A Break
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, not yet anyway. As always, life keeps poking its head in the way of keeping you informed of my latest weaving pursuits. The latest interruption was the surprise winter storm that pounded our part of Maine last weekend. We were supposed to get less than "a slushy inch on grassy surfaces." What we got was a foot of wet, heavy snow, along with strong wind gusts, some of which reached 50 mph. Trees were damaged everywhere, landing on houses, streets and power lines. We lost power, only for 30 hours or so, but our furnace was broken in the process of trying to hook it up to a generator, so we only got heat and hot water yesterday, after 3 days without them. Boy, did that first shower feel great! (I did wash up at the sink, you cynics!). And late last night the final piece fell into place - we got our phone and internet back! So, dear readers, you can see that unless you wanted a blog from my phone, which I certainly did not, you had to wait until I could get back online.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've gradually been making friends with my Glimakra loom. I finished all the tie ups, and warped her with a cotton warp for some simple twill towels. Initially I struggled to "find" the treadles without looking, since they are hinged in the back and can move quite a bit. Even taking that into account, I felt like the weaving was going terribly slowly. I would weave and weave and weave, and discover that I'd only completed a few inches, which compared dismally to any other weaving of similar types. I could not figure it out, until it dawned on me - the overhead beater is very heavy, and using the same force as I have with my other loom, I was packing the weft in very densely. Once I adjusted for that, the weaving went much more smoothly. There were a few sleying mistakes, but overall the last two towels came out well enough to be gift-able.
No official photos yet as they haven't been ironed, but the colors make me happy!
I've just wound 9 yards of 10/2 merc cotton on the baby wolf for some Drall towels, and as always, I ended up with tension/tangle issues from winding on my mill. I cannot understand what I'm doing wrong, but it is happening so frequently that I'm beginning to feel like it is going to be standard operating procedure for me.
I did plan on dressing the big loom next with more random stripe towels, since I love making them and I think they would be popular during the holidays, but I also have a custom baby wrap order to start. I promised the start would not be any later than the first of the year, so I have some time, but I'm hoping to warp sectionally, and since I haven't done that with the Glimakra yet, I want to give myself some wiggle room. The design encompasses 9 vibrant colors, so I have been spending some of my meager time off writing out the thread by thread colors for all 748 ends. Not my favorite thing by far, but I think the final product will be stunning. I'm keeping it under wraps for now, so you'll just have to wait to see it when it's on the loom.
Someone I corresponded with hinted at a way of sectional warping without having to create all of the tie cords for each section. She said that the Glimakra site had info on this, but I still don't really understand it. http://glimakrausa.com/glimakra-products/loom-accessories/#3 is the link which shows the tension box with a brief explanation of the process. Does anyone out there weave sectionally on a Glimakra, and can share this information? I'd be most grateful.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've gradually been making friends with my Glimakra loom. I finished all the tie ups, and warped her with a cotton warp for some simple twill towels. Initially I struggled to "find" the treadles without looking, since they are hinged in the back and can move quite a bit. Even taking that into account, I felt like the weaving was going terribly slowly. I would weave and weave and weave, and discover that I'd only completed a few inches, which compared dismally to any other weaving of similar types. I could not figure it out, until it dawned on me - the overhead beater is very heavy, and using the same force as I have with my other loom, I was packing the weft in very densely. Once I adjusted for that, the weaving went much more smoothly. There were a few sleying mistakes, but overall the last two towels came out well enough to be gift-able.
No official photos yet as they haven't been ironed, but the colors make me happy!
I've just wound 9 yards of 10/2 merc cotton on the baby wolf for some Drall towels, and as always, I ended up with tension/tangle issues from winding on my mill. I cannot understand what I'm doing wrong, but it is happening so frequently that I'm beginning to feel like it is going to be standard operating procedure for me.
I did plan on dressing the big loom next with more random stripe towels, since I love making them and I think they would be popular during the holidays, but I also have a custom baby wrap order to start. I promised the start would not be any later than the first of the year, so I have some time, but I'm hoping to warp sectionally, and since I haven't done that with the Glimakra yet, I want to give myself some wiggle room. The design encompasses 9 vibrant colors, so I have been spending some of my meager time off writing out the thread by thread colors for all 748 ends. Not my favorite thing by far, but I think the final product will be stunning. I'm keeping it under wraps for now, so you'll just have to wait to see it when it's on the loom.
Someone I corresponded with hinted at a way of sectional warping without having to create all of the tie cords for each section. She said that the Glimakra site had info on this, but I still don't really understand it. http://glimakrausa.com/glimakra-products/loom-accessories/#3 is the link which shows the tension box with a brief explanation of the process. Does anyone out there weave sectionally on a Glimakra, and can share this information? I'd be most grateful.
Comments
Post a Comment