Here's a closeup of the first section of the new green warp. These beginning sections are more black, blue, and teal, but it'll all resolve to green in the end, I promise.
After a year and a half of 100-yard warps, I finally realized that I could squeeze another 20 yards onto my beams. That realization was precipitated by my preparation for the first beam to be woven remotely.
Here's how I do it... It's pretty simple, really. I just keep winding after I reach the pegs. The plastic tubing that I use to guide the threads into sections also holds the threads in place. Once two adjacent sections are full I can remove the tubing and let the threads lean against each other.
To be sure I could fit as much as possible, I started at the edge for this beam.
I wound until I couldn't safely fit any more thread against that end disc.
I then moved the marking tape for my threaded-rod-and-bell counting mechanism. See the clean section? Those are the 20ish extra revolutions for the new, longer cloth.
And here's what a regular section looks like. See how much thread sticks up above the peg? Awesome!
Let me tell you a little more about the remote weaving... Do you remember my two apprentices in June? Well, one of them, Jacob, has acquired a loom to use for his daily weaving meditation up in Portland. I will deliver his first batch of work in a couple of weeks. Before then there is a lot of work for me to do. I need to finish warping and tying on. Then I need to weave and finish a sample blanket before making all of the weft decisions for the entire batch of cloth. And, just for good measure, I'll probably weave the first twenty yards to be sure the beam is behaving before I turn it over to an apprentice.
It's going to be a huge learning process for both of us, but definitely worth it. I will be able to show more colors at the same time and apply to more and bigger shows because I will finally have several people consistently weaving on the cloth at the same time. There will be three full-sized looms in production at once! Whoa...
It's all very exciting!
2 comments:
Why not replace the pegs with longer pegs? I'd be a little careful about tension in case the yarn 'collapsing' inwards over the pegs causes some problems....
Or add strips of firm plastic measured with small notches on the pegs every 5 centimeters while warping the beam to ensure no threads slip and collapse. I do this all the time. It is a hassle to keep the plastic with the notches at different intervals labeled and I wonder if it has ever actually saved me from a collapse disaster. But I haven't had one. I don't weave more than 80 cm width so it is easier for me.
Bryan
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