It will never cease to amaze me how simple it is to start a batch of cloth on the AVL, thanks to that sandpaper beam. I just lay the threads across it and start weaving with no tie-on whatsoever. Yeah, the first few picks are harrowing and the first four inches are slow, but it's way faster than tying 30 knots onto an apron rod.
Meanwhile, at another point in the pipeline, I came in early to cut black cloth that's been edged and shrunk. The cutting table goes in the middle of the sales floor so I do it before store hours.
And then, there's the last of the black cloth that needs to be shrunk. It'll have to happen next week because this week is totally focused on getting white cloth woven and ready before my May shows.
2 comments:
I have a question about how you start your cloth by using the sandpaper beam.
You have very long warps, so I'm assuming you use the cloth storage beam eventually? If so, how do you transition from using the sandpaper beam only to using the cloth storage beam?
Hi, Diane!
Sorry I haven't explained that very well.
Yeah, I never let the cloth wind around (and around) the sandpaper beam. I let the cloth drape over it until there's enough to reach the top "knee roller". Then I put it over that roller and attach weight clamps to pull it down. I weave and weave until there's enough to thread over the treadle cables to the back, reattach the weight clamps back there, and then weave until there's enough to reach to take-up beam.
The miracle of the sandpaper beam is that it separates the tension of the warp from the tension (or lack thereof) on the finished cloth.
Next time I do this, I'll take pictures and post them.
Post a Comment