Sometimes people comment that they would love to use a valet but they don't have any room for one. Not having any room is partly why I use one. In the first photo you can see how closely to the back of the AVL my work table is. It is so close that in order to beam the AVL sectionally, I have to roll the work table farther away from the loom. Using the warping valet mounted in the ceiling I don't have to move the table - just have to be careful when I bend down!
Here I'm using the reed swiveled in order to keep the warp going into the proper sections.
This photo shows a little more of the set up - reed between beam and sectional rail, the warp running from the bottom of the beam, under the rail, up over the warping valet and the water jug I use for weight. The chain is in one of my little boxes.
And a more distant shot so you can see it better. The lease sticks have been brought up to the valet as far as possible and will move downwards as the warp rolls onto the beam. Then the lease sticks will be moved as high as possible. Repeat.
Once the warp is completely beamed, I transfer the cross from one side of the reed to the other. With the weight still holding the warp, the sticks behave quite well. Tipping the lease stick upright creates a shed on the other side of the reed...
into which I insert one of my longer lease sticks.
Then the short lease stick nearest the reed is removed and the 2nd lease stick tipped upright. I move the long lease stick as far away from the reed as possible (you can see it 'hiding' behind the beam sectional rakes) in order to create a second shed into which the second long lease stick is inserted.
The lease sticks are then clamped together and hung from the loom's castle between the beam and the shafts.
Dressing the AVL this way is a bit more fiddly than dressing the small loom, so why do I do it?
I'm doing it because the rest of the process using the AVL is going to be a lot faster/easier than using the small loom. A little 'extra' time spent at one stage of the process in order to save lots of time further along is never a waste of time!
Apparently I'm feeling a Part III on this theme coming....
2 comments:
Do you fuss about whether every thread goes into the same section or is "close enough" OK? Seems like with some threads it would be very diddly to keep every thread in the right section.
Close is fine. Just keep the outside ends within their proper section. This method isn't the best for long warps but for shorter ones, it's fine.
Cheers
Laura
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