Lucky for me, I was taught to warp a table loom from the front, in the beginning weaving class that I took, and I purchased a 4-shaft weaving video, and both used some different techniques. So.... I've combined them. The cross in the main warp was held by my lease sticks, which I suspended between the castle and front beam, and the striped warp was held in my hand. At first, I threaded the first stripe repeat in the reed, and then couldn't see how I could keep it in my hand, and at the same time, work with the threads that were on the lease sticks. In the end, I secured them and finished threading the main warp, leaving spaces for the striped portion. It helped to have threaded one stripe, because I was able to count the number of reed slots needed as a sanity check, which was really helpful with a 1, 2 threading sequence!
Once the hand-dyed yarn was threaded in the reed, I went back and filled in with the stripes. I think the most difficult part was separating the strands of yarn at the cross, so that I could see what I was doing, because it was a bit stuck together from the dyeing process. Behind the reed, the yarn is tied into large groups with slip knots, so that I can take a break as I try to decide if it would be best to count and move heddles to the other side of the loom (I'll be threading the heddles from the back of the loom, instead of the front, as I usually do), but from the back, the heddles are on the wrong side. I guess I really know they need to be moved, but most of them are quite tight, so it will take some time to get it done, so I'm just procrastinating on what I need to do, as it took so long to get this far. I probably could have had the whole warp beamed and most of the threading done by now, if I was warping from the back, although I wouldn't have been able to insert the second warp, since I only have one warp beam.
At any rate, this is what it looks like now:
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5 comments:
Your loom is covered in jewels...it is just so pretty!
It's a beautiful warp!
One way to warp from back to front doing this type of stripes is to hang 2 sets of lease sticks, one with your dyed warp, one with the stripes, beam them and then pull from the sets of lease sticks to thread the heddles. I learned this a long time ago when warping rep weave with a very dense warp, much easier to put the one layer on one set of lease sticks, the other lay on the other (I was working with stripes on one layer, solid on the other).
Thank you both for your compliments on my warp.
Cindie, Thank you for you suggestion. I guess I just don't understand how I could get it onto the back beam when it's coming from two separate warp bundles. Usually I use the built-in raddle on top of the loom to separate the warp and then wind onto the back beam, with the lease sticks between the raddle and the back beam.
I have warped the loom with multiple warp bundles, although they were sections that went side-by-side, not interspersed, which is what caused my confusion.
Next time, I'll have to think through your suggestion and see how I can apply it to my loom.
I have my lease sticks hanging off the castle and when I use two sets I just have one hanging above the other - both warps wind on together. I temporarily attach my raddle to the back beam while warping and just place the second warp in the area on top of the other warp ends where it will go in the warp. It's easier than it probably sounds.
Thanks Cindie, I'll have to try your method next time I have to intermingle two warps!
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