No One True Way

 

AVL tension box mounted on Louet Megado

Warp installed in tension box

Never fails - someone recommends a tool or process and a chorus of voices will insist that the One True Way works perfectly well for them, no need to even consider or think about any other way of doing something.

When I got the Megado, I was giving up a near 40 year relationship with the AVL.  A loom that we had heavily modified over the years to more accurately meet with my approach to weaving in order to create the textiles I wanted to make.

Over the years I had modified the AVL tension box, removing the cross making mechanism - because it didn't work well for me.  A lot of people were Very Concerned because you absolutely NEEDED a cross in order to properly thread your warp.

Um, no, not for what I was using (yarn) and what I was making (again yarn).

Doug made extra tensioning pegs for when I was primarily beaming off the top of cones because two tensioning pegs were not providing sufficient tension on my 100 yard long warps.  

When I stopped doing that, I was then using 1/2 pound tubes of primarily cotton and the drag from the side of the tubes meant I didn't need four tensioning pegs anymore, just two.  But I kept the extra pegs, because I found filling plastic spools and beaming from those provided less drag and I needed one or two of those additional pegs to beam under the level of tension required to give me good results.

At any rate, the first time I posted a photo of the Megado with the AVL tension box rail affixed to the back of the loom, I could hear a number of sharply in-drawn breaths at the sacrilege of drilling holes into my brand new Extremely Expensive loom.

It's a wooden machine.  If it needs to be something else and a couple or four holes drilled in will allow me to work the way I want, those holes can be filled later by the next owner.  Wood is very forgiving that way.

Too many weavers seem to think that the way they learned is the ONLY way to weave.  When they will not open their minds to something other than the One True Way, they may run into problems and then have no real way to work around the problem by adjusting their processes or tools.  And then they say 'oh you can't do that'.  Well, maybe not the way that was tried - and then failed.

When we don't allow ourselves the possibility of having multiple ways to address the challenges of weaving, we shut off the flow of knowledge.  If we open our minds when presented with a different way of doing it, the immediate reaction should not be 'I don't understand!'  but, oh, how does that work, then?

At least that is how I work in my studio.  Where there is No One True Way, but many ways something could be done, which one might be the best?  Then if it isn't working the way I want, what needs to change?  Do I want to make that change?  If no, then maybe I set that project aside until I am willing to make needed changes to my processes or my equipment.  Sometimes I need my in-house engineer to take a gander and suggest a different tool.  If he can then make such a tool, I might need to wait until it is ready before trying again.

It has taken me two years of working with the Megado to begin to become friends with it.  40 years of working with the AVL left me with certain expectations and assumptions, many of which had to be adjusted.  I had to learn how the loom behaved and what it needed.  There are things about it I still don't like - the very small diameter back beam, for instance - but it's the same diameter as most looms.  I'm just 'spoiled' because I had a one yard circumference on the AVL and that made beaming a warp 'easier' than the 14.x" beam the Megado has.  I'm not overly fond of the square (rounded off corners) shape of the beams, either, but they work ok.  My preference would be for a round cloth beam, but it isn't, so onwards we go.

I miss the cloth storage roller at the back of the loom that allowed me to weave an entire 20-40 yard long warp off but now I need to stop after every 7th or 8th towel and cut off and re-tie because the cloth beam is too padded to easily re-tension.  Rather than fight with the re-tensioning every time I advance the fell, I'd rather add a bit more warp length and cut off and re-tie.

See that gap in the gathering reed of the tension box?  I leave that to make room for the several wraps of leader string.  Without the gap, I was getting additional build up in the middle of each section because the profile of the leader string wound several times around the beam was causing an issue.

And so it goes.

Weaving can be a constant state of learning.  IF we allow ourselves to keep an open mind.

But ultimately?  If someone is happy with what they are doing and wouldn't change a thing?  They don't need to.  But when I share something on line it's because I know so many weavers, some of whom have issues with one thing or another and I simply want to point out that there are other ways.  Other tools.  Other techniques.  And sometimes, just because someone doesn't know that, they struggle, needlessly.  So I share information.  I try to share information about things that might help someone with an issue they might be having and have no idea how it might be done differently.

As for sectional beaming?  There are also other ways to do it than with this kind of set up.  There is the Warping Wheel/Square which some people adore, for reasons, none of which were good for me and my body so I tried it once, decided I could never make it work the way I wanted and moved on.  Some people like to wind a chain for each section and beam each one individually.  Again - tried it, didn't like it.   For reasons.  But if someone likes it and prefers it, then they should do that.

Weaving is a vast pool of knowledge and there are many many ways to create cloth.  Keep your mind open, always.  Keep learning, always.

The fact that I have been weaving for damn near 50 years and still learn new stuff is part of what keeps me getting out of bed in the morning.  But don't like something I share?  Don't do it.  Do what brings you joy.