Tensioning your warp while you wind on (without a partner to help)

 At Sage Weavers we talk about all things weaving and sometimes we pick up good tips from other weavers.  

 This month, one of our new weavers asked questions about how to manage a warp without anyone to help her while she was winding it on to the back beam.  An experienced weaver, Suzanne, told her about how she uses C clamps to weight the warp (as opposed to lots of heavy books, etc.)  Here are photos of the process.  As Suzanne winds the warp and the C clamps advance closer to the loom, they are repositioned further back on the warp.

You can see that these are heavy C clamps to give a good weight to the warp and they are positioned in back of the raddle.

Give this technique a try on your next warp and let us know how it works for you. 

 

 Here is what Suzanne says about the process 

* just remember to stand back to shake out and snap each section to get your threads aligned before attaching clamps and winding. 

Guessing you could do this with table loom if hanging off the back end of table. 

May need smaller clamps as this size might be to heavy to wind on table loom since it’s a knob vs a crank handle to wind. 

 

 

 

 

 

October Meeting with Judy Hilbish

 Reno Fiber Guild had a slow start to their regular guild program year because of a recent fire near Mt. Rose.  However, we were rewarded with a nice October meeting in which Judy Hilbish was our guest speaker.

Judy is a weaver with over 50 years experience.  Her focus for many years has been weaving rugs and assorted weft faced, summer and winter pieces on Heidi, her much adapted counter marche loom.  Judy studied the shaft switching device devised by Peter Collingwood in his book, Rug Weaving Techniques:  Beyond the Basics and set about to make one for her loom.  She revised the instructions and decided to make a device for half blocks.  This allowed her 180 blocks on her four shaft loom.

 

Judy explained that  the technique she uses allows her to make curves (see the rug she is holding in the photo), but not circles.  The half block system allows smaller steps when making a curved design.  In the photo above, her cat approves the design and feel of a newly woven rug. Judy says he claws almost everything except her rugs - so he has great appreciation for them too!

 In an arduous trip to view some petroglyphs near Virginia City, Judy, her husband and their guide got stuck in mud.  Her rug (shown below) reflects the memories of that day with the tire tracks around the red motifs in her design.

 If you would like to learn more about shaft switching, you can download the Peter Collingwood book in pdf format for free.  On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics  (The link takes you to books with authors last names starting with C.  Look for Collingwood.)

 Another excellent resource is a DVD done by Jason Collingwood.   Rug Weaving:  Block Weaves and Shaft Switching.  You can find this at a variety of online weaving stores and sometimes on E-Bay.

You can buy Judy's wall hangings, table runners, etc at third Thursday sales at the Generator in Reno. 

Turned Beiderwand Workshop with Karen Donde

 

 

This is a solution from Karen Donde's workshop on how to control a second warp. This shows the second warp going over the raddle and weighted separately  in sections with water bottles.

Note - This article was written by Suzanne W. of Reno Fiber Guild.  The photos from the workshop will be posted in Part 2 on this blog.  You will read about how each weaver handled the two warps that were required to weave Turned Beiderwand and other turned tied weaves possible on the same threading in this workshop.  Warping was probably the most difficult aspect of the whole workshop.  TBW will be the abbreviation for Turned Beiderwand in this article.

Turned Beiderwand with Karen Donde was an excellent weaving workshop.  Karen taught us so much more than what the TBW structure is.  She taught and demonstrated how versatile the TBW threading was by altering either the tie-up and/or the treadling, we were able to weave a myriad of other structures.  Given the time and inclination, one could get lost in that rabbit hole in a very long time!    

Several things that I (Suzanne) especially liked about the workshop was:
We learned that TBW is a unit weave.  I love unit weaves for their design capabilities as you can hop to any block to create a design vs. following a prescribed progression to avoid exceedingly long floats in your warp.  Note: Since the BW draft is turned, all floats are in the warp.  

We learned to read and understand our drafts in relation to blocks.  With 8 shafts, you have 3 pattern blocks available.  Each pattern block requires two shafts.  The ground warp ends are threaded on shafts 1 and 2, leaving shafts 3-8 for pattern blocks.  Easy Peasy… keeping track of treadling and designing as its all “tied” to your blocks!  

We learned about Ratios and how to adjust them.  Yes, traditional TBW had long warp floats: but, we learned multiple ways to shorten those floats for a choice of purpose and fabrics.  Example with a 1:4 Ratio you’ll end up with a 9-end warp float, but the floats alternate between the two pattern shafts so that you have a tie-down (ground warp) every 5th pick.  Consequently, those long ends are densely set and staggered - not all hanging loosely to get snagged. As for a serviceable fabric, again that depends on your objective and the fibers used.  My ground warp is 20/2 Tencel and my pattern warp is 10/2 Tencel, both are sett at 30 epi.  With a 20/2 weft, my fabric has a very nice hand and is plenty stable for a scarf.  In short, ratio = # of tie-down threads to the number of pattern pics! 

 
Because this was a Zoom 3-Day Workshop vs. an in-person workshop, during our break on our last day we held a round-robin discussion about what looms we used, fiber, warping method, problems and tips.   Note:  Most of us with floor jack looms (raising shafts) had to weave everything upside down as more shafts were going up vs. staying down.  Those with Dobby or Sinking Shed looms were seeing the right-side of their fabric as they wove.  The rest of us didn’t see that front side until it was off the loom!  

Diane – 8-Shaft David with a sinking shed. She wove her fabric RIGHT side up! Fiber 20/2 ground Tencel and doubled 20/2 tencel for pattern.  Both warps wound unto back beam w/o any issue.  Pattern warp tension holding fine as of the last woven sample.  The consensus was that  sinking shed looms have less issue with displacing the tension on the pattern warp.

 
Joan – 8-Shaft David with a sinking shed & 2 back beams! Warps 10/2 and 5/2 and an exploration of color with yarns in stash!

Irene – Louet Spring w/2 back beams.  Warps 8/2 tencel and 10/2 cotton.  Had a mis-threaded section and thought she’d threaded wrong as was getting such long floats!  She cut off, fixed the mis-threading to start again.  Mystery problem w/loom when trying to advance warp. 

Kathy – AVL Home Loom with 2 back beams. 10/2 Cotton and 8/2 Tencel.  No problems to report!

Teddie – Baby Wolf 1 back beam with both warps wound unto back beam.  Had a minor issue with separating the two warps to put in a weighted dowel, but then okay.  10/2 Tencel and 8/2 Tencel.

Maggie – Baby Wolf 1 back beam.  Had tension issues at the start.  Stopped and re-tied on.  10/2 Cotton and 5/2 Cotton.

Karen – Aristat Leclerc/1 back beam. Didn’t report any tension issues.  10/2 ground and 8/2 cotton.  

Betsy – Baby Wolf 1 back beam.  Followed Karen’s video to the “T”! Her pattern warp was NOT wound unto the back beam but weighted in sections with S-hooks and filled water bottles.  No tension issues!   10/2 Cotton for both warps.

Sharlet – Fireside 2 back beams.  Because of the loom design, it was difficult to hang separate sets of lease sticks to see to thread!  10/2 cotton for both warps.  See Sharlet’s use of Kumi plastic bobbins for missing warp ends!  Holes in the bobbins make it easy to attach weights.

Shelley – Mighty Wolf 1 back beam.  Followed Karen’s video to the “T” and even left in the raddle on the back which helped with the tension of her pattern warp.  Note: The raddle was raised above the ground warp.  All was great!   10/2 and 5/2 yarns.  

Deb – Table Loom- 2 back beams.  10/2 cotton and 5/2 cotton.  No issue with tension.

  
Suzanne – Baby Wolf 1 back beam.  Wound both warps with 1/1 cross unto beam.  Separated warps with weighted dowel after 1st yard to keep tension on pattern warp.  The only pesky issue was advancing the warps once weighted.  To advance, I needed to un-weight, advance, and then re-weight.  But then the AVL double-back beam required getting up and down to adjust.  20/2 Tencel and 10/2 Tencel.  I will definitely have more JOY weaving future TBW’s on the AVL so that I can see the face of the fabric while weaving vs. the back!  

In the next blog post, you will see multiple versions of the following structures: Turned Biederwand, Turned Extended Summer & Winter, Turned Summer & Winter, Turned Even and Uneven Tied Overshot, Turned Half Dukagang, Turned Paired-Tie Weave, Doubleweaves, and lastly Double 2-Tie Units.  Everyone's  favorite look for the contrast, texture and sharpness in the design was Turned Half Dukagang, but not the easiest to treadle  and is why the samples are so short!

 Keep in mind that everyone received a different draft and used recommend setts for yarns in their stash.  The overall favored structure for its durability was the summer and winters as it had the least floats and the cleanest lines.  Another favorite for its textural contrast and sharpness of design was the Turned Half Dukagang. Very pretty but not the quickest to treadle; hence, the shorter samples!   Photos, which will be shared in the next blog post, are from the group as they posted into Padlet. 

Echo and Jin Revisited

Shelley N. took the "Zoom" Echo and Jin workshop with Denise Kovnat last year and has found a great way make her sample a usable piece.  Here is what she says about her process.

 "I took my sampler that had varying sized spaces between colors and Echo or Jin efforts and threaded a nubby viscose thread in this spaces and the hemmed and tied on fringe for a table runner! Finally a use for a sampler!"

 

Weaving with Unusual Wefts

 The program theme this year has been "Off the Beaten Path".  One of our members suggested a program about weaving with unusual weft materials  - which sounded pretty much like just plain fun!  People brought a variety of wefts and tried to think of the outrageous as well as novelty yarns, etc.  Choices ranged from zipper yardage, corn husks, unspun wool fiber, clipped twigs, narrow strips of cloth from antique kimono linings, stainless steel yarns,  paper yarn. plastic bags and much more.

 

After this program was completed, I think that most of us will have an eye out for usual things to try in our woven pieces - especially wall hangings and art pieces. 

 

Cheri weaving with a plastic bag strip

Beryl weaving with paper yarn

Kay weaving with a fancy yarn picked up at Tuesday Morning.  Look at the texture here!

Gloria and Diane.  Gloria is weaving with a yarn made from bias strips of cloth

Gloria and Kay discussing an unusual piece of yarn

Lorene and Nathalie  with some bobble yarn at Nathalie's table loom.

A little bit of everything (sometimes referred to as pig's breakfast).

Red branch clippings woven alternately with a narrow silk fabric strip in a three shaft twill

Samples brought by Sue from her class with Giovanna Imperia at CNCH several years ago.

Sue at the loom.

 



Betty Vera Workshop - Weaving Beautifully with Neutrals



Members of the Reno Fiber Guild have been eagerly anticipating a workshop with Betty Vera on weaving with neutral colors.  The workshop had been planned for nearly a year and the three day weaving extravaganza in November came and went all too soon. 

 

There were 16 students in the class, each with a loom they had warped according to Betty's instructions.  Each person used a different threading which was capable of being interpreted in 6 different ways with treadling and color variations.

Weavers started by weaving on their own warped loom, then rotated to another loom for a grand "round robin".    The goal was to weave seventeen samples for each of 6 treadling sequences on every loom.  Some looms got all the samples woven, and some looms turned out to be very labor intensive and didn't produce as many different samples.  The color surprises were everywhere and from time to time, Betty did a grand tour and talked about what was happening on each loom.

 



A five color gradation  in the warp sets off a variety of overshot patterns.  This warp was one of the most spectacularly successful in the workshop







Nathalie weaving a lace sample from one of Else Regensteiner's books.

 In the photo to the right, Betty discusses the progress of a sample with Kathy.  Betty encouraged weavers to interpret the weft color selections she had outlined with their own eye and  gut feelings.  Weavers were often asked to pick a weft color that they would never ordinarily use.

Betty put together this mixing of neutral yarns with an explanation about how they could change the appearance of the woven cloth.  Very good advice and ideas for future projects.

Summer and Winter samples gave amazing results with a warp using black and four different shades of gray.

 The photo to the right and the one below show more repeats of the lovely Maltese Cross overshot pattern threading with different treadling sequences and different colors.

Suzanne is engrossed weaving an 8 shaft intermittent twill from G. H. Oelsner

Four shaft crackle (with tabby) taken from Mastering Weave Structures by Alderman

Darla is deep in concentration as she weaves samples on an unfamiliar loom.

This is one of the intermittent twill samples.  The warp was a gradation of 6 cold grays.

Gloria and Kathy share the good light coming in through the window at the Wolf Run Golf Course Community room where the workshop was held. 

Cheri and Shelley cutting up samples to share

The workshop ended with the woven cloth being cut into samples which were inserted into a sample binder.  All the information for all of the  warps was included in each binder so that workshop participants had a record of what was woven on every loom.

Now, as we look at the fading landscape in late fall, our eyes are drawn to all those lovely grays and browns.  Color we used to shun are now eagerly embraced for future weaving projects.  Thank you, Betty, for changing the way we look at and use neutrals!

Jette Vandermeiden visits the Reno Fiber Guild

What better way to spend the gloomy days of late February than to have a three day workshop with Canadian weaver/instructor, Jette Vandermeiden.  There were two workshops going on simultaneously, one for four shaft weavers and another for eight shaft weavers.  The eight shaft workshop is called "All Tied Up" .  All samples were woven on a straight draw threading and with a straight draw treadling.  So, the magic was in changing the tie-up. 


Here is Nancy B's sampler.  Nancy says

"I had a wonderful three days at the workshop with Jette Vandermeiden. Jette was a fantastic teacher and a lovely person. I learned so much about all the variations of weaving that can be done with just one basic threading. It was eye-opening!"

Shelley was working with a new Schacht table loom.  Here is what Shelley says about the workshop.

"I really enjoyed the class. She is a good teacher. I learned a lot about different weave types, (satin, canvas, etc.) and how to use tie-ups to achieve different structures with only a single straight draw threading. The course also gave me an idea of the possibilities for creating my own drafts and using other drafts turned to change design and structure. I will refer to my notes going forward when I want to create my own projects."

Here are some comments made by Suzanne about the workshop.

 

 "Over the course of 3-days in Jette Vandermedien's workshop,  "All Tied Up",
Jette proved to us that  that ..." tie-up is your best friend!  Thread the
loom with one versatile threading and learn how to re-arrange your tie-up so
you can weave many, many different structures and projects without
re-threading. Discover how integrated twills, layered double weave, summer
and winter, plaited twill, breaks and recesses, M’s and O’s, waffle weave
and so many others can all be woven with small changes to the tie-up."
While this workshop was originally designed for 8-shaft looms, Jette
re-designed ours to include weavers with only 4-shalf looms.  The 8-shaft
looms were dressed in a straight draw threading, and the 4-shaft looms were
dressed with 4 threading's, Straight Twill, Rosepath, and M's & W's.

Our time spent with Jette began with a short refresher into drafting and
quickly progressed into in-depth lessons to understanding the tie-in between
threading and tie-ups, translating weave structures, and creating with first
the use of both paper & pencil and then weaving on our looms.  True to her
word, if you're persistent enough, the possibilities could be endless!
*Confessions of a floor loom person who loves her treadles...with the
endless possibilities for tie-ups, after day two, I had table loom envy!

In this photo of my washed sample warp, where I could only win an award for
having and using the most colors of leftover 8/2 yarns in a stash, I have no
less than 40 woven samples before I ran out of warp, approximately 3 1/2
yards.  Albeit not so attractive, this "washed" warp of woven samples along
with the lessons and information gleaned over the 3-days spent with Jette
provides many future fun, thought provoking projects using my stash! "

 

 



Hands On Weaving at the South Valleys Library

Members of the Reno Fiber Guild have caught the "weaving bug" and everyone seemed to get a big kick out of sharing it with the public at the South Valleys Library. In the photo below, Eva shows the young weaver the next treadle to push for her weaving pattern.

 This year we added Kumihimo Braiding to our "hands on" activities.  The public was introduced to this wonderful technique through both foam discs and also the traditional Japanese braiding stand called a Marudai.  Along with the actual experience of making braids, there were many examples of completed jewelry pieces and braids to examine. Karen watches closely to help smooth the path for this budding braider.



 We want very much for everyone to have a chance to make something wonderful.  Here Pati gives a very little student a helping hand.

 

Shelley watches as a new weaver checks out the Mountain Loom and learns how to operate the levers to change sheds.

 

 

The rigid heddle loom is an inexpensive place for many people to start a weaving journey.  Kathy is helping this woman experience the joy of weaving on one of these versatile gadgets.

 

Franco is new to the Reno area, but not new to weaving.  He likes to show people how they can weave without having to buy expensive equipment.  This loom is one he fashioned himself from dowels. The design is a work in progress, so stay tuned for more innovations. (photo by Franco)

 

Rachel is another weaver who uses simple tools to weave cloth.  She brought her backstrap loom on which she weaves cloth for clothing.    Although the loom is simple in design, it takes time and practice to learn backstrap weaving and Rachel learned her skills from indigenous teachers in Guatemala and Mexico. (photo by Franco)

 

Sarah brought her 8-shaft table loom to this year's event.  She is weaving a complex design with two colors of yarn in both warp and weft as Rachel and Anni admire the pattern.

Hands On events are a lot of fun - both for the public and for the guild members who volunteer their time, looms and materials. This post doesn't come close to showing all the people who made this day a success.  A big thank you to everyone who participated.  Also please visit Franco Rios' blog for additional photos