Warping the Glimakra: Tying Up the Treadles

By Leigh

So far I've been sailing right along, singing the praises of my Glimakra countermarche, comparing it to my Schacht jack loom, seemingly with the conclusion that there is really no comparison. I've actually found myself enjoying warping and threading, something I never used to do!

Now, however, we get to the treadle tie-up. Here is where a jack loom is far superior when it comes to simplicity and ease of treadle tie-up. And here is where the whole thing becomes zero fun with a CM (countermarche) loom.

Tying up a jack loom is brilliantly easy......

This is a Schacht Mighty Wolf loom, but I'm sure other makes and models are similar. The lamms have sets of tie cords, one for each shaft. The weaver simply selects the shaft cords needed for a particular pattern and slips them into slits on the treadles. Little plastic knobs hold them in place. What could be faster!

But here's what I faced when I sat down under (crawled under actually) the Glimakra....

Short lamms, long lamms, short cords, long cords, rising shed, sinking shed, lots of holes, anchor pegs ....HUH? What in the world have I gotten myself into. Of course, this is what was already on the loom when I got it. So I needed to take it all out and set it up for the straight twill pattern I wanted.

The set-up video made a plain weave tie-up look fairly easy. Each shaft has to be tied to one set of lamms or the other. One set makes the shafts go up, the other, down. Treadle cords are first attached to the lamms in the pattern required, and then tied to the treadles.

I was to tie up the upper lamms first and then do the opposite on the lower ones. Sounds simple enough. However, 8 shafts times 10 treadles equals 80 holes for each set of lamms, so I was worried about getting confused. I finally thought to fill in the holes I didn't want to use with spare anchor pegs .....

...... and then put the ties in the empty ones. I did the reverse pattern on the bottom lamms.

Then it was time to tie up the treadles. Hoo boy. The trick here is to tie the back shafts tighter than the front ones. This has something to do with getting a good shed in the back.

On top of that, I was very awkward with the anchor pegs and Texsolv cord. Plus, I had to put the pegs into the bottom of the treadle, by touch!!!

I confess, I really fretted over this. As capable as I think I am in following written or video directions, there is nothing like personal experience when it comes to doing a thing right.

Finally, with a lot of encouragement from Dorothy, I decided that starting somewhere was better than starting nowhere. So I tied up the treadles as best I could and then called it a night. One can take frustration for only so long.

Next ...... The Three Duhs

© 4 July 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related posts:
Comparing Looms: Jack & Countermarche
Why A Countermarche?
Warping the Glimakra:
.....Adjusting the Loom With Texsolv
.....Winding It On
.....Threading
.....The 3 Duhs
.....Adjusting the Shed
.....Blanket Done!