the holes in the loom went missing for a bit - but he says that he will drill the holes this week :) We'll see what happens...As soon as I can weave the last few inches and get the piece off the loom and wet finished - I will post pics.

While I'm waiting I have started the warping process for the next piece. I've decided that It's going to be wider so that I can make more things out of it. So far I have warped my inkle loom with 11 cards...why 11? I miscounted :) I wanted 10, but 11 is fine too. I have it all warped and have woven a couple of inches. I figure I will weave a few more inches and then start weaving in the warp threads using a borrowed warping board (which the hubby will have copied before you leave I promise!) so that the warp will start out at roughly 5 yards. I have decided that I'm going to bundle the warp threads in bundles of 30 to make it easier to move to the loom. This next piece is made of the same mystery fiber as the the first one (I think it's acrylic from the burn test I did) but a pretty mauve-like shade. This piece will also be tabby until I have a chance to do the proper loom modifications to do other weaves. Since I need to have the loom up and running by the 12th of December - I'm guessing that will be sometime after Winter A&S in January since I will probably be working on this next piece for the next 6 weeks or so due to all the Holidays.

Almost there...

2009-10-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm down to the last few inches - I refuse to untie the weights just to let loose a couple of inches. I am sure that I would feel different about this if I had spun the threads, but since I didn't, I'm ready for this piece to come off the loom. I am currently at 2 yards + 34 inches...and holding. I need to do a slight loom modification so that I can weave a little farther down comfortably - so I'm waiting for the hubby to come home with the power tools :)
I want to drill one more set of holes to be able to move the heddle bar down just a little bit further. Once this is done, I think I will be able to weave a little past the 3 yard mark so that I can compensate for the first couple inches of the piece that are a little rough.
Once I have gone as far as I can - it's time to take it off the loom. For some reason this makes me nervous - makes no sense, but I always feel this way towards the end of a project.
I am going to wet finish the piece in the bathtub...maybe with a little soaps...maybe not...I'll see how it feels, and then let it air dry.

I know that it has been a couple of weeks :)

2009-10-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to be finished by now, I know - I know. Life being what it is, my energies had to be diverted to get us ready for a weekend trip and then when we returned I turned around and was out of town for two weeks. In the mean time - I started a pair of naalbinded socks for me...I had some hours on airplanes and had to do something and I finished a 13th century fighting tabard for a friend. I'll post picks of the socks when I can and the tabard as they come to me :)

Weaving update...

2009-10-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

I am now at 2.5 yards. I wove a few inches last night and then rolled up as much as I could to see if that last .5 yard is to be or not. It looks like it will happen. I am not going to take off the weights again as it is not worth it for the amount of weaving that it will add at this point - especially since the tension is a little off so close to the weights. I may modify the loom a bit so I can weave closer to the weights by adding another set of holes so I can move down the heddle bar, but that is about it.
I'm ready to have this off the loom for many reasons...
1 - I want to make things with the fabric (ok this one is obvious)
2 - I want to get started on the next piece so it's ready for people to use at the Novice Faire at Yule.

Some progress...

2009-10-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I had hoped to have the weaving off the loom by now, but schedules being what they are - it hasn't happened. I now have maybe 2/3 (or a little more...playing it by feel) but since I will be out of town from 10/4 to 10/15, unless I have some spectacular insomnia (possible) I will have to wait and finish the weaving when I get home....

My mittens...

2009-10-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

I love having portable projects - these are my mittens. I made them using a purple merino wool and the york stitch. I think they turned out pretty well considering I made them without a pattern and have never made mittens before...Now I've started on some socks for me :)

Time...

2009-09-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

So I have only woven about four inches into the third yard. The last couple days have been pretty busy and since we leave for an event near Atlanta tomorrow...I'm guessing not much more will happen between now and Monday...I still think that I can get this piece off the loom by the end of September, I just need to focus next week ;) I like deadlines...

Cool pic of pin beater in action...

2009-09-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

I found this pic on the website http://vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/index.php?id=1313&L=1 I really like this picture for two reasons:
1 - It shows the pin-beater in action (BTW - I totally copied her pin-beater on a string...makes it easier). She is "scalloping" the weft thread into place.
2- If you look at the fabric right below header beam, you can see that it is kind of wavy. This has been happening on my piece as well. As far as I can tell - it's from the weight bundles. It makes sense and it makes me feel better to see it on someone else's work also.

Something else I noticed...it seems that I get a line in the weaving every time I release the weights and roll-up. It annoys me, but I think that it will work itself out "in the wash" when I wet finish the fabric...

Hmmm...

2009-09-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

After releasing the weights and rolling up some of that 2nd yard up onto the beam I am now 99% certain that I'm going to get a third yard out of this warp. Not, too much past that, but then again I could be wrong - I could maybe get another 1/3 to 1/2 a yard - we'll see. I am curious to see what will happen - as I weave closer to the weights I can feel the tension change. There is a sweet spot where the weaving is smooth and the tension wonderful, but when I get too close to the weights I can feel things start to go kind of wonky and I know it's time to roll up again...I'm just curious to see what happens when I keep going as far as I can...

Two Yards, HA-ha-ha!!

2009-09-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Now I have two yards completed...I'm still pretty sure that I can get at least a third yard out of this warp...I'll know in a few days :)

One yard on the beam - on hanging down...You can see the thin piece of wood that was nailed to the header beam to compensate for not drilling the holes and sewing the warp to the beam...

Rolled it up more...

2009-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

I now have a full yard rolled onto the top beam and another 16 inches below. I'd like to knock out that 2nd yard today! However - I know it won't happen since we are headed to a friend's house this evening...I did make it to almost 2/3 of a yard...pics at the next yard :)

Another person used the loom!

2009-09-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

I had a friend visit and he wove a few passes on the loom while he was here! Yeah! While I like making a fabric, I like other people learning how it works just as much!

7 inches into the next yard...some observations...

2009-09-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I re-did all the weights and started weaving again. I have got to come up with a better system for that - it takes too long to release new warp. But, I started weaving noticed a couple of things...
I decided that I would chain up the extra warp before I added the weights...I was trying new things...I don't like it because it puts strain on some warp threads and not on others. Not enough for me to undo it now, but when it's time to roll up again in a couple of days I'll try something different again.
The weave is also getting a bit more even as I get the hang of it! Yeah!!
I'll post pics again when I hit the two yard mark...

1 yard down...2 to go?

2009-09-12T14:19:00.001-07:00

I have woven 1 yard of fabric...ha ha ha! When I hit the one yard point it seemed like a good time to roll it up and release more warp from the weights below. It looks like there will be as much as three yards when I'm finished! Considering, this was a test warp - I'm pretty pleased with the amount of yardage. I will have plenty of fabric to make things with...

This is a close up...not perfect, but I'll take it as a start!

A little further away...
A picture of the whole yard...

Once the these pictures were taken, I undid the weights and rolled up some of the fabric onto the top beam. I got around the fact that I didn't sew the warp to the beam by nailing a thing piece of wood onto the top beam so that the warp couldn't slip around the bar anymore...easy solution to the problem for now....On to the next yard!

Almost 1 yard!

2009-09-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

As of last night I had 32 inches...when I get to a full yard I will take a picture a post it....I think I'm going to be able to get almost three yards from this warp! As I weave, all I can think about are things that I want to make :)

Learning as you go somtimes makes you feel d-u-m-b!

2009-09-10T13:33:00.001-07:00

So...the weaving is progressing along nicely. Last night I decided to see what would happen if I rolled some up...(this is where the dumb part comes in)...I start to try and roll it up and...nothing happens. Why? Well...in my infinite wisdom, I decided that I didn't need to drill the whole in the top beam to sew the warp to the beam. This turns out to be crucial as all the warp does right now is spin around the beam since it is tied to it. Lucky for me, my husband is going to make a slight addition to the beam to make it turn. This warp is the first and last time I will use this beam anyway because it is too small and bows with the weight of the warp. The hubby says that he will use his shaving horse and draw knife and make me a new one in time for me to warp the loom again in October - I'm pretty certain that I will be done with the first piece sometime in the next two weeks. The next top beam will be much thicker and have the wholes drilled.

Yeah for my Hubby!

2009-09-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

He says that he is going to make me a travel loom to take to events!!
It will be smaller and free standing...
I should have it at our Yule event this year :)

Making progress...things learned.

2009-09-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Now I have about 18 inches woven. I'm finding this:
1-It's hard to make sure your edges are even when you are looking up.
You can see where I spent a lot of time on the ladder = even selvege edge
You can see where I was able to easily the edges = even selvege edge
However, there is a section between these two that is not 100% perfect. I got it a little too tight on the left side. It bugs me, but not enough to un-weave it. I just need to remember it for next time. I refuse to stress about this piece because it's a learning piece. If I was entering this weaving in a competition that would be a different story. However, I already have a whole list of things that I want to make from it, so I'm not that worried. Can you tell?
Who will see the uneven edges when it's been cut up and made into things? :)
2-Don't strum the loom too hard...the warp threads don't like it...

I'm starting to get it...

2009-09-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

So now I have almost five inches woven. The first couple inches were a learning curve. I was up and down the step ladder a lot because I hadn't learned what it looked like when I missed a pick (the threads had stuck together and had not be woven in correctly). Once I learned what it looked like to miss a pick - and what it was suppose to look like when I hadn't - things moved along much better. Although I will say "un-weaving" to back and get the missed picks wasn't hard, it just took time :)
I re-did the front warp chain with a single thread vs. the first time where I used double and this seems to have helped with not missing picks since the threads are more evenly spaced...or this could all be in my head...
The "struming" of the loom is very important. I used the sword beater, or my hand, and strum the warp threads like playing a stringed instrument. This makes all the threads that have stuck to their neighbor let go and greatly reduces the amount of picks missed.
Having a toddler running around and asking questions makes it even more challenging. I can't help but wonder what they did for this...
I'll post pictures of progress in the next couple days...

Teaching others...

2009-09-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

So now that I have a basic understanding of how this works...I want others to try it! The only other person that has been near the loom since it has been up and running is my husband...so he was the first victim :)
The conversation worked like this...
Me - "Honey I want you to try weaving on the loom..."
Him - "What? Why? I don't want to mess it up!"
Me - "You won't mess it up - I'll be standing right here..."
Him - "Why do you want me to do this?"
Me - "Because I want everyone to have a better understanding and appreciation for how much work went into making cloth..."
Him - "Ok"

He tried it :)
His words were "This takes a lot more work and time than I thought..."

Yep. And that Ladies and Gentlemen is why I want anyone who would like to - to be able to give it a try....

So now I am really hoping that I can finish weaving the piece on the loom by the end of the month.

Eureka!!!!!!

2009-09-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

It works!! I made fairly even tabby!!!
It took some messing around with the tension still and I learned a number of things....

1-The headerband is much more important that I previously thought...I could have saved myself a lot of work had just done one :O)
2-The heddles I knitted got progressively smaller as I worked (they looked the same when looking down them, but when I stood on a step ladder and looked down I could see what happened. I'm thinking about doing individual ones next time. I think because the heddles get progressively smaller it makes the top of the weaving uneven. I will have to see as I continue whether this problem rights itself or I need to adjust the heddles.

See how close the threads had to be moved to get an even tabby.

I think it's about 30inches across now.

I am using a light taupe colored weft so I can clearly see what is happening :)

From this distance it looks light blue.

A mini-tunic...

2009-09-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

We are attending Crown Lyst this weekend (labor day) with our two year old and he has out grown all his garb. He has been going and spending time with his Grandparents instead of going to events so I have not made him anything recently...
Since he is still in diapers I elected to make him one long tunic that I will belt. He can wear some light-weight shorts underneath over his diaper and will still look period in that his age group wouldn't be wearing pants anyway :)

It's made of a linen/cotton blend stripe fabric and is natural colored. It is hand sewn with white linen thread and then felled with a blue silk blend.

Making progress...

2009-09-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

So, after weaving those 5 passes and realizing that something was not quite right - it was time to ask some questions and tinker with the loom a bit.

The first thing that I did was add more weight...a lot more weight. I added 12oz to each thread bundle and...Viola! The sheds open much better :) If only everything was that simple...

The next thing I did was to ask some questions on the wwloom list and see what others had to say about it. The response I got was very helpful. The first thing address was about even tabby...My loom should be doing an even tabby - I was just expecting a warp-faced weave and so was making it happen. It was recommended that I use a space chain (similar to the warp chaining) at the top since I didn't do a header band. I put one of these in place - which was no small task since I had already added all that weight I couldn't just take down the header beam anymore. Instead I spend a couple of hours staning on top of a step ladder. As soon as I started I could tell that it was going to help a lot.

The next thing was the heddles moving...it was suggested that the next time I use hair bands every couple of inches to keep the heddles from moving. But, since I had already knit the heddles, it was suggested I tie a heavier weight thread every couple inches to keep them from migrating. I haven't done this yet, but I may if they start to migrate too much.

Lastly I asked about shuttles...I was planning on using a ball of thread simply because I did have a big shuttle...and was told that was absolutely fine - shuttles tend to get stuck in the warp threads :)

So - now I am to the stage that I can actually weave. I may get some done in the next few day, but we are going out of town this weekend so time is at a premium...and I may have to wait until Sunday or Monday.

The extra weight added. I added soda cans in brown paper bags because I haven't made anymore clay weights yet.
Perhaps I need to barter with a person that likes working with clay more than I.

The spacer chain that I added to help it stop being so warp faced.

I added more weight...

2009-09-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

So after trying 5 passes...I learned some things...and then cut out the weft :)
First - I knew that the fabric was going to be warp faced....It's tabby on a warp weighted loom - I don't know how to warp it to be anything but warp faced right now. I need to ask some people a lot of questions...
Second - Since it is warp faced it is going to be much narrower than it looks as a warp...
third - I needed more weight because the sheds were not working well and they were taking forever to separate out...

Some things that I am now mulling over:
When I warped the loom, I decided to just do a simple tabby. In my mind the tabby would be warp faced (that was how the mechanics worked in my mind anyway). This of course makes a smaller piece of fabric. The questions I have are:
1. How do I weave even tabby? Is it possible on a warp weighted loom?
I have also seem pics online of weft faced tabby weaving on a warp weighted loom and I can't seem to wrap my head around how that happens...
2. Heddles seem to move around a lot - need to try somethings to fix this...
3. Right now I am using a ball for the weft, but I am wondering if there were any preferred shuttles...

So I had to try it...

2009-09-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

So far, about 600+ threads seems to make something a little over a foot wide. I need to adjust the tension a little and that may help with the width, but I was guessing it was going to be this way. The threads are pretty light weight. I also think I want to toy with adding a bit more weight. Lastly I need a step stool so that I can see better to mess with the threads at the top.
I will post pics soon...it isn't pretty, but it's weaving...

I'm going to be less vague about Heddle knitting :)

2009-09-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

So...I decided that after reading my last post that I should explain how to knit a heddle. I think that chaining the warp is pretty easy to explain (just like crochet chaining - but pick up one of the warp threads inside each stitch), but knitting the heddles is a little more complicated....
Step one - Fill a small shuttle with thread that you want to use to make heddles. I used a contrasting thread to make it easier to see. Starting on the left side of the loom, tie the end to the heddle rod.
Step two - To make it easier, you or a helper should bring the back threads between the front threads so that they are easier to reach. We used a glave to hold them forward.
Step three - Pass the shuttle under the heddle rod, around the thread (left to right), over the top of the heddle rod.

At this point it gets a little more complicated.

Step four - While holding the shuttle in you right hand, grab the loop that has formed around the heddle rod with your left. Twist the loop towards you so that the loop is made into a figure eight shape. Then pass the shuttle through the part of the eight that is closest to you (again from left to right). This will tie a kind of slip knot.
Step five - Adjust the tension and the heddle (loop) size.

Congrats - you have knitted one heddle...

The hardest part is keeping all the heddles relatively the same size. I have a few ideas on how I will do this in the future...but I need to test them out.

The next time I have someone around that can take pictures of my hands I will take a picture of each step...

It is finished!

2009-08-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today Greet came over again to help with getting all the heddles knitted so I can get down to some weaving. Greet brought her notebook (of doom...cause all notebooks that contain important info are notebooks of doom) with the notes from the wwweaving class that she took at Pennsic. We talked about how we would move the heddle thread through the threads and it was decided that a shuttle would work great (it did - I used a mini card weaving shuttle) We worked out how the heddles were knitted and started. It seemed a little different than what I had seen online (which isn't much - all the heddle knitting info everywhere is very vague...), but I figured there must be something that I didn't know since I have never actually seen a working wwloom in person - and then we finished. We were very excited. We moved the heddle rod and....nothing happened. We tried again. We walked around the loom and looked at it from many angles. We looked at the pictures in the book. We tried again. Nothing. We did it wrong. Greet had apparently been a few minutes late to class and had missed the writing down of the part about how the heddle loops around the thread. After discussing what we had done and discussing the vague pictures that I have seen online we deduced what had happened and figured out what needed to be done different. That was the good news....the bad being I had to knit all the heddles again - Well I did title this blog "My experiments..." :)

Greet needed to go to Ensemble practice so after she left I sat down and stared at it....and went and got a razor blade. We had discussed leaving what we had done in place - but it was just going to be confusing...and there is some kind of perverse satisfaction about cutting the threads and watching the heddles all fall to the floor. I then started to knit the heddles again. I was at least very competent at the knitting process since I had already done it once today. When I was finished. I crossed my fingers and moved the bar...success!!! Sort of...I had a few threads that had been twisted in the knitting process and I had to pull those out, straighten them, and using a yarn needle, put them back into the warp chain. I checked the sheds to make sure that all the threads were where the needed to be, added an extra weight to each side because it made it easier for the heddles to move freely, and re-spaced the top a little better (really understand why the card woven header is a good idea now). I also re-tied the warp chains to the uprights a little differently so that the sheds opened a little smoother.

Then I sat in a chair and admired the finished warp :)

See the glave in the picture...that was to hold the shed once it was separated - made it much easier to knit the heddles. Would have been even better had I had another piece of closet rod, but I didn't.

You can clearly see in this pic how the glave is working...

This is when the heddles were being knitted wrong...it's hard to see because of their color. This is also a pic of the little shuttle that I used.

This is a close up of the above shot...

Almost finished doing it...wrong :)

Up close of almost done...wrong...

Picture done the write way. Notice how you can see a lot more green and the threads are much further away from the heddle bar.

This is what the spacing and loom looks like when all the heddles are knit.

A closer look...

This is the natural shed that happens when the heddle bar in resting in the brackets. I'm holding it open with my sword beater, but you can see all the heddles and how they work.

This is the second shed that is formed when the heddle bar is moved back so that it rests against the uprights.

Now the loom is all set to do so simple tabby weave....we'll see how simple it really is :)

I've started on some mittens :)

2009-08-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

In between working on my loom I have started a set of mittens...I have one almost completed and I'll post a pic of the pair when I'm done. I'm using the York stitch (Naalbinding)...in a pretty shade of purple merino wool...

My sword beater is finished!

2009-08-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished sword beater. It is made of poplar and is 29inches from end to end and about 3inches wide at the widest part of the blade. I'm lucky that the maker decided to use a draw knife to make it and then scraped it instead of sanding using sandpaper - So I have a period sword beater! Yeah! The last step will be oiling the wood to seal it so that it's smooth and doesn't warp.

Here it is!

How it compares to my current warp.

Starting the process of knitting the heddles...getting closer to actual weaving!!

2009-08-30T09:47:00.001-07:00

Well...that last step before weaving is knitting/chaining the heddles. This is the process that actually makes it so there are two sheds. I'm veru excited that I will be starting to weave fabric in the next week!

Chaining the warp!

2009-08-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today a new friend - Greet, came over and helped me make more progress on the warping progress. I needed to chain both warps and add the weights to the front before I could chain the heddles. I had started to chain the back row last night and it was slow going, today with Greet's help things went much faster. Warping a warp weighted loom goes much faster and easier with two people :)

This picture is an up close of the chaining.

The chain is the same kind that you would use to start crocheting

with one thread inside each chain...

This is the back threads chained...

A view of all the back threads chained and the front threads with their weights...

A little bit closer view...

Greet between the front and back threads.
She is feeding the threads down to me so that I can then chain them.

This is one of the things that really helped make it go much faster!! :)

The front and the back threads are now all chained...

A side view...

Us laughing and joking now that we are done with this part...

The loom is now chained and weighted...

All that is left is to chain the heddles to the heddle rod and it will be ready to weave!

Adding weights...

2009-08-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here is what the threads look like before the weights...

It's not quite as bad as it looks... This is about what it looks like at about the half way point on the back threads...

Up close...I threaded the bundle through the hole on the weight...

I then tied half a knot and

finger chained the rest of the threads to keep them out of trouble...

Finished finger chaining...

Getting closer to having the back row completed...

Back row complete...

Full length view of the back row with weights...

and lastly, the beginnings of my sword beater.

Sword beaters are as hard to find concrete info about as is everything that was made of wood from that time period. The one surviving example that I could find is posted earlier in the this blog and is made of whale bone. It measures at around 15inches. However, since we know that looms came in varying sizes, some of them quite large, it is hard to imagine using a 15inch sword beater on such a loom. After discussion and examination of pictures of what others are using, it was decided that a sword beater around two feet in length would be a good size to start with.

Yeah - all threads are on and ready to go!

2009-08-24T10:58:00.001-07:00

Yeah!!!! All the threads are on and separated! It wasn't near as bad to separate as I thought it might be. If you look at the picture below, you can see that half the threads are hanging behind the heddle bar and the other half are in front.

This is a full length shot...

Now it's time to add the weights...

Also...

2009-08-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

Warping the loom this time with 600+ threads I walked roughly 9000 steps around my kitchen chairs or 4.5 miles (the average person takes 2000 steps in a mile...).

During the last 200 threads my husband looked up the plans to make a warping board and promises to make me one by the next time I need to warp the loom so I don't wear a hold in the living room floor :)

Warping - Day three

2009-08-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

Since I can't sit and spend 8 hours warping the loom - I have been adding threads a couple hundred at a time. This is what 5oo threads looks like....

Once all 600+ (about 610 was all that the cone would do) threads where measured and tied to the loom, I spaced them more evenly (they were a little cramped) and started the process of making the two sheds needed for a tabby weave - up, down, up, down - 1/2 the threads to the back and 1/2 to the front.

Threads spaced more evenly...

Closer view of the thread spacing...

Dividing the threads to make the two sheds needed for tabby...Don't let these pictures make you think it's an easy job - it took me over an hour to separate two hundred threads and this isn't nearly as "sticky" as wool.

Warping - day two

2009-08-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is what 200 threads looks like...my hand is about the width of a standard credit card.

This is what 300 threads looks like...

I'm now guessing that I may need more than 600. I'm guessing that I will go to 800 or the end of the cone, whatever comes first. I will say that I have so far walked 4,500 steps around those kitchen chairs...if the average person takes 2000 steps in a mile...I think I will continue in this fashion to finish this warp, but I'm pretty sure that I will be having the hubby build me a warping board for next time :)

Finally - a loom post.

2009-08-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

Close up of 100 threads and the rubberbands that kept them from flying off the chairs :)

Today I started the basic warp for the loom. The fiber is pretty light weight two ply of some kind of synthetic origin (read as - it was free and it's unlabeled). I set to chairs about 6 feet apart and started walking. Note the rubberbands at the top of the chairs - these were crucial - otherwise the warp didn't stay on my chairs and made a big mess :)
What you see is one hundred threads...yes this means I had to walk around the chairs 100X. What this tells me is either I will get a lot of walking done while warping - or I will decide that I really am that lazy and have my hubby make me a warping board. Considering I was thinking that this first attempt should be about 600+ threads, we'll see what happens...

This is what 100 threads looks like in my hand.

I moved the top bar down so I could reach it to tie on the warp. I have decided to not card weave the warp into a band and sew it to the loom due to that fact that this piece will be a test piece. Besides, not every piece of weaving was done in this way. If I was making a piece that needed to have nice edges I could see the merit in weaving the band and have band of card weaving down the sides, but since I am learning the basics - I figured it was better to keep things as simple as possible at first and then build from there. The warp threads are tied on in bundles of five and so far seem to be behaving themselves...

A new member of the Barony, who is also a fiber person, was able to go to Pennsic and take a warp weighted weaving class there (I'm sooo jealous!) - She is going to come over next week and help with the chaining of the warp and the heddles.

My goal with this piece is to make enough to make something for my son.

Here are the socks that distracted me :)

2009-08-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

One pair of size 15 (he says 14.5) york socks made with single ply merino wool. I didn't spin it myself as all the stuff that I had previously spun is much finer weight, but I'm totally hooked on Naalbinding. Tomorrow I'm going to buy the wool to make me some mittens. I made some slight modifications to the pattern (read huge) so that it would work on the wearer. I also made the top of the socks extend a little higher so that they work better under his shoes.

Sorry...I got distracted...

2009-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, I was all ready to start a practice weaving piece on the loom and I got distracted by another project. I went to RUM and learned to Naalbind :) So far I've made a hat and one size 15 york sock (note to self: when learning to make something for the first time perhaps having to alter the pattern a ton to fit a certain husband's huge feet is not the best plan). The pattern was for a women's 9.5...so needless to say there was so trial and error involved...
Ok..
Back to the loom...I promise...

BTW...

2009-05-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

I no longer have 30 clay weights as Tristan found them and thought they made a most marvelous crash when they hit the concrete. He had broke two and was on number three by the time I was able to stop him.

-But that is all ok because I still need to make more anyway...

So...I know it's been a while.

2009-05-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Between Christmas, Gulf Wars prep, and event stewarding, my loom got bumped to the back burner. Hopefully in the next month or so I will be warping it! I have read, and read, and read...I get the concept - once I was able to visualize in my head the way that it's suppose to work - and life has slowed as much as it will - I'm itching to get started.

The first thing I'm going to do is a test warp. I'm going to use commercial thread and I'm just going to tie on the warp and not card weave it into a band. Since the test warp is simply to get the mechanics of the loom down I see no need to make it any harder than it needs to be. I will probably end up with something big enough that I can make something for my son :)

I now have about 30 clay weights!

2008-11-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

(Sword beaters)

I should have all the weights finished this week. I'll post a pictures.

The next things that I need to make are a pin beater and a sword beater. The pin beater is kind of like a tooth pick for the loom. It looks like one too. The sword beater looks like a sword and is used to beat the weft up. The pin beater will fit in my hand and the sword beater will end up sword size.

The pictures that I have included are made of bone because like the looms - most things that were made of wood have decomposed. Luckily we have some that were made of bone so we know what they looked like.

(Pin Beater)

2008-10-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here are two example of loom weights of baked clay and steatite from the National Museum of Scotland.

The novelty wears off...

2008-10-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

When I decided to make 50 clay donuts - I don't think my brain really grasped the idea of 50 clay donuts. After the first 8-10 donuts, the novelty wears off. Trust me on this one :)
The weights seem to lose a uniform amount of weight from air drying. I start will a 8oz donut and end with a 5oz donut. This seems like a reasonable weight to work with. After working with the clay a bit, 1lb weights would have been too heavy. These at just shy of a 1/4 lb seem much more the thing, especially for the thread counts that I would like to eventually aim to get.

Will they explode?

2008-09-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

In passing I asked my co-worker, who happens to be the art teacher where I work, what she thought of my plan to fire my weights and...she thought that they might explode. I'm sure I sounded most stunned and a little dense when I answered "you mean, like, poof, kaboom?"
I sure hope that isn't what will happen :)

Not a potter...really

2008-09-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

The school year is finally off and running... so I was able to get working on my loom weights. Research tells me that loom weights were made in a variety of ways from a variety of different materials. Everything from clay to soap stone. A large majority of weights were made of clay, so that's what I have decided to use for my own. I am going to make 50 8oz weights...or so. The process of firing the weights will decrease their weight, but they are all going to start out at roughly 8oz. I based this amount on various recovered period weights and the weights being used by weavers today. The firing process should be interesting since I'll be doing it in my backyard, but for now, I have decided to see how much weight is lost through air drying.

This is a photo of the twenty-five pound block of clay that has a similar texture to clay found in the British Isles.

I used a cord and started cutting up the big block into lots of little blocks.

The lone block below weighs 9oz and is serving as my test weight.

I formed the clay block into a donut shape. There were many different shapes, from donuts to pyramids to triangles, but the donut shape is pretty common for loom weights and is easy for me to form. The one triangle weight I saw was a pretty smart idea really. If the hole in one corner broke, the weaver could just use another corner. This was not a common weight type though, so I'm going to stick with my donuts

In larger communities, there is speculation that potters probably made the weights and exchanged them with the weavers, but in smaller communities the weavers likely made their own weights.

So now I will wait and see how much is lost in the drying process. This should give me a good idea of how much will be lost in the firing process. I'll need to make 49 more donuts in the next few days...

I am focusing on making functional weights and not stressing about exactly copying extant examples.

"Why build a loom, can't you just buy fabric?"

2008-08-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

Sure, but that's not the point :)

I've noticed that the number of people weaving on warp weighted looms is relatively small. Why? So I decided to build one to find out.

They aren't a complicated loom to build.

The one that I built is a synthesis of all the research that I have done so far...it is also in it's simplest form in that it only currently has two sheds. If I decide in the future to add more sheds it's as easy as adding more heddle rod supports and buying more dowels. The heddle rod supports are what is holding up the middle dowel rod in the picture. As the loom is set up now, it can weave tabby and basket weave. If I want to do more complicated weaves like twill that is where the extra sheds come into play. Since I'm learning using this loom and then I plan on using it as a teaching/display loom so that others can try it out I figured that is was best to start simple.

The materials used were all pine and as follows:

2 - 8ft 2x4s

1 - 8ft 1x2
15 inches of 2x3

15 inches of 2x4

1 - 72 inch 1.5" dowel

1 - 72 inch 1.25" dowel

I used three coats of a combination stain/poly on all of the pieces except for the dowels.

I worked on it with my husband in the evenings and during nap time and it was done and stained in a couple of days. I decided to make mine able to weave 60" wide fabric because it gives me a little more freedom to move about and my choice of width. I probably won't weave 60" wide fabric every time I use it, but the option is there if I'm feeling froggy.

Now I need to get my big box of clay out and start weighing out the clay into about 1lb segments so I can make the weights. I am guessing from my research that I'll need somewhere around 40 or so weights so I better get down to business.

This picture has my toddler in the foreground for a size comparison since he is 30" tall it helps to put the size into perspective.

Once I have weights I can start to dress the loom since I was gifted with some nice cones of wool.

For my A&S project I plan to build another loom out of more period materials and spin my own wool, but I don't want to sacrifice that much hand spun wool in addition it being a little harder to work with than commercially spun yarn.