My new warp weighted loom is portable :)

My big loom was just too big to take places and weave for demonstration purposes. Lucky for me, Lorcann was nice enough to build me one that breaks down to fit inside my Hyundai Santa Fe. It's max width is about 36", but that is more than enough for the average little project. Recently the Barony of Wyvernwood has been demonstrating at the Bay Area Renaissance Faire so we determined that taking it out there would be a good test run.


This is the loom warped with weaving in progress.


















This is an up close shot of the weaving.  This is a basket weave - technically a half basket as the pattern is 2 warp threads to one weft thread.  Basket weave means that the threads are in a 2:2 ratio versus a 1:1 ration for a tabby weave.  Anything besides those two weaves requires another heddle bar.  There is a little bit of drawing in at the top, which I probably could have fixed, but it's not that big a deal.  The baby still requires a great of attention and reweaving wasn't "in the cards".  Besides, I can just cut that part off as this will become a leg wrap for Lorcann eventually.  He does benefit from making me things ;)



















This is a shot of the chained warp.  As you can see it's not a huge warp because I wanted to be able to accomplish at least the warping in the time that I was out at the Faire.





















This is an up close of the heddles.  They moved around some, but they did their job.











This is a picture of me in the process of warping the cards to weave the the warp into the header band.













These are some shots of my loom without any warp as it had just been completed.

...Three years later

It has been a very busy three years. The next event after my elevation, my husband won Crown list. This of course left little time for weaving. After we stepped down,we both got new jobs in Tampa and had to go about the business of moving, dealing with the old house, and renovating the new one. Once that was on its way, we started another project, and Lukus Patrick Tallent joined us on June 12th 2013. So yes, a busy three years. Lately things have been calming down a bit and I've had more time to work on fiber arts projects again. I'll hopefully be posting some of the new things I've been doing (I now have a portable warp weighted loom) as well as some of the various things I have made over the last couple years. Stay tuned :)

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

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...

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....

:(

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 :)

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....

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.