Here is warp number 3 (as in counting down from the 8 I had left to do after I thought I was done with them) rough sleyed ready to be beamed.
How much longer does it take to rough sley instead of use a raddle? I don't know. I haven't used a raddle for 15 or more years when I decided that a raddle really wasn't giving me the results I wanted and switched to rough sleying a reed.
Why did I change? At the time I was using quite fine yarns (2/20 and 2/16 cotton) - the raddle I had borrowed simply had too many ends per section so they tended to grab onto each other and snag, then tangle. The 2/20 cotton was around 36 epi, the 2/16 at 32 epi. A raddle just wasn't working all that well for me and rather than continue to fight with it during the beaming, it seemed a lot more productive to just use a different tool.
What I've found is that rough sleying works for every yarn at every set I tend to use. YMMV.
The above warp is 16 epi, wound two at a time and is rough sleyed in an 8 dent reed. There are 160 ends in total for a width in the reed of 10". I turned on my boom box, set up the reed, lease sticks, removed the ties from the four arms of the X and rough sleyed it, all before the first cut on the cd finished.
Before the 12th cut on the cd was over I had beamed the warp, threaded, sleyed and tied it on, throwing the first 6 picks of header. The cd in question was one of Neil Young's so the cuts are maybe a bit longer than normal, but not all that much. :)
7 comments:
I find beaming through a reed to work ok for low epi warps such as for rugs and so on. When making normal cloth I prefer to beam directly from a stretched and spaced warp. Set wider at the inside to avoid slipping off the sides. Works quite well for short warps at least, get much over 5 ells and it starts getting sketchy. Not possible without a big space also. Of course, I beam, thread then sort. I understand you work front to back. Not a method that I find agreeable, but I can see why its used by people without much space
Hi Andrew, I beam back to front, not front to back. Gave that up many decades ago. :)
I use the reed to spread the warp ends, beam using a valet (with tension during beaming), then thread, sley the reed, tie on and weave.
But it's whatever works 'best' given the situation. Your Mileage May Vary. ;)
cheers,
Laura
I am still setting up my new loom, Glimakra Julia. I need to put on a small warp so it can get all set up. I'm thinking of a couple of yards and use 8/2 or 16/2. I want to try using the reed for rough slaying and then use the valet(clothing rack). What reed should I use do you think? I've read to use big dents and then use the correct reed but have also seen using the final reed to sley with, what do you recommend?
Your comment about finer yarns tangling with a raddle is interesting. I haven't had that issue, but mostly use my sectional beam for finer yarns. My raddle has 4 sections to the inch - is this finer than the raddle you used?
Stephanie Stanley
It depends. For the 2/8 at 24epi wound two ends at a time I would use a six dent reed and put the loop with four ends in each dent. If I didnt have a six dent reed I would use a twelve dent reed and put four ends in every second dent.
I don't remember the size of the sections in the raddle I used - it may have been half inch sections.
Ultimately if it ain't broke there's no need to fix. :)
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I've seen your reference to rough sleying and wondered what it was about. Now I know. I'm mulling over the my next warp and using a valet of some sort. I love that technique. But I'm a newbie at weaving and just gathering all the information I can to make the experience more enjoyable. You're a wealth of knowledge Laura. Keep up the good work.
Tom Z in IL.
Thanks Tom, welcome to the wonderful world of weaving. :)
cheers,
Laura
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