KISS

 

warping valet - notice the lease sticks position - high up near the ceiling.  Pull the lease sticks through the warp, not the warp through the lease sticks; sticky warp can be assisted by turning the leading lease stick to create a 'shed' to open the threads up and prevent them from sticking to each other; wind 2 ends at a time and the yarn will be better behaved, etc.

Weaving is complex.  There are layers and layers of 'it depends' considerations that make the craft a constant source of puzzlement.  Complexity that asks 'what if' over and over again.  Because change one thing, and everything can change.

The process of weaving consists, in large part, the act of designing, then physically making the warp and getting it mounted into the loom.  Again, a long list of precise actions that need - for the most part - to be done in a particular order.  Not just that, but paying attention to things like centering the warp, controlling the warp (I think about controlling the warp as an entity, not individual threads), then accurately entering it into the heddles and reed with the last preparatory step tying on and then, and only then, can you 'prove' the set up (check for errors) and weave your sample (if you haven't done that already).

There being many slip betwixt cup and lip, there may be issues that need to be addressed.

I've been asked to do The Weaver's Toolbox for a guild in January.  In that presentation I talk about the different between the mechanics of the 3 'common' handlooms, and discuss other tools/processes that weavers may find useful.

There are many many 'hacks' that people have come up with, but generally I find that if I look to the 'traditional' hacks, there is useful information and methods to 'fix' what I need to get fixed.  Yes, you can do all sorts of different things, but I find some of them are labour intensive and do not help me in terms of processing the information I need to complete the task of dressing the loom.

That said - everyone processes information in their own way - everyone has to work out what works best for them.  But I hope that they try the 'traditional' way and see if they work.

I hear criticism from new weavers about using a temple.  Too slow, they say.  I scratch the breast beam, they complain.  I don't want to advance the fell that often.

But here's the thing.  Using a temple can be absolutely necessary.  If it isn't, I don't use it.  But when the time comes that I see it must be used, I drag one out (I have several, of various lengths) and set my mind to the face that working slower will bring me the results I desire more quickly that *not* using the temple.  

But!  It must be used effectively!

The length of the temple needs to bring the fell width to the same width of the warp in the reed.  The temple needs to hold the warp under tension and that means the warp width in the reed, not the warp width once draw-in has happened.  And draw-in will happen quickly, so the temple needs to be advanced every inch or 2.5 cm.  You do *not* need to stop and advance the fell.  But you do need to advance the temple.  The teeth of the temple should never ever come anywhere close to the breast beam.

Why might I use the temple?

When I'm weaving about 30" or wider using a fine yarn.  The selvedges draw in and the selvedge ends get very unco-operative.  The shed does not open cleanly and there are shuttle mishaps leading to skips and floats.

When I'm weaving a denser cloth and want the weft to pack in more tightly.

I do not use a temple to 'fix' my selvedge - it there to make the cloth to the quality I need it to be.  Selvedges - in my loom - tend to take care of themselves.

As for a warping valet, people say they don't have room.  I have had almost zero room to use one and it is *why* I use one.  I can beam a warp in under 10 minutes, all by myself, with no issues with things going badly.  Some people complain because they don't want to 'waste' time rough sleying the reed.  I wind up with better quality of cloth by taking a few minutes to do that task.

Again, going slower to get the actual results you want is not a 'waste of time'.  

I don't use floating selvedges, but I know how to use them in case I ever hit a situation or cloth where one is required.  So that knowledge is absolutely in my toolbox.

I beam with tension - hopefully the same degree of tension as what I will apply during weaving and I use firm warp packing.  Yes, it takes up more space on the beam, but I rarely beam more than 13 meters on the small floor loom and the wooden blinds will allow for that.  Honestly, how many hand weavers routinely beam more than 10 meters, anyway?

So while there are all sorts of 'hacks' being shared in weaving groups on line and elsewhere, I ask myself if using them will save me grief or take more time than doing it the way I've been doing it for decades?  If I can make the case of changing what I need to do, then I will change what I do.  Been there, done that - from how I thread, to figuring out how to use the warping valet, to changing how I sley, all have been changed when I saw the benefit to changing.

My method of dressing the small loom using a warping board to wind the warp etc., has been refined over decades.  

When a new weaver is confronted with an issue or problem, I suggest that they think the process through.  And keep in mind the time honoured acronym KISS - Keep It Simple, Silly.

Weaving should not be a headache.  Most problems can be solved.  And usually each weaver needs to find the 'best' solution for themselves.

Because it depends!  And sometimes it is faster to go slower to get the results you want.  

**check the 'warping valet' tag to get all the posts I've tagged with that label for details on the warping valet...