tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075938937399531832024-03-05T17:52:42.682-08:00MMs & OOs Handweavingthe Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-15028270333479326492018-05-28T06:31:00.000-07:002018-05-28T06:31:56.697-07:00Moving Along My upholstery warp is finished. I've never done Echo weave before and now I like it! Echo is a network weave and the technicalities of how it works can be found in the Echo and Iris book published by Marian Stubenitsky. I borrowed it from my weaving guild library. It is an amazing book and after rereading some of the chapters I understand the weave structure. I used a draft that I bought from WEBS for a baby blanket and converted it to a dobby file. While I was weaving the upholstery I went back to the weaving program I have on my iPad to play with the design and I came up with some interesting patterns using the same threading. I also found a few errors and corrected those and then used the corrected lift plan on my big loom. The finished upholstery is very stretchy. It has four end floats and given the intended use, new fabric for my dining chairs, I decided not to use what I wove. It needs to be redone at a higher sett but I also want to talk to my upholstery friend and see what she thinks. So here are some photos of screenshots of the original drawdown, a variation by changing the liftplan, the cloth with an orange weft, and a green weft.<div>
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the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-56180976800569211782018-05-14T06:07:00.000-07:002018-05-14T06:07:31.053-07:00New ProjectsNew projects are underway. I put a new warp on each loom. Inspired by my nephew who has artistic genes and a great color sense I designed a warp for more chenille shawls on my 40" loom. I am intrigued with Japanese "Boro" cloth which was made of recycled Japanese indigo-dyed field clothing. It is basically patchwork and often had Sashiko embroidery accents. The colors of the Boro cloth are the various shades of blues produced by the indigo dye process, tans, and my fantasy of some gold threads. Using this palette I warped with black, various blues, some purple, tan and gold 10/2s cotton. It is a gorgeous warp. I now have enough of a supply of chenilles in darker colors and I also managed to snag some varigated chenilles off of Ebay. My yarn supplier no longer carries the varigated chenilles. The colors change along the length of the yarn and eventually repeat. Depending on the width of the warp you can get some very handsome and interesting patterns. I finished threading the loom yesterday so what remains is to tie on the warp, prepare shuttles, and weave.<br />
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On the 60" loom with the computer control I had a bit more work to do to put on a warp. I decided to try an "Echo" pattern which is better explained by how it looks rather than how the loom is set up to weave it. The idea was to try and weave some upholstery for my Danish Modern dining chairs. If I am sucessful than I can consider weaving the upholstery or my DM couch. I downloaded a baby blanket Echo pattern from WEBS and since I already have lots of cones of the requested yarn 8/2s cotton I could use that. The baby blanket pattern is a recipe so the details of the sett have been worked out. It may not be firm enough for upholstery but we shall find out. I put on six yards. All was going well despite the challenging threading sequence when I realized I needed to use an apron. The apron that came with the loom was rotten and already recycled. So ... I orderd 3 yards of 60" canvas and cotton webbing for the apron tabs and sewed up a new apron. In the meantime I bought a new cheapo laptop to run the weaving software and run the Compudobby, the computer loom interface. After my brother fooled around with that, got the CD responding, etc. new apron on, all lashed up , uhh.. then the tension system wasn't working ! Longer story made shorter I had forgotten how to set it up. This time I took a picture. So now to wind pirns and see how it goes.</div>
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-27831574600638047512018-03-09T06:21:00.000-08:002018-03-09T06:21:48.772-08:00More Chenille Shawls I haven't posted to my blog in a long time but now it is time. I've moved. Before I moved I put a 26 yard cotton warp on my smaller loom. I wove off one chenille shawl and then, wasn't expecting it, I moved. I only partially disassembled my smaller loom and took my 60" loom down to the boards. I took tabby on my existing warp and marked it with a lease cord and carefully rolled it back on the beam. That beam was packed into a box and both looms disappeared into the moving van. A few months later my smaller loom was back in action and the warp survived and I was weaving shawls again. In total I have now eight shawls including the first one I wove, now gifted, and an interesting 40" piece that is sort of a cowel. I have four more to go with the fringe twisting that I do. I am very pleased with the result.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-59133110371192807312016-02-21T12:43:00.003-08:002016-02-22T06:55:57.269-08:00Bumberet I have some handtowels that I wove 30 years ago. They are finally disintegrating. They have been washed dozens and dozens of times. I chose a color pattern that came from a Handwoven magazine dedicated to using music to make designs. The pattern in the warp followed "the ringing of the changes" or how church bells are rung. Each warp color was assigned a "bell" and 1" stripes followed a bell ringing sequence. The towels were then woven with 1" stripes following the same pattern. Even though these towels were not a regular plaid pattern per se they had a curious continuity. The pattern just looks right.<br />
Now my towels were shot and I had to weave new ones. I decided to try a weave structure unfamiliar to me, Bumberet. It is very simple structure that can be done on four shafts and consists of units of 3 in the warp. The curious name of the weave is like so many handweave structure names that have long disappeared, like dimnity, serge, goose eye, ottoman and so on. The draft I followed was from a 17th century weaver's notebook. Since I have 16 shafts I spread the draft on twelve shafts and used the last four to run a thin basketweave selvedge. These were done in 8/2s unmercerized cotton with a warp color sequence generated by moi même, totally random.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-23281360929742465912016-01-07T15:50:00.000-08:002016-01-07T15:50:35.030-08:00Kundalini Turban Cloth I have a good friend who is a Kundalini yoga teacher. Part of doing Kundalini yoga is the belief that wearing a turban or some kind of head covering, preferably white, can improve one's practice. At the Kundalini workshops I've attended both men and women dress in white and most wear a head covering. There are various ways to wrap a turban and some of the more elaborate women's turban styles are many layered beehive-shaped affairs. Some are complimented with a center jewel and a vail. For my friend I measured her smaller turban to get a general idea of the width and length. I then set up my loom to weave a gauzy doubleweave with a tabby border of various fine cottons (warp) and wove it out with a spun silk weft. The first attempt was "shortened" due to technical problems with the loom. The first length was barely 2 yards long, an insufficient length for a turban. It makes a wonderful warm scarf. The 2nd attempt is now weaving very well on the loom. If I have enough silk for weft I may get 5 yards or more.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-85937413075650144672015-07-05T06:52:00.001-07:002015-07-05T07:12:25.867-07:00The Seersucker is Weaving! I got my warp going, all threaded and sleyed. I was a bit concerned that the finer warp on the 2nd beam would not be tensioned properly. I had not used this beam on this loom. The difference in the amount of warp on the beam and the difference in how fine the cotton is makes is so as to not require additional tensioning. I am using 1/3 lb machine knitters cast on weights, two on the top beam, one on the bottom. The standard AVL counterweight disks one normally uses would be too much. I have made numerous math errors in calculating the sett and how each inch of the warp should be sleyed. I have some "left over" on the 2nd beam which is weighted off the raddle in the back to get it out of the way. These are the kind of problems that just happen. So I make notes about my projects and hopefully won't repeat my mistakes. I decided to use a wonderful cone of silk for weft and it look very handsome. As soon as I get another meter woven then I can transfer the woven cloth to the cloth roller on the back of my loom and I think it'll weave even better. I am also looking forward to changing the design with the Compudobby just to see what happens. Right now shafts 1~12 are weaving a twill and 13~16 are weaving tabby.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-58837866154523159012015-05-31T06:36:00.003-07:002015-06-06T04:12:41.867-07:00Seersucker Seersucker is a type of cloth with wrinkled stripes. According to Wikipedia, "The word came into English from Persian, and originates from the words "Sheer" and "Shakar", literally meaning "milk and sugar", probably from the resemblance of its smooth and rough stripes to the smooth texture of milk and the bumpy texture of sugar." Most people think of it as the material used in summer weight clothing for men's suits or garden party dresses. I don't know of many handweavers attempting it because to do it for longer lengths of cloth you should put the stripes on a second beam. For looms that have a conventional friction brake everytime the weaver needs to advance the warp each warp beam has to be released, the woven cloth rolled to the cloth beam, and the tension restablished on both beams. With my AVL looms each beam can be individually tensioned and once the tension is set at the beginning of the warp no further adjustment is necessary. I know this works because I have done it on my smaller AVL but for that project I did not want to have one beam tensioned higher than the other.<br />
My current project is on the big lom, 42" wide, the sectional beam is loaded with a combo of 10/2s tencel and cotton, end on end. The plain beam has 12/2s cotton. You wouldn't think the yarn size was significant but the 12/2s cotton is much finer. The loom is threaded in straight draw, shafts 1-12 are for the cotton/tencel and shafts 13-16 are for the 12/2s. My sett is 32 epi. My loom looks like a disorganized mess because I have the threading cross from each beam hanging on their individual lease sticks. Cross-checking my threading is super important because if I make a threading error I have to fix the problem for both beams.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-30786427220745646022015-05-26T09:38:00.001-07:002015-05-26T17:17:19.310-07:00Horse Blankets ??? Not sure what happened here but I am not seeing many posts on my blog about the ongoing Civil War horse blanket project. I have been through many iterations of samples, yarns etc. and have not been happy. I was going into the 2nd year of this project. I absolutely cannot find an affordable repeatable domestic source of the proper yarn. I sent my potential client a "Dear John" email. The materials alone, wholesale, are more than $100.00 and that cost is there way before I throw a shuttle. Suffice to say I am a Civil War horse blanket expert. I bought some wool yarn off of Ebay, Brown Sheep for a last ditch prototype. The yarn I bought felts, it is not Superwash, but it is knitting yarn so the twist is too loose. I persisted. I set up my big loom to weave a blanket in two panels, with the stripes, with numerous calculations for shrinkage etc. It was not fun weaving. The knitting yarn shredded on the selvedges. I then had to hand stitch the panels together. Having finished that, after I sent the "Dear John" email, I threw the whole thing in my washing machine, hot wash. Then I put the whole thing in a hot dryer. ¡Surprise! The thickness and the look is correct. These blankets were made to be folded four times and what I got would work. Also ... maybe more importantly ... is that my calculations came out, my stripe blocks are almost square, and the shrinkage percentage is very close. So what I have now, well felted but still soft and nice, begs to be a clothing item (without the yellow stripes!).<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-3094381862048978462015-05-19T07:40:00.001-07:002015-05-19T07:44:12.224-07:00Orange is the New ..... (Fill in the Blank) It has been a while. I only have some sampling warp left with Project Naranja. My warp is the beautiful high quality 26/2s wool from WEBS. It is a mill end or close out and I'll never see this yarn again. So I bought every color of orange and some pale pinks. I originally bought this yarn for the Civil War horse blanket project. That didn't work out for blanket weight (despite the original 1860's specification) but the same yarn, different colors, made a soft wonderful cloth when woven as a 2/2 twill. I set up my small loom to do doubleweave in blocks. I wove out a shawl length using various colors of the same wool as weft. What I got after wet finishing and lots of fabric softener and a vinegar rinse had the feel of a brillo pad. Not wearable next to the skin. I passed out my "shawl" to be examined by the seasoned handweavers at the Weaver's Barn and the consensus was that the weave structure was causing the unpleasant texture. As my loom was threaded for blocks I decided to improve the texture with what would work for the colors. I wove a second shawl length with a zippy coral noil silk singles. That made for a comfortable cloth. For all the problems I had with the hand of the cloth the yarn was very easy to weave. Doubleweave is an amazing weave structure. With how I was weaving it I got some wonderful puffy blocks and this got me thinking about what I want to do on my big loom.<br />
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My big loom has two beams. Seersucker has been on my mind to do for a long time. I don't mean what people commonly think of it, crisp summerweight barbershop quartet suits in creamsickle colors, gaackkk !!! I want to make cloth for clothing that is already aesthetically wrinkled. So now the big loom has a combo of tencel and cotton on my sectional beam. I am part way with measuring the "stripes" for the plain beam which is a slightly thinner cotton. Many weavers never use their second beam even when they have one. I have routinely done two beam weaving on my smaller loom. Fortunately with the AVL you can set the tension differently on each beam and it will stay adjusted for the whole warp. This is not easy to do on looms with brakes and tension systems that require adjustment on both beams after the warp is advanced.the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-24282248699697940632015-04-22T13:53:00.001-07:002015-04-22T13:54:24.603-07:00¡ Naranja Here I Come¡OK. it has been sometime since I commented on my blog. All going, the dobby chain made and the warp is weaving. I have not done doubleweave for a while but it is a versitile weave structure, Once the loom is warped, easy and pleasurable weaving. I used my "new-to-me" Warping Square to make a plain beamed warp, 16", and all went well. As I go, no plan in mind, I am rotating through the warp colors I have used. When it is time to change I do!<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-67610783830989988222015-01-20T16:09:00.000-08:002015-01-20T16:09:03.472-08:00Super Naranja I beamed 7 yards of the 2/26s wool, six different oranges. Having made so many gradients lately I followed my muse. I have no plan but you can't miss with these colors. This will be double weave with some large blocks that will reverse the colors on the layers. I think it will be great but we shall see.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-52279006458822001892014-10-28T14:49:00.001-07:002014-10-30T09:10:25.130-07:00New Stuff I am just starting out on my contract on my smaller loom. The first few inches are always unstable until I can all the parts of the loom that control the tension to cooperate. I took off the rotary temples as they seem to be unnecessary with this warp. So far so good. Half lf of this warp will be woven with a navy blue weft and half with a lighter blue. I think it will be very pretty.<br />
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I am also thinking about my next project for the big loom. The stash of the wonderful 2/26s wool is calling me. Since this photo was taken I bought more of the pinks. Some of the colors are hardly different from the others but I know after years of weaving that subtle color variation makes the warp sing. It is an argument for hand dyeing your yarn but I don't have the time or space.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-51416279690893378102014-10-14T15:04:00.001-07:002014-10-14T15:08:10.484-07:00Now to Thread It My warp is on the beam now. I still have the thread each heddle and sley the reed. I have yet to measure and wind the tiny section of selvedge threads but I can wait on that. For now I want to push my loom back to where it should be and restore some order to that part of the house.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-35526922324857577492014-09-26T19:01:00.001-07:002014-09-26T19:28:40.008-07:00New Warp, Onward! I am rapidly getting to the end of my warp on the big loom. I like to weave early in the morning. I am an early riser so firing up the Compudobby at 5:30 is the time I do my best work. I have about 1.5 yards to go. I see the leaders that tie the end of the warp to the beam coming into view. <br />
I got "videoed" at the Weaver's Barn in Vista showing my method of warping a sectional beam using a warping board or mill. I have to be refilmed for certain parts because I was having trouble securing some equipment to the LeClerc loom I was using. My goal is to show a weaver that has a sectional beam that a nice wap is possible without a spool rack and tension box. Unfortunately there are many different looms with various back supports etc. It makes it hard to work for everyone.<br />
Meanwhile, for my next contract, I am putting on 19 yards of the Bockens 8/2s unmercerized cotton. I was asked to do a gradient and my boss sent me a colored pencil sketch. I followed her concept as best I could. I was a little amazed and thankful not to run out if yarn as I was making warp sections. My math skills are basic. I rely on calculations from various programs I have and add the fudge factor. My boss then orders the yarn. Whew! I kind of just made it. I need bits of each color to repair knots. This warp is beautiful. I do like the brillance of the colors and I will give Bockens the credit for that.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-69588150867266414362014-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:002014-09-20T15:03:08.024-07:00Coming to the End of the Warp Not much left on this warp. I believe I have enough to do another ring sling 2.5 meters. My brain bounces between yards and meters but I am beginning to think in meters and it is so much easier. I cut off a measuring tape to make it a meter long and travel along with it. This is the same twill pattern but no blocks and I do like the delineated stripes, forest green cotton weft,<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-43075263456489415762014-09-12T13:18:00.003-07:002014-09-12T13:18:51.191-07:00Colors and DesignsI finished and removed one wrap from my loom. It came out very nice. Tomorrow I will have it "tested" at a Babywrap "Meetup" and then maybe I can learn to use it too. It has been hot here and the idea of wrapping anything other than a bag of ice makes no sense. I also have a length of sling material woven but I can't cut if off the loom until enough of the 2nd wrap is woven.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-57176706145528866672014-09-04T08:04:00.000-07:002014-09-04T08:04:00.994-07:00The Middle Marker Babywraps have "middle markers" to help momma find the middle of her wrap before she wraps herself and her niño in yards of cloth. Some are "tactile" so maybe you could find the middle and wrap yourself on a moonless night but I'm not sure about that. So there are various popular styles. Sometimes a "blessing thread" is needlewoven at the middle marker spot. It's just me but I think they don't look nice after a few washings. Whatever.<br />
So right now I have my own wrap(s) for myself anf family going on my big loom with the computer. I am almost done with 5 meters. I switched to metric, easier. My weaving pattern changed as I approached the middle. You could feel the "change"' maybe, and you can sort of see it. I could have made it more remarkable with a very definite block change or even weft. Middle markers that are permanent including the needlewoven "blessing thread" variety are problematic if momma wants to chop the length of the wrap. You either forget about the middle or hack off the ends. Interesting if you have paid $500+ for a handwoven babywrap.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-5786300348938552212014-08-13T18:13:00.000-07:002014-08-13T18:13:15.331-07:00More Yarn has ArrivedI decided to weave some babywraps for myself on my big loom. I want to try out some of my ideas for a babywrap, different weave structures, from what I have seen. I bought 3+ lbs of unmercerized cotton, two similar shades of blue, for $8.00. from a weaving guild member. These are high quality yarns better than what I have bought recently. Yep, the U.S. had quite a cotton spinning industry. All gone mostly, sad. Without being jingoistic, we knew how to do it. This was not enough to finish my warp so I ordered 15 lbs of unmercerized cotton. It was spun in Brazil.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-12056524039498934362014-07-31T18:10:00.000-07:002014-07-31T18:10:09.858-07:00Fini 10.5 meters of cloth are flying their way to Arizona to be washed, dried, hemmed, and done-to-whatever to be made into babywraps. I burled my cloth looking for misspicks and any other weaving mess ups that are better fixed before the cloth is processed. I looked everywhere and especially at the selvedges but ... I could not find anything to fix. When I weave and I see something impossible to fix on the loom I will mark it with a small piece of painter's tape. I did not have to do this with this cloth. It is a bit arrogant to say I wove some perfect cloth and yet I can't find any mistakes. A bit scary. My hope is that some mama somewhere will hold her "squish" (babywrap lingo) close, tight, and happy in the cloth I made and put so much energy into.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-58836332088830975362014-07-27T06:54:00.002-07:002014-07-27T06:54:58.347-07:00Subtle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This warp is weaving very well. I am only working with two colors of the Bockens cotton, an unbleached natural and a bleached white. You can barely see any stripes or my attempt at a gradient. I had to carefully calculate the amount of each of these colors that I have. I needed to use up all of the bleached white because my weft is all the unbleached. Math is not my strong point and I have made some amazing errors. I was left, after measuring the warp, with only a few yards of the bleached white. This is good. I need something if I have to do a warp repair.<br />
I still can't get close to the ppi desisired by my boss. This is a very different yarn. I need to look at it closely with my magnifying glasses and compare it to other 8/2s cottons. Maybe if the sett was lower I could pack in more weft? Really? ... I should put on a more narrow sample and switch up the reeds, change the weave structure, wet finish it myself. We shall see. Meanwhile at my "guild" I bought two large cones of 8/2s unmercerized cotton of dubious origin that will make splendid babywraps for myself.the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-59297972855087250442014-07-17T18:45:00.002-07:002014-07-17T18:45:37.659-07:00Getting There I am threading the next batch of the Bockens cotton. I have my 13 dent reed and have moved the warp onto the 2" sectional beam and I have a selvedge running on the 2nd beam. The warp looks nice on the beam. There are still some mysterious technical issues like the finished weight of the last warp.<br />
Apparently it weighed almost half of the usual tabby warp but those warps were woven with a different cotton according to my client. I still think the Bockens is quite lively and it seems to throw more lint than the WEBs 8/2s unmercerized which is the only cotton I can compare it to. I cannot seem to beat down the weft as much as I should for the specification I given. I feel a lot of resistence in the warp. The 2nd half of my last warp was perfectly woven but it did seem kind of airy. I didn't do the wet finishing so I am relying on the person I am working for to take the weight measurement. It is difficult when you don't control the whole process but in previous contracts I just burl the cloth and returned the "grey goods" to my client.<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-45970933188192824392014-06-21T14:25:00.001-07:002014-06-21T14:25:17.919-07:00What are we learning?So I have been weaving for 30 years, not all the time, but enough time to know a few things. It is always humbling to realize we don't know all that much. So after horrible struggles with this warp, awful selvedges, looping weft, my problems have vanished! What was the problem? ¡The reed! Looms hate uneven numbers and the wonky reed arrangement for 26 epi in an 8 dent reed, 3-3-3-4, was fatal. The yarn stuck together, funky shed, impossible selvedges. I now have a 13 dent reed, 2X in a dent, no problema! I didn't need the rotary temples, all is calm, weaving fast, misspicks gone.<br />
Right side selvedge,<br />
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Previous nastiness,<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-73412701657305489252014-06-10T07:31:00.002-07:002014-06-10T07:31:42.679-07:00Between LoomsI finished up my tunic yardage on the big loom. I really need to take better notes and make myself do it. I think I put on 15 yards but I have no idea. I got a lot of cloth out of this warp! So far it is washed and dried but not cut apart and then I will know how many tunics I can really make. Next is to measure warp for the belts. My plan is to weave two belt lengths and then sew then together top stitched so I avoid the turning them inside out. The chenille is just too thick and the turning and snaking the belt inside out is very tricky with the seam. I can wind a two inch section, make two lengths and then I will only have the tabs to sew shut. That is the plan for now.<br />
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Meanwhile the new reed has arrived so I am reeding the babywrap warp,</div>
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-11575947356783113972014-06-05T06:51:00.002-07:002014-06-05T06:52:24.184-07:00Back in the SaddleMy new reed is supposed to be here today and I will forge ahead with what is left on the small loom. I put the selvedges on my 2nd beam so the selvedges can roll off independently tensioned. Hopefully that will fix a few problems with how the selvedges look.<br />
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Meanwhile I am back at the big loom and don't have that much to go on the warp. Always the choice of weft color, the weave structure and how the chenille (with the pile it has) changes the look of the cloth,<br />
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<br />the Mighty Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830308074619306302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-907593893739953183.post-70875153682245136152014-05-28T07:28:00.001-07:002014-05-28T07:28:53.466-07:00This has Not been FunHmm ... 30 years of weaving experience and still surprises. I cannot say this babywrap warp is the best I have ever experienced. I am having problems with it. It is turning into a 12 yard sample but I think I know what is wrong. I am using Bockens unmercerized cotton. It is a beautiful yarn and I think it will make a sumptuously comfortable wrap. However the "liveliness" is a lot of the problem. It is not as smooth as other unmercerized cottons I have used. Very few knots which is good. I followed the specifications for the person I am working for. She wants a sett of 26 epi. That means I really need a 13 dent reed, two warp threads in a dent. So it is now sett in an 8 dent reed, 3-3-3-4. The yarn is too close and the shed sticks. So that means increasing the warp tension. Not good! Then the yarn catches on a thread and makes tiny tiny loops that are really hard to see until I have woven another few inches. The yarn sticks on the selvedges. One in particular is nasty even with the rotary temples. The weaving is SLOW! So now I have a lot of burling or repair work to do. I took 5 meters of the woven cloth off of the loom. The 13 dent reed should be here soon. I will use my 2nd beam to tension the selvedge threads.<br />
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