Sectional Beaming

 

The photo is from a while ago - last spring as I recall.  But it shows my studio bobbin rack, which I prefer to the smaller racks where the tubes sit horizontally.

The set up here is not ideal insofar as the tubes are not equal in how much yarn is left on them.  Since part of the tension applied comes from the drag pulling the yarn off the side of the tube, the fuller tubes go on slightly tighter than the more empty ones.

Part of understanding what matters and what doesn't, is simply trying things and observing what happens.  

Over the years I've had to deal with a miscellany of different yarns in different amounts and hope they will play well together.

Turns out that mostly?  They do.

Of course you have to be confident that the yarn will withstand the tension involved in beaming sectionally, so tender yarns might do better if taken from the top of the tube rather than the side.

But needs must, and sometimes I've simply made the decision to 'sacrifice' a bit of yarn to see if something was going to work.  Or not.

Over the years I have settled on yarns that I prefer to work with, gotten to know them really well, and understand what they will tolerate.  And what they won't.

So my latest warp is much like the one in the picture.  A mixed bunch of tubes of various weights which means that some of the ends are tighter than the others.

The yarn is wound on firmly enough that there is very little 'give' if I press down on the sections.  This is important because the yarn needs to be tightly enough wound that there is no leeway at all for the upper layers to cut down into the lower layers.  How much?  Depends.  Each weaver needs to experiment to find out what all those variables look like for them.

I've worked with the Brassard 2/16 bamboo before and I know how much variation the yarn will tolerate and while I can feel the different tensions in the web on the loom, I also know that it will all equalize once the scarves are cut off and wet finished.

I would be a little more 'careful' if I was producing yardage, but I'm not, and I know that the magic in the water will resolve the kinds of tension issues currently in the web.