Many Roads Lead to Rome

Weaving is something I enjoy.

I am enthusiastic about this craft and like to share what I have picked up over the years, even though I am well aware I still have a great deal to learn. 

Ten years ago, I helped a friend begin her weaving journey and put together a tutorial on how to load a chained warp onto a plain beam. 

While I have refined my techniques over the years, I continue to do it basically the same way. 

To dust off the blog, I thought I would share the methods that work for me. 

The secret to dressing a loom without tears is preparing a good warp. 

The chain I used here was prepared on a Glimakra Warping Mill. 

I prefer to pull from cones using a cone stand. Handywoman on Etsy made me one that looks like this ages ago:

While it holds thirteen cones, I generally pull four or five threads at a time. I have used a warping paddle in the past and pulled a dozen threads at a time, but I have found four or five gives me the greatest control and the most reliable tension.  

I have used wound cakes in the past, but I have never been able to pull threads evenly from them, so I avoid them now.

Also, before I bought an EEW cone winder, when I had hand dyed hanks, I wound them onto spools and pulled from a spool rack, but my personal preference is to pull from cones. 

My chains begin with a loop at the first peg, which is closely followed by the cross. Within a few inches of the cross, I use piece of nylon cord to separate each inch of threads into bundles (for example, if my sett is 24 ends per inch, I secure every 24 threads. This makes it easy for me to keep count as I prepare the warp and allows me to drop each grouping into a separate section of the raddle without having to recount them later. This also helps keep the threads in order). 

The cord I use throughout the process is braided Mason Twine. It is available on Amazon, but I found these at Home Depot. Please note: the twisted Mason Twine is NOT the same. The twisted is very slick and if you dye threads at all, it will come untied and leave a mess. 

Once the chain is completed, I use the braided cord to secure the top and bottom of both sides of the cross with an overhand knot. I actually use each piece of this braided Mason Twine over and over again because I tie and untie without cutting it. Also, I use a lighter to burn the edges whenever I cut a piece from the roll to prevent it from unraveling. 

For the end loop, I will more of the braided Mason Twine or paracord, as I did below. I typically use paracord for a choke tie at the other end of the warp. 

Once the warp is secure, I cut the far end of the warp at the end peg and chain it. 

To set up the loom for warping I have two pieces of the braided Mason Twine cut approximately 2 yards in length each. I have these tied to the sides of each of my looms to hold my lease sticks in place. 

Then I center a raddle to the castle and attach it with clamps and drape the chains over it. Note, I am facing the back of the loom, and the looped end of the chains are closest to me. Thus, there is the looped end, the cross, and the bundles are shown hanging from the top of the raddle down. 

I then open the top of the raddle, ensure the warp is in the correct order, and beginning with the middle chain, center the warp and drop each bundle into the corresponding section of the raddle. 

Once that is done, I add the top to the raddle. 

From there, I make sure my warp is not twisted from the raddle to loop and that I have a clear opening on either side of the cross, as well as the end loop. 

With the help of a rod and a pair of rubber bands, I begin the process of attaching the looped end of the warp to the back beam.

I attach a rubber band to each side of the apron rod for the back beam with Lark's Head knots. Now, there are, at least, two ways to make a Lark's Head knot. I use this method to attach it to the apron rod. 

Once the rubber bands are in place, I take the extra rod and run it through the loops at the end of each of the chains.

Then I use the second method to make a Lark's Head Knot, as illustrated in this link by Peggy Osterkamp on her weaving blog to attach the extra rod holding the loops at the end of the chains to the apron rod:

The rubber bands are temporarily securing the extra rod to the apron rod and are primarily to keep the loops at the end of the chains from slipping free of the rod. 

After both ends of the extra rod are secure with the rubber bands, I insert a lease stick on either side of the cross and secure them.

Susan at Yarnorama taught me this part:

With those cords attached to the sides of the loom, I take one of them and insert the end bottom-to-top through each of the lease sticks and pull through. With the second cord, I thread the end top-to-bottom through each of the lease sticks. This creates a figure 8 between the lease sticks. 

Now I do the same on the other side.

Then I wrap the ends of the cord around the back beam and secure with a shoelace knot. 

The loom and warp look like this:

As this loom has been moved into a large closet, there is an odd dowel attached to the wall behind it. It is too close to the wall to accommodate a clothes hanger, and I have no idea what its original purpose was, but it serves as an excellent trapeze.

At this point, I begin removing the bundling cords and the ties holding the sides of the cross, as well as the end loops. Again, I save all these and reuse them over and over.

I spread each section of the warp out from the raddle to the extra rod.

To semi-permanently attach the rods, I use another long piece of the braided Mason Twine (this stuff is indispensable). I make a loop with an overhand knot and pull the other end around the apron rod and through the loop.

Now that I have the braided cord affixed to the apron rod, I lash onto the extra rod holding the loop ends by going between the warp sections. 

When I reach the end, I use another overhand knot to create a loop and slip it over the extra rod before removing the rubber bands.

Before I begin to beam the warp, I use more braided Mason Twine tied into loops with an overhand knot and one-pound knitting machine weights to create tension and "hold" my chain tails to allow me to work without human assistance. 

I found these knitting machine weights on eBay. I have seen them in half-pound and one-pound weights. However, if you use a longer loop, you can use water bottles. 

I wrap the loop around the chain and pull one end through and hang the weight.

I start at the bottom, and as the warp is beamed, I reposition it back to the bottom as it reaches the trapeze. 

Now that I have tension on the warp, I can begin beaming; however, because I have several raddles, I have gotten into the habit of using a second raddle on the back beam to help keep the warp spaced correctly as it going onto the beam. 

To do this, I wind until the apron is clear of the back beam. Then I carefully position the second raddle under the warp and slip it into place. I use paracord to tie it onto the back beam.

I like keeping a raddle on the castle because I frequently run my fingers between the gap in threads from the lease stick and up toward the raddle to detect any issues. I have found a warp thread is most likely to snap at the cross between the lease sticks. 

I also routinely move my hand over the warp below the lease sticks in search of super tight warp threads compared to the other threads. When I find one, it alerts me to a thread that is just about to snap. I isolate it and try to determine why it is so much tighter. 

Over the years, I have used wrapping paper, brown kraft paper, cardboard strips, and mini-blind slats as warp separators. Paper is a pain to keep straight and while reusable, it eventually expires. I had thought at one point that mini-blind slats were the bomb, but they were pliable and the warp at the sides often slid off when they bent. 

Last year, I bought a Glimakra Julia countermarch loom that came with wooden sticks as warp separators.

They were life changing. 

In fact, the wooden warp separator sticks and lovely curved lease sticks were my absolute favorite parts about that loom. I hated to see them go when I sold the loom. 

So, I bought more of the separator sticks, but I could not justify buying the Glimakra lease sticks because the ones I had worked fine. 

Here's a photo of the Glimakra lease sticks:

Compared to what I have:

Here are the warp separator sticks:

At long last, it is time to beam the warp. 

I do not get in a hurry and continue to check the threads between the lease sticks and raddle. 

When the end of the warp gets to the trapeze, I have the option of adding a longer cord. I use a longer cord in the upstairs studio because I cannot reach the trapeze without a step stool, but in the closet, I can reach without an issue. 

So, I just relocate the end of the warp from the trapeze to the front of the loom. 

Then off the front beam to in front of the beater. 

And finally behind the beater and up to the top of the castle.

Once it is beamed, I remove both raddles but keep the lease sticks in place. 

I keep the lease sticks until after I have threaded the heddles to preserve the cross to ensure I am threading the warp in the correct order. 

This is the view from the front of the loom with the beater removed and the front beam folded flush with the floor.  

One of the great things about Macomber looms is that the front beam folds flat to allow me to sit in the loom to thread heddles comfortably.

And, that is it. That is how I load a chained warp onto the plain beam. 

If you have managed to bear with me through all the photos, bless you! 

You have the patience to dress a loom.

YAY!