On some type of warps, I’d like to try back to front without lease sticks, using a threading and raddle cross. I’m thinking the raddle cross has to be separated according to each space of a raddle. The Louet raddle has a space every .5 cm. So do I convert the width of my project to cm, figure out how many threads per 1/2 centimetre and group the raddle cross that way, and for fractions just skip spaces on the raddle every once and a while? I could group the raddle cross in inches but then I would think dropping them non-discriminately in a set of 5 raddle spaces would cross them and can cause trouble during the winding. Seems like a lot of raddle groups would be made – still have a tough time with the metric raddle. I find myself constantly measuring that area to make sure my spacing does not fall behind or anything – don’t know if you have any tips to make spacing out the raddle quicker.
Your Louet Raddle has 5 slots in each inch. Over 5 inches you gain an extra slot (because the raddle is actually metric) so all I do is leave one empty slot every 5 inches. I always work in ends per inch. If you have 20 epi you need to put 4 in every slot. I often use the #5 reed column on a reed substitution chart to figure out have many ends to put in a slot. The important thing to remember with all raddles is this: If you have warped with more than 1 end in your hand don’t split those ends up and put one end on one side of a raddle peg and the other on the other side. You are just asking for trouble if you do that. In the raddle, they should be treated like best friends that need to stay together.
The other thing to always remember about your reed is that it has nothing to do with the pattern, its only function is to help you spread your warp out to the desired width. If you are out by 1/2” it won’t matter, if you aren’t perfectly centred it won’t be the end of the earth. I think it’s good to be a little ‘off’ :^) I like life to be simple so I use two main methods of warping. For 99.9% of all of my weaving, I warp back to front with only one cross because my loom is small and there isn’t a huge reach to my lease sticks. Warping with two crosses was often used because old-style looms were so darn long…..you couldn’t reach your lease sticks at the back without climbing inside your harnesses. Our looms are short in comparison so using 2 crosses is just more work than is necessary (in my opinion and remember, it is only my opinion and it doesn’t have to be yours).
If I want to reduce stickiness going through the lease sticks then all I do is warp with more ends in my hand. I use 2 or 3 ends and that reduces the intersections on your lease sticks by either half or thirds. Usually, that is all you need to do and it also makes warping twice or three times as fast. Bonus, bonus! Less work, simpler. If I am dealing with a truly sticky warp, like brushed mohair…I warp a very particular way which is a combination of front to back and tying on. You can see detailed instructions for that on my Knowledge Base under “Weaving with Mohair”.
