Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 3: Winding on the Warp

Continued from Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 2: Loading the Raddle

With this step, I was in more familiar territory. I just need to adjust it to this particular loom.

1. Tensioning the warp

Should the warp be weighted, and if so, how? There are different schools of thought here.

• No weights, tension by manually tugging on the warp after each rotation of the beam. (Chandler)
• Applying resistance with weights or another mechanism such as a warping drum or another person. (Osterkamp). In fact, Peggy basically states the more tension during winding on, the better (although she also gives instructions for the no-tension method).

Once upon a time I used half-gallon milk jugs, which I don't get anymore because we have our own goat milk. But I did have some empty gallon vinegar jugs and used these plus a distilled water jug. 

For my personal notes: each jug weighs 8.5 pounds.

2. Winding on

The idea is for the warp to wind onto the warp beam the same width as in the raddle.

Detangle as needed by snapping the warp. 

Tangles at the raddle can result with broken threads; snapping the warp works them out.

Insert packing sticks at regularly spaced intervals to cover apron cords. This prevents the knots from making lumps in the warp.

Rolls of paper can be used instead, but the sticks came with my loom, so I use them.

Of course the weights have to be re-positioned as the warp is wound on. 

I left enough in front for threading, sleying, and tying onto the front apron rod. Then it was time to . . .

3. Remove the raddle

Now I'm ready to thread the heddles.

Notes and Observations

• There is plenty of room for improvement, which I'll work on in the future. At least I've made a start.
• The bunching of the warp bouts is a concern as it creates V shapes with the warp. Osterkamp recommends the following to prevent variations in tension due to the angle the warp is winding onto the beam

1. Insert lease sticks into the threading cross and remove the choke ties.
2. Then put an end stick into the threading end loop and spread the warp out to the proper width.

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 3: Winding on the Warp

 © May 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts

Step One: Glimakra Assembled!

Step Two: The Countermarch Tie-Up

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 1: Measuring the Warp

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 2: Loading the Raddle

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 4: Threading, Sleying, Lashing On

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 5: Tying Up the Lamms & Treadles

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 6: Checking the Shed, Weaving a Header 

 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 2: Loading the Raddle

Continued from Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 1: Measuring the Warp

First question: where to load the raddle? At the loom or on a table and then carry it to the loom?

Second question: where to place the raddle at the loom?

There are a variety of answers to these questions, all of which reflect the preferences of different weavers and the types of looms they have. My choices are my experiments, to be tweaked in the future as it suits me.

1. Set up the loom

Considering the size and weight of my raddle, plus the amount of room I have to work in, I opted to load the raddle at the back of the loom. Here is my set-up.

a. Support sticks rest on the front and back beams.

b. Lease sticks to secure the raddle lease (cross).

c. Raddle is as as close to the back beam as possible. Peggy Osterkamp recommends this as the best position to help ensure that the warp winds on at the same width as on the raddle.

d. End stick

Note: I later fine tuned the set-up because I found the lease and end sticks slid around too much as I worked with the warp. Here's what I did about it, and what I'll do next time . . .

With shoe laces, the end stick is tied to the back beam
and the lease sticks are tied to the gable of the loom.

One "problem" is my double back beam, as it's somewhat in the way. I considered removing it, but that would be another step, and I don't have a place to put it at the moment. I decided to try and work around it. I'll adjust if necessary. 

2. Insert lease sticks into the raddle cross.

Bouts spread out on lease sticks.

Lease sticks tied together to prevent warp from slipping off.

3. Insert end stick into the raddle end of the warp.

This is where it came in handy to have used different color choke ties for the upper and lower sides of the cross. Otherwise, I might have twisted some of the bouts when I put them on the end stick.

After the bouts are on the end stick, the choke ties are removed.

4. Distribute the raddle groups in the raddle.

I had 88 raddle groups of 4 threads each, so I counted out 44 raddle dents from center to begin laying them in, starting starting at one end and working to the other.

5. Attach the end stick to the back apron rod or transfer warp to apron rod.

Here, they are tied together with stout string, starting in the middle
of the warp and working outward with new ties every 3 or 4 inches.

I found tying the rods together to be tedious and time consuming. Next time, I'll try transferring the warp from the end stick to the apron rod. 

6. Remove the lease sticks.

7. Secure the raddle.

Ready for the next step

Options for raddle placement are as varied as there are weavers. Chandler puts her's on the breast beam, while Osterkamp recommends as close to the back beam as possible. I was able to tie mine onto the back of the loom.

My conclusion about the second back beam is to remove it, unless I'm going to use it. While it was only mildly inconvenient to have it on the loom, I think it would be easier to warp without it. 

Now, I'm ready to wind the warp onto the back beam.

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 2: Loading the Raddle

 © May 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts

Step One: Glimakra Assembled!

Step Two: The Countermarch Tie-Up

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 1: Measuring the Warp

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 3: Winding on the Warp 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 4: Threading, Sleying, Lashing On

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 5: Tying Up the Lamms & Treadles

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 6: Checking the Shed, Weaving a Header 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 1: Measuring the Warp

Tucked away in my copy of Tying Up the Countermarch Loom by Joanne Hall, I found the notes I'd once  written about how to warp the Glimakra back-to-front (B2F). 47 steps! And none of it rings a bell. Eek! My first impulse was to go to YouTube, where I found a few videos, but those still left me with questions. Next, I read through my blog posts on warping back-to-front. My Warping the Glimakra: Winding It On post had some helpful notes, photos, and comments from readers. But it wasn't enough to take me through the process, so I pulled out Chandler's Learning to Weave and Osterkamp's first two volumes of her New Guide to Weaving series, and started reading.

The purpose of this series is to write a guide for myself. I want to detail the steps for next time and as many times as it takes afterward until it becomes second nature to me again. Maybe it will be helpful for someone else too. I will likely modify this as I try variations, so suggestions and tips are welcome!

Knot notes

• (Osterkamp) Use a double half hitch at beginning and end of warp. After the warp is measured, cut the end of the loop and slip the tail off.
• Keep all knots at threading lease end of the warp, as this is where the threads must later be cut apart for threading the heddles. I.e., the raddle end loop needs to remain intact for securing the warp onto the end stick.

1. Mark the warp path with a guide string and measure the warp. 

I decided to try Osterkamp's method of 2 leases (crosses).

At one end is the thread-by-thread lease for threading the heddles

At the other end is the raddle lease. It groups warp according to sett and raddle sections.

Raddle lease example: for this project, the sett is 8 e.p.i., and my raddle sections are ½ inch. So my raddle lease groups are four warp ends (threads) each. 

2. Keep track by counting the raddle groups.

My raddle groups were 4 ends each, so I chose to count them in groups
of 5, or 20 ends per group. There are 100 warp ends shown here.

Warping Board Tips: 

• Don't allow warp ends to overlap on the pegs (creates uneven lengths)
• Keep bouts (sections of warp) to no more than 1.5 to 2 inches in width (pegs tend to pull in as they fill with warp, creating uneven lengths).

Warp ends not overlapping. About 1.5 inches total width.

3. Secure crosses with choke ties. For a long warp, also secure 1 yard sections with ties.

Threading lease tied off

Tying Tips:

• Use two ties per peg.
• Don't catch the guide string in the ties.
• Use different color ties to notate threading and raddle ends of the warp, also top and bottom of the warp.

4. The raddle is threaded first, so chain the warp starting at the threading cross end.

 

Chained warp bouts

Next: loading the raddle.

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 1: Measuring the Warp

 © May 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts

Step One: Glimakra Assembled!

Step Two: The Countermarch Tie-Up

Step Three: Planning That First 8-shaft Project 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 2: Loading the Raddle

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 3: Winding on the Warp 

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 4: Threading, Sleying, Lashing On

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 5: Tying Up the Lamms & Treadles

Dressing the Glimakra B2F Step 6: Checking the Shed, Weaving a Header 

A Raddle For My Table Loom

The first two warping adventures on my table loom have been front to back. The was how I learned to warp a loom, and it's the first method shown in Deborah Chandler's Learning To Weave. I later switched to warping back to front, but since I'm just reacquainting myself with weaving, starting at the beginning seems like a good idea. Plus, I need a raddle. 

A raddle is basically a yarn holder for warping back to front. It's purpose is to evenly distribute the yarn across the back beam and keep it at the proper width during the beaming process. Otherwise, the yarn will tend to bunch up and make a mess. 

Raddles need to be sized for the loom. They are easy enough to make, but the one I wanted is the "special raddle" shown in Peggy Osterkamp's Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps.

I bought the materials and Dan assembled it for me.

One tidbit; Lowe's didn't have enough #12 eye screws, so I ended up going to Home Depot for the rest. They are made by different manufacturers; one makes them from zinc, the other from stainless steel. So even though they are technically the same size, they are not actually the same size! That won't make a difference in using the raddle, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else decides to make one of these. 

The appeal of the eye screws is that after the yarn is distributed across the raddle, a rod is run through the eyes to keep the threads from jumping out! Yes, that happens and can make a mess of things. I used to use rubber bands, but I like this idea much better. 

I still need to get the rod and a way to attach it to my back beam, but it will be ready to go for my next warp.

A Raddle For My Table Loom © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related post:

B2F vs F2B: Why I Switched

Responses to "Preparing to Weave" Comments

This first photo is for Carol, who was interested in how I attached the 1/2 gallon milk jug weights to my warp bouts. I've done a lot of experimenting with this and for me, the slip knot & s-hook method has been the easiest.

The s-hooks are the heavy dutiest (is that a word???) ones I could find at Home Depot. I've also tried shoe laces and the large rings found in embroidery kits. But I like the s-hooks the best.

The milk jugs have worked well, however they are not without their hazards, especially if one has cats. Check out what happened in these posts, "Undulating Shadow Weave 1" and "A Weaving Setback", to see what I mean.

Laritza uses dumb bells as weights, something that is still on my list to try!

Peg commented on the placement of my raddle in my latest warp . . .

. . . . which is in front of the shafts. This leads me to a true confession - this latest warp hasn't gone on without it's glitches!

This one had to do with which end of the warp I marked my raddle groups. Even though I planned to review the steps to warping my Glimakra, I didn't review the part about measuring the warp (I've done that one a squillion times, right?)

For my Schacht Mighty Wolf, I use one of Deb Chandler's methods, which marks the raddle groups (pictured at right) at the end opposite the threading cross. The raddle groups are dropped into the raddle, which is placed on the back beam. (Photo here) After the warp has been wound onto the warp beam, the cross remains at the front of the loom, ready for heddle threading.

In the Glimakra set-up video however, the raddle groups are marked at the same end as the cross. The cross is positioned at the back of the loom to be attached to the back apron rod. It is held by lease sticks as the warp is wound on to the warp beam. (For photos and details on this, check out my "Warping the Glimakra: Winding It On" post.)

Well, when I carried this six yard long chained warp to the loom, I realized that the raddle groups were at the "wrong" end, i.e. the opposite end from the threading cross. So I had to put the raddle at the front of the loom, where the raddle groups are. At first this worried me, as I thought I needed it behind the shafts to thread the heddles. However, I remembered that, in the set-up video, the raddle is removed completely and the individual warp ends are picked out from the cross for threading. So alls well that ends well.

I realize that this may be a somewhat confusing post, certainly for the nonweaver, but probably for weavers too. Fortunately not a lot of things in weaving are written in stone. We have our preferred ways of getting results, but thankfully there are back-ups if needed. And I certainly needed one here.

 Responses to "Preparing to Weave" Comments 

© Dec 2007 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Post

Advancing Twills - Preparing to Weave 

Advancing Twills - Preparing to Weave

Things have been pretty busy around here, a lot of them non-fiber. So I have been slow to make much progress on anything, or so it seems. However, I still have the advancing twill workshop on my mind and have been slowly dressing the loom for my first drafts.

Actually, this is only the second completely new warp I've put on my Glimakra. In the seven months I've had it, all of my afghans and blankets were woven by tying on more warp for each one. This enabled me to weave six projects, and only thread and tie-up once (my way to go!)

So, since it's been awhile, I had to go back and review each step.

I also took time to double check the shaft and lamm tie-ups that I did the first time, and to do a little tweaking.

One resource that has been very helpful this go-round, is Dorothy's Dot's Fibre To Fabric . Dorothy has an amazing ability to analyze the mechanics of the countermarche loom; something that I cannot clearly fathom. In this (click here) post, she gives a lot of good information on tying up the treadles, which is my next step.

My first tie up of the Glimakra treadles was quite an ordeal, so I am hoping that it goes a little better/faster this time. I confess that I've been procrastinating on this step, but the time has come and today is the day. If all goes well, my next weaving post will have some weaving to show! If not, then you'll get something else.

 Advancing Twills - Preparing to Weave 

© Dec 2007 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Post

 Responses to "Preparing to Weave" Comments

Warping the Glimakra: Winding It On

By Leigh

For my first warp on the Glimakra, I decided to follow the steps on the set-up video. It used a back to front one cross method, which is what I've been using on my Schacht. However, it did a few things differently and I wanted to try these. For my first project, I wanted to weave a blanket for the WNCF/H Guild's service project, Project Linus. Until now, I hadn't had a loom able to weave the minimum 35 inch blanket width.

Of course on the set-up video, the loom is being warped for the first time, so the shafts are placed up on top of the countermarche, getting them out of the way for warping. Since my loom had already been woven on, the shafts were still tied to the lamms. After a little internal debate, I untied the lamms and put the shafts on top of the countermarche. I wasn't sure if this needed to be done for every new warp, but it let me follow along with the video more easily.

As you can see in the above photo, two long support sticks are placed on either side of the loom, resting on the front and back beams. The lease sticks and raddle rest nicely on these, making it easy to work with the warp and wind it on.

The raddle Dan made me for my Schacht isn't wide enough for this loom, but happily, I discovered that the top piece of my triangle loom worked very well, having enough length plus 1/2 inch spaces between the nails. After securing the warp with the lease sticks, I spread it out in the raddle.

The one cross b2f method I had been using was from Deb Chandler's Learning to Weave. It uses a threading cross only. In the Glimakra video, the cross is a raddle cross. No threading cross is used. The heddles are later threaded directly from the lease sticks.

In Chandler's method, an extra (lease) stick is placed in the the back loop of the warp (the end without the threading cross). This stick is then tied to the back apron rod. In the Glimakra video, the warp is actually transferred to the apron rod. On the left you can see that an extra (warp) stick has been placed in the cross with the lease sticks. This stick enables transfer of the warp to the apron rod.

The first step was to lay out the back apron cord and the warp, making sure both were centered. The warp was positioned so that it was divided into equal parts, each part to be placed between the corresponding apron cords.

One thing that was different with the way my loom is set up, is that the apron cords are not continuous lengths of cord looped over the apron sticks. The previous owner had cut the apron cords into equal lengths, and tied these onto the apron sticks from the warp and cloth beam. You can get an idea of this in the above photo.

Had these been looped over the apron stick as one long cord, I would have been able to transfer the loops of the cord onto my arm. However, since I was dealing with individual lengths of cord, I had to remove them from the stick in order to transfer the warp.

I took my own photos, so you can't see that this is really a 2-hand task. I found that after deciding where the groups of warp needed to be placed on the apron rod, it was easiest to tie them onto bundles. Starting in the middle, I removed the apron cords from the apron rod until I got to the place for warp bundle I wanted to transfer. After I put the bundle onto the apron rod, I pulled the temporary stick out, replaced the apron cord and then moved on to the next bundle. I did this in two halves, working from center outward, since my warp is so wide.

After all the bundles of warp were transferred from the temporary stick to the apron rod and the cords replaced, I spread the warp out between the apron cords. The lease sticks remain in the warp to hold the cross.

Since my warp is so wide, and I don't have enough 1/2 gallon milk jugs / weights, I tensioned the warp myself as I wound it on. I did have help . . .

. . . but as you can see, it wasn't the useful kind.

I found that by using Peggy Osterkamp's "firewood method" (picture here), I could put my full body weight into it. Hopefully I have it tensioned evenly!

The loom also came with warp separator sticks. The previous owner's husband made this very handy storage container for them . . .

The sticks are flexible enough to remove easily from the container through the long oblong opening.

After I finished winding on, the breast beam and knee beam were removed. The bench fits nicely inside the loom and I'm ready to take the shafts down from on top of the countermarche and start threading the heddles.

Next, threading.

© 29 June 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related posts:
New Loom
Why A Countermarche?
Warping the Glimakra:
.....Adjusting the Loom With Texsolv
.....Threading
.....Tying Up the Treadles
.....The 3 Duhs
.....Adjusting the Shed
....

B2F vs F2B: Why I Switched

By Leigh

Sharon made a comment in my last post about something I've observed too; that many weavers are staunchly defensive about their warping method! This is akin to another "controversy" which exists amongst spinners: Scotch tension versus double drive. It is oddly amusing that flame wars develop over these things, especially considering that when one examines a length of handwoven cloth, or a skein of handspun yarn, it is impossible to determine through observation alone what method of warping or type of wheel was used.

Well, I'm not going to go there. But I have truly appreciated the comments and questions I've received on the subject of looms and warping. As Peggy Osterkamp said in her introduction to Warping Your Own Loom & Tying On New Warps,

"I want to weave as well and efficiently as possible. I want to weave without the anxiety that a disaster can occur at any time. If problems occur, I want to know how to fix them."

That's me too. And that's why the discussion through blog comments is so helpful to me. I like to receive feedback and hear what others do in a similar situation. Questions make me think things through carefully. This is what helps me grow as a weaver. While I can't offer any definitive answers to all the world's weaving problems, I can tell you about my own journey, and why I switched from front to back, to back to front warping.

When I learned to weave 7 years ago, I learned to warp front to back. At that time I didn't really care whether or not there were other ways to do things. It wasn't until I was given a copy of Peggy Osterkamp's 2nd book that I began to consider doing things differently. I read through it, and when I got to chapter 3 I read this.....

"In the first book in this series, I wrote that 98 percent of a person's time is spent actually realizing and enjoying the goal. It has always made sense to me to learn to enjoy the 98 percent -- in weaving and in life."

This gave me pause, as I realized that while I loved weaving, I didn't enjoying warping. So when I next dressed my loom, I started at the front of Peggy's book and worked my way step by step through to a big mess. Literally. I'm not sure whether it was the kitestick or the raddle that ultimately did me in, but I finally reached a point where I threw up my hands and said "forget it." Without another thought I went back to f2b warping.

I did keep one thing from that experience however, lashing on. Tying all those knots onto the front apron rod always seemed like too much work to me, especially as adjusting the individual knots to even out the tension was particularly frustrating. Lashing on made it easier for me to adjust the tension, even after I'd started weaving the header!

That was about 5 years ago. That experience however, did make me more curious about why some weavers preferred the b2f method, so I started to ask them about it. It seemed that the top two reasons I heard was either because that was the method they first learned, or because it gave that particular weaver excellent tension. Now, we all know that a perfectly tensioned warp can also be achieved warping front to back too, but considering that tension continued to be a big problem for me, I decided to let this argument sway me and give b2f another go.

This time I researched the topic with all the resources I could get my hands on. I finally chose to try Deb Chandler's method from Learning To Weave. I think one of the reasons for my previous failure, was that I was trying too many new things at once. Deb's b2f method was more similar to how I was already warping.

That b2f warp, done last May, was a success. I've been working on fine tuning my process ever since. I have to admit however, that while better tension is the mark of it's ultimate success for me and increases my enjoyment of warping, another reason ultimately sold me on the process. I found that because the way my Schacht Mighty Wolf is constructed, I could see both warp and heddles better and thread the heddles more easily with my bifocals! Neither a very romantic nor powerful argument for most of you, but for me it meant no more cranking my neck to get that thread through the heddle eye!

Many of my tweaks are still in the experimental stage. I try new things for awhile, continue with them if they help, drop them if they don't:

* Rings to hold lease sticks - yes, a keeper. Initially, these replaced shoe laces when I first used them to attach my warp to my milk jug weights. I have since replaced the rings as milk jug holders with s-hooks, an idea I got from your comments and visiting your blogs.

* Lease sticks left in warp - yes, this is a keeper. It's value is seen when a warp end breaks or when it's time to tie on a new warp. I don't always use my large clunky lease sticks; it depends upon the warp. I do like the holes in the ends of them however, especially in using the rings to hold them together.

* Leaving the raddle in while weaving - maybe. I'm still undecided about this. Marie's and Sara's comments about jack looms were very helpful to me and I want to research this more in the future.

* Bias Twill measuring tape - yes, another keeper. Actually getting bias tape instead of twill is pretty much par for my course, i.e. if I don't write it down, then I don't remember! (At least I remembered "tape" ;)

So, there you have it for the moment. As it is, I'm now very happy with back to front warping. Not only is it more comfortable for me with my particular loom, but I like that the warp only travels through the heddles and reed once. Not sure if this actually preserves the warp any better, but it is a factor. If any of you have other reasons why you prefer your warping method, I'd love to hear them.

© 1 April 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:

f2b Versus b2f - Beginning of a series
Evaluating My b2f Warp
B2F Warping - Still Tweaking
How To Lash On A Warp

B2F Warping Progress – Still Tweaking

By Leigh

Ever since I switched from front to back, to back to front warping, I've been enjoying weaving a lot more. Even though I learned to weave 7 years ago, it has only been for the past year that I've had the time to really apply myself to it. I feel as though I spent 6 years dabbling and at last have the opportunity to become serious about it.

Each time I put on a new warp I look for ways to improve it. I realize that there are a lot of different ways to accomplish the same things, it's a matter of finding what works best for oneself and one's loom.

The question on my mind lately has been whether or not to leave the raddle in while weaving. I had been taking it out, but found some decided advantages to leaving it in; the first being a way to keep the lease sticks from creeping toward the heddles.

The first time I tried this, I tied the lease sticks together but found there wasn't enough give in the warp and several ends broke. The idea to use the rings isn't actually my own, I borrowed it from Charleen, which she uses during warping, and I thought to use during weaving. This worked better and allowed some give in my warp. No more bound and broken ends!

Everything was going well, or so I thought, until I read an Online discussion concerning where the warp passes through the heddle eye. It should be through the center, right? So I took a look and was alarmed when I discovered that it wasn't......

You can see the dip my warp makes as it travels over the raddle on it's way through the heddles, where it rubs under the top of the heddle eye. You can also see where my floating selvedge lies, which indicates the degree of the dip the warp takes. The raddle adds an additional ¾ inch to the height of the warp. More actually, as the raddle doesn't sit exactly on top of the back beam. So in between dishtowels I took the raddle out. And you know what? My warp still hugs the top of the heddle eyes. Oh well.

Speaking of floating selvedges, after a lot of experimenting, I have finally decided that I like to hang them off the back of the loom in a weighted film canister.

I've tried winding them on with the rest of my warp, but hanging them separately seems to work better for me. Especially as I often need a little give to them when I throw the shuttle and miss one of them somehow.

I use fishing weights inside the canister, and have discovered that these, with the help of a bent paper clip, are also good for the occasional loose warp thread .....

My other tweak involves measuring my progress. This worked better than simply measuring every time I advanced the warp and marking my place with a bit of thread, but this .....

..... works even better. It was Peg's suggestion; bias tape with marks I made on it (which you can't see). I pin it as I advance the warp, and unpin it before it winds onto the cloth beam. I had heard of using a cloth quilters tape measure, but never could find one. It hadn't occurred to me to make my own, so I appreciate this idea.

All in all, I feel like I'm making good progress; my weaving looks better and I'm enjoying it more. Maybe I'll make it past the novice stage one of these days after all.

© 29 March 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
f2b Versus b2f - Beginning of a series
Evaluating My b2f Warp
B2F Vs. F2B - Why I Switched

b2f Warping – What To Do About Those Weights

I can't decide if my experimentation is actually accomplishing anything or if I'm merely creating more work for myself. Now that I have been converted to the back-to-front warping method, I am doing some fine tuning and problem solving. The bottom line here is warp tension, which was what motivated me to try b2f in the first place. I've been very happy with my results so far, though there are still a few things I'm trying to work out.

When I used to warp front to back, I would hand tension my warp. After my first b2f warp, I decided to try using weights instead. When I did, I discovered that my warp tension was more even and weaving was more enjoyable.

Half gallon milk jugs filled with water work well as weights, so my next questions have been concerning how to tie them on and where to place them.

To tie them on, I've settled on the method pictured on the left.

I'm tying a slip knot in the warp bout and using a shoe lace through the knot's loop and the milk jug handle. I first tried to knot the warp itself through the jug handle, but this resulted in too much slippage. I'm sure there's a more conventional way to do this and I'll give it a try just as soon as someone tells me what it is.

Where to place the jugs has required a little more experimenting.

The problem with a set up like this . . .

. . . with the weighted warp hanging over the breast beam, is this......

If the warp winds on over the back beam with the two bouts at such an angle, then a gap is created in the warp on the warp beam. No good.

So I tried this . . .

. . . in hopes of decreasing that angle by giving some length to the warp. As you can see, I did this by hanging the weights over my bench. But! Notice that the bench wants to tip over as I wind on. It's ever so slight in this photo, but it will go all the way over, believe me. This is also no good.

So, at someone's suggestion (Peg's I think?) I tried running the weighted warp over the top of my castle like this . . .

. . . which worked much better except for one small problem, the placement of my raddle. The warp ends couldn't lie flat in the raddle teeth because of the angle of the warp. I should have secured the raddle to the top of the castle, which is what I shall do next time. This will also take care of another problem I had previously, discussed here. Fortunately the warp wound on without incident and I'm ready for the next step.

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

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