To prevent this, be sure your paper is at least two inches, preferably four inches, wider than your warp.īefore you shim the selvedge area, be sure that it is actually a tension issue. If your packing material isn’t wide or sturdy enough, it will cause the warp to fold down at the edges as it winds around the back beam. This can be caused by either your packing material being too soft, too short, or by draw-in. The most common area we see slack is at the selvedges. You may find that you only need it temporarily and the tension will right itself after you advance. The shim will have to be moved each time you advance. If a specific area loses tension, you can use a small piece of cardboard to use as a shim under that area on the front or back beam. Endsįor individual ends, I keep at hand a bunch of 3-inch S hooks that weigh just over 2 ounces, to weight individual warp ends. It still happens that while you are weaving an end, an area, or an entire layer, goes slack. Cranking on the tension from the back, will take up any remaining slack under the warp layers. When you do this, tension your loom from the front and the back. It is a great lightbulb moment as they find the area every time!Īfter you have secured your warp, you can crank on the tight tension you have been longing for. Then each weaver pats the warp with their palm to see if they can find the soft spot. When teaching, I often tie on so one area is under slightly less tension than another. Stop every four or five rotations and “yank” (lower right) the warp by gently, but firmly, pulling on the warp. Rather than holding onto the warp, hold onto the paper as you wind on (lower left). The rolls don’t always have this information, so think of something thicker than printer paper, but thinner than cardstock. I prefer Kraft paper as my packing material that is around 24lb weight. Start by cutting short lengths of paper about 3 feet long and wide enough to extend past the width of your warp. It is easy to do by yourself and takes a lot of the stress out of the process. (If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth tenfold.) I find this to be an all-purpose way to pack the beam for a wide variety of fiber types and warp sizes. I recently excerpted a lesson from the Spring 2021 weave-along and published it on the Yarnworker YouTube channel. The method is popularly known as the “crank and yank”. Pack the warp beam without tension and take up the slack by periodically giving your warp a good, steady pull from the front of the loom If your yarns appear to be loose in spots as you are winding, it isn’t something to stress about. Winding your yarn under light tension will ensure that you don’t foreshorten your warp. While strictly not related to creating even tension, it is tension related. Tips for Creating Even Tension While Warping Wind with loose tension Beginners often stress about everything because they don't know what matters. This is not a place where tension matters, but technique can inform how even your warp tension will be once you crank on the tension with the assistance of the loom. Weavers try very hard to keep tight tension on their yarn when winding the warp, packing the beam, and tying on. The work of the hand meets the work of the tool. Your job isn’t to tension the yarn, but create an environment where the loom can tension the yarn for you. Weavers often think this is their job, but it isn’t. One thing that the loom does extraordinarily well is tension your yarn. (If you want to hear me make my case for the rigid heddle loom, I have a free class, Why This Loom.) I like to say I’m happy to teach folks a good first way to get things done, and then we can dig around in all the nooks and crannies of the know-how playbook. While the know-how I offer is specifically geared towards the rigid-heddle weaver, a lot of these pearls pertain to all weaving. The rigid heddle loom has always been the sweet spot for me between the simplicity of a frame loom and the mechanical assist of a floor loom.
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