Warp Weighted Loom

3in - 4 in section of the original warp.  The rest is the same or worse

Dressing the loom....  I really, really didn't want to do this right now.   It takes a lot of time and I've got a couple of major time consuming activities happening right now.   However, one of them is preparing to speak about Early Northern European Textiles.  For that, I need the warp weighted loom.   I've only used this beast a couple of times in the past few years.  Mainly, it has been sitting in my garage; that same garage where Kevin likes to play.

The project that was on my warp weighted loom has been there for a few years.  It was getting ratty anyway, but I'm pretty sure that Kevin has been playing with the warp threads, knowing how much he likes to chew apart wool projects which are important to me.  I was going to try to repair a few of them, but it turned out to be just too many to bother with.  The fact that I hadn't tied on the tablet woven warp header in enough places, so the tension was uneven, really meant that I had to put a new project on.

weaving a tablet woven header and warp for the w.w. loom

It meant winding a new warp and weaving it through some tablet weaving.   There are examples of this in archeological textile finds, including a completed warp, ready to dress the loom, hanging from a tablet woven header.  I didn't research the tablet woven pattern, just stuck something on which used only a few tablets and was easy to weave.  (Note to self, incorporate a reverse turn in there so that the threads  unwind on their own and you don't get the twist setting in on the finished band.)

tying on the header and warp to the warp beam.

I tied it onto the warp beam every few threads, going one way and then back the other.  I have enough string to make heddles but I wasn't sure if I had enough to tie on the warp, so I used 2/8 cotton.   I had some linen thread, but it was only a single ply and I really wasn't sure it was strong enough.   I may go over it again, just to be certain, only because my weights are about 1 lb each.  I don't want to have to re-tie the header just because there was too much weight for the cotton string.

warp ready for weights and heddles

This photo bothers me because of the busy background.  Unfortunately with the kitchen renovations going on right now, my kitchen bits and pieces are scattered throughout the house and the dining table has become storage space.  The table was pushed back to the window, to make space for cupboard storage, which will be needed soon.  Right now though, it is the only space large enough and open enough for my warp weighted loom.  It works only because my warp weighted loom is self supporting as well, with non-period back legs, hinged at the top.

I am hoping I made my warp long enough to be of value.    The cereal box weaving cards are also not authentic, but they are functional and cheap.

Next step is to knit the heddles onto the heddle rods or rod, depending on if I do a tabby or a twill.