Direct Warp Using Warp Board
Yesterday I tried something I've been thnking about since I put 18 feet of warp on my 10" Cricket rigid heddle a month ago.
I love direct warping, but it has always been difficult for me due to the space needed. I've had to take over my dining table and the length of my living room, creating a blockade for however long it took me to walk threads 80-100 times from loom to the warping peg. Limbo skills were required to get to the bathroom.
I realized that I should be able to set up the warping board (mine is good for up to 10 yards) so that the footprint required would be much smaller for direct warping of a very long warp.
The experiment was a success! I can now warp using only the table in my basement laundry room right next to my studio space. No more trudging upstairs, shlepping an extra table, loom, cones of yarn. No more blocking living space and feeling I had to hurry to wind that warp. I can now pause when I need a break. Behold:
Saori weavers call these 'fingers' or tabs. It's a little fiddly and slow, but I love beginning a weaving this way and I love that it makes use of what is often waste yarn.
Labels: rigid heddle, Saori, weaving
posted by 'Zann @ 9:27 AM
Patrick's dad, Paul Burkett, took up saxophone 6 months after Patrick died, making our garage 'Patty's Studio'and making music his healing path.
6 Comments:
Why do you use the warping board horizontally? Your back will thank you if you prop it up so you can use the board vertically.
Thanks for reading my blog and taking time to comment.
You are right if I just wanted to wind a warp, chain it and then warp a loom.
I don't think that a vertical, propped position would work for direct warping the rigid heddle loom. Essentially, with this technique, the loom itself is part of the process of winding the warp. One is actually threading half the heddles while winding out the warp. If the warping board was vertical, where would the loom be positioned?
I will have to think about this more, but I think this is the best - and possibly only- position if one wants to use a warping board to direct warp a rigid heddle.
The idea was to be able to direct warp a long warp in a small amount of space. So instead of winding around a peg set across the room, going back and forth and creating an obstacle in the room, I was able to stand at this table and very easily warp my loom in a small space.
Thank you for this blog. I have recently tried a variation of this warping method. I have an Ashford rigid heddle loom with the warping board on the underside. After seeing a video by Amy D. , I used the loom as the warping board, and put the heddle between the warping board and a peg. I was able to warp this fairly easily...but it was 22 inches wide, and so the sides were longer. I am ready to try again. One idea that I have is to center the peg from the warping board 3 times (left, middle, right) and make 3 warps. They would go directly through the heddle. I am trying to picture this. I think it may work (based on very little experience) and that this way my warp threads will be more equal. I appreciate your information and photos they made certain aspects of this even clearer. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you for this blog. I have recently tried a variation of this warping method. I have an Ashford rigid heddle loom with the warping board on the underside. After seeing a video by Amy D. , I used the loom as the warping board, and put the heddle between the warping board and a peg. I was able to warp this fairly easily...but it was 22 inches wide, and so the sides were longer. I am ready to try again. One idea that I have is to center the peg from the warping board 3 times (left, middle, right) and make 3 warps. They would go directly through the heddle. I am trying to picture this. I think it may work (based on very little experience) and that this way my warp threads will be more equal. I appreciate your information and photos they made certain aspects of this even clearer. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hi Terry - First, I wanted to note that I saw you had difficulty in posting - comments do not show up right away because I had to go to moderation before posting. Tons of bots post spam all over, so I had to do that, or I'd never catch them and delete them all.
I'm glad this post might be helpful to you. I was thrilled to be able to do direct warping in such a compact way without creating an obstacle course for family!
I honestly can't picture the warping method you explain, but that is likely my problem rather than yours, I always have a hard time visualizing things like this from people's verbal explanations.
Of course, despite what some people say, there is no absolutely correct way of warping - if one can get a loom warped with minimal fuss, with the number of threads and the tension they want, and create a fabric they love...who cares how they got there? Not me, at any rate!
Keep experimenting and thanks so much for taking time to write a comment!
That is really brilliant. The thing I like least about the knitting loom is all the space you need to warp. I am definitely going to use your method of warping. Thanks for sharing.
Jo M
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