Choosing Heddles and Threading the Loom

My loom is up and running beautifully! Once the warp is beamed sectionally, I place the threads in a raddle and then hang lease sticks at the back of the heddles. Beacuse the AVL tension box creates a cross it ensures all my ends are in the correct position. Prior to using this tension box, I simply hung the various sections over one lease stick and selected the various ends from each section. The reason that I hang my lease sticks is so that the ends are at the correct height for me to thread the heddles. My looms have a variety of heddles and each has their advantages and disadvantages.

My old Clement loom is a work horse loom and has flat steel heddles. These heddles are the heaviest of all the heddles and do not bend easily. Since the eyes are fairly large and flat, they are easy to thread. This makes it great for heavier weight cotton warps.

My Colonial has wire heddles. These are slightly lighter that the flat steel heddles and still easy to thread. It takes a fair deal of bending to break these but I have seen it done - especially on looms that fold and that are being moved around alot - the heddles can get caught and bent or broken.

When it came to the AVL looms, I decided to go for Texsolv heddles. These heddles are the lightest and this was an important consideration for me as moved to looms with more shafts. At first I found them a bit ackward to work with, as the heddles are flexible and you need to hold the heddle eye to draw the thread through. But like anything else, with a little practice, you adjust to the new process.

I thread my heddles using Allan Fannin's method of placing one warp end inbetween your fingers and then drawing them through one by one according to your pattern. Usually I move the heddles to the right along the shaft and organize the pattern, then place my left hand with the threads placed in my fingers to the left of the arranged heddles and draw them through. I have found this method to be really quick. With the Texsolv heddles, I tilt my left hand so that I have my palm up, making it easier to grab the threads in order and hold the heddle firm.

Once the heddles are threaded, I use the same method of holding the threads in my left hand between my fingers and draw the threads through the reed. A few years ago, I invested in an Auto Reed Hook, and again once you get the technique it really works well. The main concept is it to make sure you push the hook in and out of the dents properly. After awhile, you get used to listening for the click. My first post has a video of the auto reed hook in action - the video was taken away from the loom on a desk and so I could not move my hand into the correct position of palms up but you can get the idea.

Now back to the loom and my next blog entry will discuss overslung and underslung beaters.

Warping Equipment and Methods

Everyone approaches weaving differently. When I wove as a small child I did not worry about edges, warp tension, etc. I just created placemats for my tea set or scarves for my dolls. However when I became interested in weaving again in my twenties it was a different story - I realized that the technical side of weaving was as important as the design - thank goodness for good instructors as this was in the 70's. At first I worked on maintaining a consistent beat and getting good edges. Of course sooner or later you realize that without a well warped loom you cannot produce the cloth you would like to.

I tried many different warping methods. Warping boards and small table mills work well when you are working with warps less than 10 yards. As I slowly started putting longer and longer warps on my loom, I realized I needed to find a better system. One of my all time favourite books on weaving technology is Allan Fannin's "Handloom Weaving Technology". Over the years I have continued to reread this book anytime I am trying to make a decision about using new technology. It was at this point that I decided to start converting my looms to sectional beams. Both AVL's, the Clement and the Colonial all have sectional beams.

Both the Colonial and Clement are limited in terms of the number of yards I can put on because of the cloth build up on the front beam. The choice is to either cut it off at some point or to only put on the amount of yards that the front beam can hold without interferring with treadling. The AVL's have a take up beam and so the woven cloth is moved to a beam on the back of the loom. For me this was one of the most important considerations when buying a new loom.

A sectional warping system requires the same number of bobbins or cones as the number of ends per inch. When I weave with cotton I purchase the same number of tubes as my number of ends per inch. For example if my sett is 20 ends per inch I use 20 tubes of cotton. Often this is what determines my warp length. When I wind off bobbins, I need to calcualte the length of the warp times the number of times the bobbin will be used across the width of the warp. For example, if the loom is warped at 25 inches wide, each bobbin will be used 25 times. Once the tubes or bobbins are placed in my rack the ends are placed in a tension box and each section is wound on to the beam.

The 16 shaft AVL has a track system so that the tension box can be moved along the width of the loom aligning up with the section being wound. When I was deciding on where to put the new loom in the studio, this was something I took into consideration. If the two looms were back to back I could use the track for both looms. The AVL tension box also has a method for creating a cross in the section and I find this another really neat feature that I do not think is found on any other tension box. My 16 shaft AVL also has a counter on it so that I can keep track of the number of yarns wound on to the beam and then the number of yards woven off.

At present I am putting a 4 yard warp on the 16 shaft but it is only because DH is weaving tea towels on the Colonial and I am in a time crunch to get something woven for next May. Usually I put 50 to 80 yards on the AVL. The new 24 shaft loom has some new features and so I have also put on a short scarf warp to acquaint myself with the new features. It is now pegged and ready to go.

AVL 24 shaft loom

At last a bright light to a cold snowy day - the arrival of my new loom. The boxes were neatly stacked on a plastic sheet in the garage to make the job of getting the heavy parts to the basement a little easier.

Each box is carefully labelled to make the assembly easier. Inside each of the boxes related pieces are then again numbered. DH carefully unboxed the items and moved them down to the basement keeping all parts from the same box together. When a got home from work we had a quick dinner and started the assembly. AVL provides both a printed copy of the manual and a CD version - I mainly used the printed version as I like to have the instructions in front of me.

This new loom is similar to my 1980's AVL but since some changes have been made we made a point of not assuming anything and at least taking a peak at the instructions before proceeding. The older loom is a full frame and the new smaller loom is an A frame. When I was trying to decide what type of loom to buy several reasons brought me back to AVL and this particular model type. One of the reasons is that I prefer looms with a solid square back construction. I tend to vary my weaving and although I do not tend to weave rugs or rep weave often I like to know that the loom can handle whatever I decide to weave.

The newer AVL has more shafts but is still a manual dobby. Even though I design using a computer and WeavePoint, I wanted to control the weaving without electronics involved. Maybe this is because I teach computers all day and this would not provide variety in my life. I am anxious to try out some of the new features that I have chosen and I will discuss them in future blogs. The first warp I chose to try is a simple 4 harness huck lace scarf with a multi fibre warp.

More on WeavePoint and PhotoFiltre

Well here I am a year later and still fascinated by the Computer Design Study Group. The more I work with this the more I learn and think of new ways to use it. A few days ago, I decided to try designing series of items. I began by creating a transparent draft as described in my post previously. Unfortunately you cannot save the transparent draft in the proper format for uploading so it appears to right as a purple and black square. In PhotoFiltre saved as the correct format you will see a checkerboard design on the transparent threads. If you click on the photo you will see it in black and white.
Then I merged this with a colourful background and decided to try and create a tiled version as well. It is not as accurate as I was just playing and should have paid more attention when cutting the blocks to make sure it was in the proper proportion but I think you can get the idea.
The last step was to see what the tiled draft would look like in 3 different colorways. The first picture on the left shows the original draft as a scarf, the second is done using the nightshade filter, and the third one is done using the sunset filter. Click on the photos below to get a better look.

I think when I get my new 24 shaft AVL I will do something similar and create a set of scarves - the narrow width is good to get you going on a new loom. Oh it just cannot come fast enough.

I am now playing with various ways to use these tools to create a designer notebook as well as create series of designs. My jacket folder is so full of ideas! I am beginning to think this is moving me away from household items and back into clothing - here comes the 80's again - well at least it is not the 60's with all the great lumpy, bumpy yarns!

What to Do With the Last Bit of Warp

Potholders seem to sell well at our guild sale and so each year I try to do a few. They are easy to weave and also work well as gifts to give someone in the Christmas season. It is also a good item to use when trying out new weave structures or for beginning weavers.

Last year I did 50 yards of placemats and of course I did not want to waste the last bit of warp but there definitely was not enough left to create another set of mats. Sometimes it is nice to get that little bonus from the end of the warp.

I usually crochet a little loop so that the potholders can hang. When I sew the sides together I reinforce the loop to make sure it will not pull out. Serging the ends and using the machine to reinforce the seams makes it a quick project and sturdy enough to stand the wear and tear of an everyday item.

The year before I did some overshot ones in Christmas colours and next year I think I will try a Summer and Winter pattern.

Ribbon Yarn and Metallic Scarf

Well our guild sale went well despite our worries of moving to a new location! For those who are not aware the building we were in has been designated unsafe and we have been forced to survive out of member's homes and where we can find space for classes etc. Thank goodness for the Alberta Craft Council who have offered to store our library and thus make it accessible to our members until we find a new home.

At the college that I teach at we have an Art Committee. Since our spring sale of student art work was so successful, we decided to try a Christmas one to help raise funds for the college Shine campaign. My donation was going to be the silk hand painted scarf I wove last fall. However since I put the scarf in our guild sale and it sold I found myself in the position of having nothing artsy enough to contribute. Not to panic as I did have one weekend in between.

A quick check of my stash revealed a really neat ribbon type yarn and a metallic thread that could be incorporated into a holiday type scarf. I wanted the ribbon to stand out so I used a surface interest draft and decided the rest of the warp should be a black bamboo to enhance the colours in the ribbon. The weft was one pick of metallic thread followed by one pick of cotton. I would have loved to have used either bamboo or silk for the weft but I did not have any in my stash.

At our guild sale, I managed to buy some handspun cream yarn plied with gold metallic yarn and I plan on using this same draft to create something for next year's HWSDA conference.

Looking forward to the Christmas season and some time to spend at my looms,
Linda

Weaving pillowcases

Ever since seeing some pillowcases in Handwoven magazine several years ago I have wanted to design a set. I decided to use 10/2 mercerized cotton for the warp as I had quite a bit in white and that is what was used in a sample I really liked. I should get 3 sets of pillowcases.

The pattern is a summer and winter adaptation that was published in Warp and Weft (May 1958). In their sample they used 10/2 mercerized cotton for the warp and a silk and textured yarn for their weft and the suggested use was table linens. The treadling was as drawn in. When I did my sample at the beginning of the warp, I decided I liked the look of reversing my pattern when I reached the end instead of using the as drawn in treadling. To speed up the weaving I used just one weft.

For the first set, I chose a 1 ply organic cotton I purchased off eBay last winter. The 1 ply organic cotton had to be wound on to the pirns carefully as it had a tendency to ply itself when there was any slack at all. Of course any pull and the yarn would break. I love my end feed shuttles as you can get so much more yarn on the pirn and it comes off so nicely. To maintain the tension I set the coned yarn under my tension box and wound at a consistent speed. The p icture on the left is the organic fabric on the loom. The weft is actually a light beige colour.

I am currently now weaving the second sett and this time I chose white bamboo for the weft. The fabric has a lacey block and a textured block. It was hard to get a really good picture as I could see shadows of myself in the picture and I will take another picture once the fabric is off the loom and the pillowcases are sewn.