Thoughts on 2.3 – Dressing Your Loom Back to Front – Warping a 27 yd long warp

[Ginette]

Let us know your thoughts on 2.3 – Dressing Your Loom Back to Front – Warping a 27 yd long warp.

[Terry Waltz]

Could you pass an extra warp rod or dowel through the loop and attach weight to it with a “sled”, so your last bit would be tensioned while winding on?

[Ginette]

Hi Terry, I haven’t heard of it but if you give it a try, let us know how it works out 🙂

[Rosanna Lovecchio]

I love the idea of the books!  Much better flow.  I’ve been doing the “crank and yank and strum” method.  It usually works out fine but a bit jerky going back and forth between front and back of the loom.  Always feel like my warp is not wound on with the same tension.  Thanks!

[Jenni Gormley]

You make it all look so easy. Can’t wait to start winding my warp. I’ve realised that’s been what’s been causing me problems. An untidy warp.

[Nancy Ricketts]

This was my first time trying back to front dressing my loom and with your instructions it was so easy. This will definitely be my preferred method from now on. The warp went on smoothly and evenly

[Deborah Fister]

Books are a great idea! better than a warping trapeze. I have seen bouts with weights attached, too.

[Betty Kaufmann]

Hi JST!
I am new to the Online Guild and am working my way through your episodes. Awesome!
Quick questions:
*Is it important that the lease sticks move? My are secured on my loom.

*Is it desirable to have thinner paper? I was taught to use rolled up cardboard they sold at a Weavers’ supply outlet.

Thank You for your time and attention!
Betty Lou

[Sandra]

Welcome to our weaving world, Betty.  I tie my lease sticks on when dressing the loom the way Jane does, but mine slant up from the back beam to the castle of my loom.  That way, I can sit at the front while threading my heddles, and adjust the height of my lease sticks so I can see them easily.  The way I tie up mine gives them the ability to slide up or down a wee bit to get into my line of view.  They come off when everything is secured at the front and I’m ready to weave.

I would certainly get a roll of heavy paper to have on hand.  Paper doesn’t take up as much room on your back beam as layers of cardboard does, in case you ever want to put on a longer warp.  Looking forward to seeing your results as you progress on your new adventure!

[Teri Smith]

Will the books creating tension in the warp work with a wide warp, over 30″.  Do you still use one stack of books or split in half and use two or more stacks?

[Deborah Fister]

The experts need to weigh in on this one. I have wound only one wide warp and it became a tension disaster. I eventually had to cut off and rebeam the warp.

[Kellie Stapleton]

I did the down-down, up-up when setting up the lease sticks. They slide by hand, but when I wind the warp on they get pulled all the way to the back beam? They seem too tight…….

[Sandra]

Don’t worry about it, Kellie – the lease sticks are doing their job and keeping the cross intact.  When you are ready to thread, just slide them to a spot that gives a clear visual and reach, to pick up your warp threads for your heddles.

[Kimberley Daniel]

Hi Jane and everyone! I’m a newbie to weaving (just a few months) and I can’t believe how much information you pack into these lessons! I’m only here at lesson 2.2 and I’ve already learned so much. I have an Ashford table loom and have had pretty good luck warping so far. I’ve been mostly following  Peggy Osterkamp’s step by step instructions along with some Ashford specific instructions I found online. But I’ve had issues as well and I knew there must be a simpler way. Watching these last 2 warping videos has really inspired me to find ‘my’ method. The tiniest thing, like cutting the end of the warp off instead of trying to cut through all the loops, blew my mind! Why didn’t I think of that? And the way you load the raddle inspires me to find a way to make that work with my table loom. Right now my raddle attaches to the back beam,  the warp hangs down from there and I use the ‘yank and crank’ method and a whole lot of cardboard sticks. It works but it takes me forever. Irwin clamps and a big old roll of paper are on the way! Can’t wait to finish weaving my project so I can warp another one (and who ever says that?).

[Kimberley Daniel]

At one point in this video you say “pretty easy, huh? But you couldn’t do this without a good warp”. What did you mean? And what do you mean by ‘good’? Good tension? Threads all lined up nicely? What would you have to do if your warp wasn’t ‘good’? Retension some sections? Fix crossed threads? If I have multiple warps (which I seem to always have) how do I maintain constant tension on them all at the same time? Multiple book piles I guess?

[Bettie Shea]

I just keep imagining the warping board for 27 yards! 😁

 

[Sandra]

I’m pretty sure that Jane does her really long warps on her big warping mill!  You can relax now, Bettie 😉

[Susan Flowers]

Hi, I am new to this Guild and learning SO much, especially the ‘whys’ on certain processes. Thank you to everyone.  My question is about dressing the loom with tension.  I look forward to using Jane’s book method, however, the location where my Spring loom sits offers more space at the back not the front. Is it possible once the warp is in the raddle to feed the warp down in front between the harness and lamms then out the back to be weighted by books? Can you see any glitches with this or perhaps have an alternate suggestion?

[Ginette]

Hi Susan,

I think you’ll have to give it a try and see if it’ll work for you. One other method, Jane shows in one of the Season 1 winding the warp on the loom showing how Charlotte did it, using her bench in front of the loom for a short warp. Thinking this could work for you.  You would need to undo the chain more frequently though.

[Helen Aitken-Ritzer]

I’m never using back to front again! My raddle seems to have shredded my carefully wound warp of 500 ends.

 

[Ginette]

Ouch Helen! Sorry to hear that your warp threads have been shredded!! How awful 🙁

What type of raddle to do you have?

[Jessica]

I love that Jane is always barefooted <3

[Christine Davies]

This seems so obvious and works really well, but my work space is really limited and I can only just about fit in a table loom. There is definitely no room to layout and weight a warp.  Any suggestions welcome for getting that good tension.

[Sandra]

Hi Christine – I have very little room around my looms as well.  What I do is use the method that Jane used in the YouTube video that she made for Louet years ago.  I move back and forth between the front and back of the loom as I’m winding.  I wind some warp on having really tugged at it evenly, then go to the back of the loom and tug on the paper as it wraps around the warp.  This takes out any slack and gets the layers wound tightly on the back beam.

[Sivia Harding]

I am trying to wind on my first warp, on a table loom with books to weight the warp. I just had a warp strand break! Help! I did notice that the lease sticks seem to be under a lot of tension. Maybe I have too much weight on the warp as it is going on? Should I re-do the entire warp, or just keep on, with knowing I will have to re-do that one warp strand?

[Sandra]

Do you have the warp going through a raddle and if so, is it catching on something there that might have snapped a thread?  I would just knot a new warp thread onto the broken one, making sure it’s long enough, and you’ll have to deal with a knot in your warp while you are weaving.  It’s not the end of the world 😉  Try less weight on the warp and see if that makes a difference.  Good luck – it’s all part of learning to weave!

[sara.clevering]

I just got a Countermarch loom (!) and so I’m finding the crank and yank like I happily used on my baby wolf is not going to be an option. Would this method for 27 yards be worth a try on my Oxaback Lilla?

[Ginette]

Hi Sara,

I would give it a shot for sure. Can you secure a raddle on the harnesses? I’m just looking at a photo of an Oxaback Lilla, looks like the harnesses are hanging from the top of the castle. I would make a small warp and give it a try. Congrats on your new loom by the way!

[Kimi Tuxford]

If you have to put your loom against a wall due to space constraints, is it more logistical to put the front or the back against the wall (I own a mighty wolf)?

[Ginette]

Hi Kimi,

It all depends how you dress your loom, if you follow how Jane demonstrates, it’s practical if the loom is facing the wall (front of loom) then you can pull out your warp. With your mighty wool loom, you totally want to place it the best way for putting the warp on and not have to move it 🙂

[Penelope Boling]

Can you tell us how much the books weigh?

 

[Ginette]

Hi Penelope,

That’s a really good question! Not sure on the ones used by Jane in this video and it all depends on your warp itself, how wide, how many threads etc.  What I watch for when I add books for weight, if the chain is sliding from under the books and the books are not moving along with the warp, that tells me I have too many and I’ll remove a book.

To determine if I have enough weight, I’ll feel the warp to make sure that the threads will remain together when wounding on and there’s no slack happening. Hope this makes sense!

 

[Christiana Halsey]

This is the world’s goofiest question, but I have dogs and am thinking that I will need to do some serious floor cleaning before using the book on the floor method 🙂 Do you worry about dirt/lint on the floor or figure that it’ll get washed out with the wet setting?

[Shannon Wittman]

I wound a 5 yard warp and just used the ‘no friends available’ method using a stack of my son’s graphic novels.  Winding a warp on my Louet Megado used to take an hour or more.  7 minutes!  Let me repeat…7!  I can’t stop smiling!  Not one single snag!

Shannon Wittman

[Robin Heggeland]

Christiana,

I have a cat and always sweep up before winding on when using the book technique, (which happily, works like a charm). Then I do  the wet finishing in the washer when using a non-felting fiber.

[Julie Evans]

I have my loom in a carpeted room – I’m thinking that the book weight method won’t work too well with the carpet dragging on the warp?

[Ginette]

Hi Julie,

I’ve done it on carpet. It works. Why don’t you give it a try and start with a certain weight of books and adjust as you go if needed by either removing some books or adding. I can’t quite remember how many books I had used. We’ve since removed the carpeting 😉

[Paulie]

Good morning,

I wound on 6 yards and it went pretty well.  the sides on the paper do have gapping where the warp is not in-between the layers.  I assumed this was normal.  The warp tension appears to be good.  What does Jane mean when she says “no slack” in the paper.  Just that she cannot tug on the paper as it is tight or something else.

 

Thanks, Paulie

[Ginette]

Hi Paulie,

Are those threads not in between layers fallen over the edge? If so, it may create tension issues when you’ve advanced the warp. As for the no slack in the paper, you don’t want the paper to bubble up in spots as you wind on, if that makes sense! You want the paper to maintain an even roll on all the time.

[Judy Xander]

These first lessons are amazing! I hope to change my warping game significantly by using Jane’s techniques. I usually have a wider warp which is wound, and chained, in several bouts. Are there any extra considerations when beaming using multiple chains? Thanks!!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by Judy Xander.

[Sandra]

You shouldn’t have a problem if you can maintain even tension across your bout while winding and chaining 😉

[Leslie Soopalu]

In the near final stages of winding on an 8.5 meter warp (the plaid sample), one of my red threads snapped down at the backbeam. (the red section was wound 2 threads at a time)

I’ve got my three dimensional thinking cap on to try and understand the implications of this and what to do about it. Part of me thinks, just leave the one strand out and carry on but as the whole warp is essentially one continuous thread….which is now broken, won’t this cause the warp to loose tension when I get to the last few meters of the warp? I could replace the thread from the front and have it weighted off the backbeam but that still doesn’t address the broken thread that will eventually loose tension and affect its neighbour threads.

Appreciate your input.

thanks, Leslie

[Sandra]

Leslie, since you are close to winding on the last of your warp, the broken thread won’t cause tension problems until you are almost at the end of your weaving.  The bar you’ve lashed your warp will be released from the layers of warp keeping everything in place, at that point.  I’d do as you suggested and replace the thread at the front, weave with it until you can pick up the broken thread and start including it.  Jane describes the process here on The Knowledge Base.  Hope that that helps.

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