Weavers learning my 'method' of beaming sometimes get very nervous about the part where the loops of the warp need to be transfered from the 3rd stick to the apron or cord at the back beam. I realized that it would be a very simple matter to utilize the 'angel wings' as a 3rd hand.
3rd stick with warp loops - stick is tipped upright so that it is easier to see the loops
apron rod being interleaved with the loops of the warp and the apron
apron rod fully inserted into the warp loops
3rd stick removed - warp is now completely installed onto the apron rod
a couple of minutes (at most) and the pigtails in the loops are smoothed out and the warp is ready to be beamed
warp travels under the breast beam, over the valet and each chain is weighted with a jug of water - elapsed time from inserting rough sleyed warp in the beater to the warp completely beamed and ready to thread - about 20 minutes - the warp is 9 meters long, 544 ends at 24 epi (about 22 1/4 ")
Purrington's angel wings are not required for this - any method of supporting the stick would make the job of transfering the loops much less stressful. I just happen to have the angel wings installed on this loom.
Thinking about what I could offer I wondered about a Weaving "boot" camp where people could come and rather than have a set curriculum, they would let me know ahead of time what they wanted specifically to learn and I would act as a weaving coach. Lectures would be given to reflect the needs of the students. For instance, perhaps people wanted to know how to read and design with profile drafts. Or there was interest in fibre characteristics and how to choose yarns wisely for the intended purpose. Or there was interest in wet finishing, generally, or for shrinkage differential (more commonly known as fabrics that go 'bump'). Or people wanted to know more about how colour acts in woven structure.
The week long class would allow people to hone in on where they wanted to improve and give them an opportunity to focus in a concentrated manner on working towards mastery.
What do you think?
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6 comments:
I think that is a great idea - as people have different things they struggle with & having wider variety of things cover would be sure to benefit the whole class more than a narrow focus on one topic.
I would definitely plan for something like this as long as I had enough time. January is a difficult month since I'm employed at a college, but I should be able to accommodate a vacation if I knew enough in advance to plan. I would love to have a bootcamp of this sort!
I'm glad to see your pictures - the ones I took at John C Campbell last year are somewhere in my husband's computer ... I hope to see them again someday.
Re your warping trapeze. How do you handle keeping the warp under tension when it reaches the apex of the crossbar?
--Sue in MA
The water jugs have a long string attached to them with two loops, one near the jug, one at the end of the long string. When I get near the end of the warp and it begins to go over the valet, I switch to the loop at the very end of the string so that it is the string that travels over the rod allowing the warp to travel closer to the breast beam. When I reach the end of the string, I take the weights off, run the warp over the breast beam and hang the weight with the short loop, from the breast beam. I thought I had photos of this, but can't find them. :(
cheers,
Laura
The "angel wings" are the things that are OO=OO I think, I've never seen those before so learning all the time. I learned good ole shoelaces can temporarily suspend but the 'wings look much more stable for a large loom. Good tools make all the difference!
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