Last Pick

 

This warp is for a class project so I'm paying extra particular attention to what I'm doing and what I'm seeing.

Normally I don't do a double tap on the beat, just one single tap.  That tap is 'regulated' according to a number of factors - the elasticity of the yarn, the tension applied to the warp, etc.

Not all yarns have the same characteristics.  The yarn currently in the loom is 2/10 mercerized cotton, and it shares some of the characteristics of a line linen.  Both are dense, stiff, slippery and a bit springy.  (Linen is more of all of those things than cotton, but mercerized cotton is more like linen in how it behaves.)

Weaving plain weave with highly contrasting colours means I see the threads quite clearly. My goal here is to have as close to 'perfect' a beat as possible because every little inconsistency is going to show.  Wet finishing will take care of some *slight* differences, but only very slight differences.

Every time the web gets advanced, the tension needs to be reset.  The precise degree of tension is rarely re-applied so I feel how the loom behaves and how the yarn reacts and then adjust the pressure of the beat accordingly.

However, because this yarn is stiffer and slipperier than an unmercerized cotton and behaves much more like a line linen, when the tension is removed from the warp the threads are no longer under the same degree of tension and as the warp is pulled forward, the last pick tends to slip out of the intended path of the yarn.

If you need to see more closely, click on the image to bring it up bigger.

What happens when the last pick slips away from the fell is that the *next* pick below it also tends to slip forward - travelling in the direction of least resistance.

So for this warp I am weaving with as consistent a beat as I can manage, then when I advance the warp I give the fell a second tap before I begin weaving again.  This pushes the last pick downwards and at the same time nudges the pick below it back where it belongs as well.

For a line linen, I *may* do a double tap on every pick, depending on the weave structure.

Adding a second beat to every pick takes longer (only a micro-second, but they add up) but at times it is better to go slower to get the results you want in the cloth you are making.

Change

Louet Megado

For decades (1982-2019) I wove primarily on an AVL Production loom and then a Leclerc Fanny.  On both looms I would (usually) beat on a closing shed.

However, change one thing and everything can change.

The Megado is a different loom from the AVL.  It has it's own...quirks...and I very quickly discovered that I could not weave at the same pace I had been able to weave on the AVL.  I had to slow down, significantly.  Like from around 44-48 picks per minute on the AVL to around 20-24 picks per minute on the Megado - shuttle throwing pace.  Actual productivity is lower still on the Megado because it does not have auto cloth advance and I also have to stop and advance the fell, retighten the tension on the warp.

Additionally, I have discovered over the years that different qualities of cloth mean that the rate of weaving speed, when I beat, and how frequently I need to advance the warp (on the Leclerc) changes.

It depends.

One of the challenges of weaving is that as you change the type and quality of cloth, as you use different yarns, what you need to do to actually weave must also change.  You cannot weave a very fine, somewhat fragile yarn the same way you weave a rep weave rug.

All these variables can be overwhelming to new practitioners of the craft.  Mostly they want definitive answers to questions where there aren't any.

For example, when I weave my standard place mats:

I can whip along at a fast pace because the weft needs to be firmly beaten in.  I change the shed while I am moving the beater forward to the fell which means the shed is closing as I beat.

However when I'm weaving something like this:

which is a very open cloth made of textured silk, the weft must be very carefully and gently pushed into place, not a firm beat.  My weaving pace must slow down to accommodate this very gentle placement, done on an open shed.  The shed is changed while the beater is at the fell line, then the beater is moved back to the heddles, the shuttle thrown, and the beater gently moves that pick into place.  Etc.

So like almost everything there is about weaving...it depends.

Shed

At the 'bottom' of the sweet spot

At the 'top' of the sweet spot

People don't understand why staying within the sweet spot is important.  

I am currently weaving on a Baby Wolf which is a small floor loom with short distance between breast and back beam.  It is a jack loom so the shed is formed by the shafts rising.

At the beginning of the sweet spot, the angle the threads are forming is about 20 degrees and the bottom of the shed floor is pretty much on the shuttle race.  The shed is nice and clear and large.  Plenty of room for the shuttle to pass through.

At the top end of the sweet spot, the angle the threads are opening is greater - about 28 degrees.  (I didn't do a really scientific measurement, just an approximate.)

While the shed is still big enough for the shuttle to pass through, it is clear that the bottom of the shed has lifted significantly from the shuttle race and the threads are under more stress because of the more acute angle at which they are opening.

If I pushed beyond this point, the shed would become harder to open (require more foot pounds) and it would also become smaller.  The bottom of the shed would continue to lift away from the shuttle race making it more likely that the shuttle would 'submarine' and pick up threads from the shed floor.

By pushing beyond the sweet spot, there is more likelihood that threads would break, especially the selvedge ends, which are under more stress than the rest of the warp to begin with.

Another thing that happens is that the warp tightens ever so slightly as the warp ends take up more and more.  The force needed to beat the weft in will change with the tightening of the warp.

As the beat changes, there can be streaks in the cloth as the warp is pushed to it's limit, then released and rolled forward.  

Much, much better to stay within the sweet spot and advance more frequently.

Currently reading His Majesty's Spy by Susan  Elia MacNeal

Weaving by Feel

the breast beam shows through this very open cloth - click on the photo to biggify

As mentioned previously, this yarn is being woven very open.  It is a highly textured silk, a bit stiff and a little coarse feeling, due to the high degree of twist and the torquing that happens as a result of that high twist.  In order to encourage the cloth to drape, the epi/ppi is about 10.  I say about because mostly I'm weaving the weft in by feel more than anything else.

This is truly a situation where "If you can't be perfect, be consistent" is a big factor.  And the way I can get the closest to being consistent with this cloth is to feel how the beater pushes the weft picks into place.

In previous posts I think I've talked about beating a very open cloth.

At any rate, it is a subtle thing and you really need to pay attention when you do it.

When weaving a very open cloth, the beater is moved towards the fell slowly rather than the usual crisp tap.  The whole point being you don't want the weft picks to be side by side but with a space between them.

So as the beater comes forward, slowly, you should feel resistance as it gets closer to the fell.  This resistance usually happens about 1/4" away from the fell line.  When this resistance is felt, the beater is then squeezed, very gently - and with the same degree of force each time - closer to the last pick.  How close will depend on how much space you want between each pick.

With such a textured yarn, the warp and weft threads are not going to be perfectly straight.  I think that is quite clear in the photo above.  There will be some deflection of the threads, again, partly because of the high twist of the yarn and it's tendency to torque, partly due to the texture.

Bottom line, consistency.  That is what is going to work to make such an open cloth from this yarn.

Currently reading The Christmas Wassail by Kate Sedley

A Matter of Control

click on the photo to biggify it

Started weaving the worsted sample this morning.  Since it is white on white and difficult to see clearly what is going on, I checked my threading/sleying with a contrasting colour.

I keep ends of bobbins for this purpose - in this case it's a royal blue 2/8 cotton.  There was nothing to fix, so I began with the white weft.

For this yarn - a 2/28 worsted (that's not a typo or me being Canadian, that's the size in the butt of the cone and how it was sold to me by the US supplier - I've been told that worsted preparation puts the ply first, then the 'count' number, and since this is a worsted yarn using the numbers in this fashion would be the correct way to express the size of this yarn) I chose to go with 32 epi.

When I started weaving, the weft was beating in more closely than 32 - probably closer to 38.  I briefly thought about re-sleying, then decided that if this cloth was being woven for the purpose of a scarf, I would want something with more drape than a 36 x 36 density would provide.

Instead of re-sleying, I adjusted my beat.  I think you can clearly see the curve as I went from 38 (or whatever it actually was) to something closer to 32 ppi.

The trick now, of course, is to go back to the loom and retain that muscle memory of the lighter touch required for the 32 ppi.  If you can't be perfect, be consistent!

Keeping the Beat

From time to time people ask which way of beating is the correct way.

Well, the 'correct' way is the way that gets you the results you desire. :}

That said, I have worked out a weaving rhythm that entails beating on a closing shed. I think this video clip shows what I mean the best: http://laurasloom.blogspot.com/2009/07/wider-weaving.html

By the time the beater hits the fell, the shed is pretty much closed and the beater is pushed back on the new open shed. This helps to clear out any stray threads that don't open properly.

This is my default method of beating, the one I use when nothing special needs to be accomplished, just needing to eat up the inches and yards as efficiently as possible.

However, there are qualities of cloth where this approach doesn't give me the results I desire and I need to adapt - control, if you will - how the picks are set into the fell line.

Here are two examples when I need to change how I beat:

A very open cloth. The picks do not get beaten in as much as they are pushed into place. There is a point in the laying in where there is a 'catch' in how smoothly the pick is being pushed. At this point the weaver has to decide how much further the pick needs to be pushed in order to achieve the openness required. Then the weaver must remember the degree of force and apply it consistently to the rest of the cloth.

A very dense cloth. The picks in a dense cloth need to get pounded into place. This may require one or more adaptations. For rugs, weavers sometimes add mass to their beater by attaching weights to it. Sometimes a double (or more) beat is required. Adding extra beats to a closed shed will help prevent the weft from popping out and away from the fell line. In some cases I've heard of situations where two weavers will sit at the loom to add the necessary force.

And all sorts of combinations in between the above two extremes.

Needless to say, any deviation from my default beat means that I have to go more slowly. But sometimes it is necessary to go more slowly in order to achieve the quality of cloth being attempted. In all cases, no matter how one beats, being consistent will result in better quality than not being consistent.

Remember if you can't be perfect, be consistent.

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Currently reading From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris