More than one drawloom weaver advised me to change from an 8 shaft satin to something using 4 or 5 shafts, so the decision was made to change to a 5 shaft satin.
After pulling 1,024 threads of 20/2 cotton out of the long-eye heddles (ground shafts) and maillons (pattern shafts), I was back at the lease sticks to again thread the the loom.
All was going well until I found a maillon with no threads. Disaster! I thought I had been watching so carefully, and now this meant having to yet again re-thread 1/4 of the maillons, then the long-eye heddles, approximately 256 threads. I tried to think if there was a way of moving the pattern heddles around on the pattern shaft bars, but as each pattern heddle was already tied to a drawcord, that would have meant untieing 1/4 of the drawcords, too. I decided against that.
Also unwilling to remove loom parts at this point, it meant bending over the side of the long back extension to re-thread those tiny holes. I should have owned stock in an ibuprophin manufacturing company over the past month! My aching back meant I could only work on this for short stretches at a time.
Above, you can see the size of a maillon and those tiny holes.
Yesterday, I finally finished re-threading the left side of the loom, left of the
center cords. Today, I've been threading the long-eye heddles on the right half of the loom, a job which goes fairly fast, and thankfully, went without incident.
No threading hook is needed, just reach through that large eye with your fingers and pull your warp thread through.
There are 75 threads to go, and as I write this post and load in the photos, I'm on a stepstool moving heddles to the three shafts where I ran short. The re-threading will be completed in just a bit.
Yes, it has taken me quite awhile to reach this point (for the second time!). Yes, I want to weave on this loom sooner than later, but the more important goal is to understand the loom, the processes, what is happening and why (or why not), and figuring out what to do when things don't go as planned. It's been an interesting journey, and I'm looking forward to learning so much more.
2 comments:
Wow, you are a patient weaver! I'm looking forward to seeing what you create on your loom.
Hi Judy,... it is my belief that weavers who enjoy working with fine threads, drawlooms, etc. have more patience with the process of setting up. We also know the weaaving goes slower, and that's fine.
I'm also picking away at working on my house, as I want to put it up for sale. Fall is here, winter is coming and there is work to be done.
I like to keep this blog focused on weaving and other fiber arts, but I'm going to start posting an occasional photo of my other activities around here, a view of living in a rustic log home in the woods, so keep an eye out for them.
Today, I'm using a putty knife and whisk broom to clean pine needles, bark, and gunk out from between the porch floorboards so I can scrub that side of the house and get it all stained in a few days. I stopped to give my hands a break, but it's time to go do a bit more.
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