Since I took Thora Sharptooth's wadmal class at Pennsic (see that entry here), Grainne and I have been saying we ought to get together to work on her warp-weighted loom.
She had one, but it had been little more than a coat rack since its creation, and I was a great catalyst to get it going. (I do this frequently - I show up and people get courage. It's a wonderful thing.)
So this was yesterday afternoon.
In a bit less than three hours (and with much gabbing and giggling), we got a Pretty Durn Wide(tm) warp spaced out on her loom, chained into front and back warp. She's just doing a tabby weave for starters, to figure out some of the basic loom mechanics.
Here's one of the surprises: Hire a Greet (or some other similarly tall, skinny, and flexible string maven) to feed you threads as you chain them from below. Goes MUCH faster.
(the Greet in the machine....)
When I work on my own loom (when I get it), I'm going to have to train helpers to do the chaining, as I suspect my natural attributes mean I'll be the one inside the warp.
Grainne told me about the Yahoo! group about warp-weighted looms, and I'm very excited to find so many people who have struggled and overcome some challenges I saw ahead. For example, I can now see several examples of how to have non-wall supported looms. There's even great photo coverage of how to take a project in progress off the loom, roll it up in a special bag, and move all to another location. Critical for my life of demos and events. After the tent is done...loom is NEXT.
It wasn't so much courage that I was lacking, but time :)
Since I have joined the ranks of the unemployed and my son is a little older it has progressed quite quickly, however it does go much faster with help and good conversation...
Grainne
Posted by: Grainne | August 29, 2009 at 10:37 PM