Last weekend I was at the weaving barn, again. August is turning into weaving month because I want to advance my skills and get settled in at the barn. I figure that if I am taking a week off to do metal work, I might loose the continuity and so I am taking a break from metal until September.
The exciting thing was... I was allotted a loom and I had my choice of two.
The first loom was 4 shafts with 4 treadles that was about 30 to 40 inches wide. The second loom is a 4 shaft 6 treadle loom which is almost 50 inches wide and it has a sectional back beam. Which did I choose to work on? The first loom is a nice looking loom but it too similar to my Dorset loom. The second loom has 4 shafts (like mine) but because it has more treadles I can do many other weaves than I could with mine; and because it is wider over 3 times as wide, I can do much bigger projects so I chose the second loom.
Once I had made my choice, I had to start warping it so I discussed with Millie and Pat what a good starter project would be and so it was decided that I would start with a 3 shaft 2 block rug.
Having never done a sectional warp, I was shown how to set up a tension box and I started winding on the warp. I had to wind on 12 yards for each section (there are 12 sections) and that took most of the day.
Today I am heading back down to the barn to finish the threading of the heddles and the reed. If all goes well I should be able to start weaving NEXT weekend.
The exciting thing was... I was allotted a loom and I had my choice of two.
The first loom was 4 shafts with 4 treadles that was about 30 to 40 inches wide. The second loom is a 4 shaft 6 treadle loom which is almost 50 inches wide and it has a sectional back beam. Which did I choose to work on? The first loom is a nice looking loom but it too similar to my Dorset loom. The second loom has 4 shafts (like mine) but because it has more treadles I can do many other weaves than I could with mine; and because it is wider over 3 times as wide, I can do much bigger projects so I chose the second loom.
Once I had made my choice, I had to start warping it so I discussed with Millie and Pat what a good starter project would be and so it was decided that I would start with a 3 shaft 2 block rug.
Having never done a sectional warp, I was shown how to set up a tension box and I started winding on the warp. I had to wind on 12 yards for each section (there are 12 sections) and that took most of the day.
Today I am heading back down to the barn to finish the threading of the heddles and the reed. If all goes well I should be able to start weaving NEXT weekend.
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