I'm interested in hearing about weavers projects where they used a second back beam.

Comments

Mon, 04/22/2013 - 23:40

laurafry

A second beam is handy in several instances.  e.g. when using two yarns of very different characteristics.  I did some diversified plain weave using rayon chenille and a fine tie down and put one yarn on one beam and the other on the second because they were going to take up at different rates.

cheers,

Laura

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 00:00

Eileen Crawford

Laura, thanks for your reply.  If I understand correctly, you sleyed the rayon chenille at different densities, creating differnt tension with the same material, making dense stripes in your warp.  This would cause the tension to vary across the fabric.  Without the second beam to accomodate the difference, there might be trouble with breakage.  Is this right?

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 00:13

laurafry

Sort of.  With Diversified plain weave you have two thin tie downs with one fat pattern yarn.  The thin yarn takes up differently than the fat yarn so putting them on two different beams just makes things go a lot more smoothly.  :)

But the principle would be the same for what you are describing.  Areas of more dense cloth would take up at a different rate.

A second beam would also come in handy for doing a supplemental warp, turning Summer and Winter or overshot, making seersucker, some pique structures, especially if youi had warp 'stuffing' ends.  Any time one set of yarns takes up and needs to be let off at a different rate a second beam comes in very handy.

cheers,

Laura

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 00:22

laurafry

http://weavolution.com/project/laurafry/dreams-big-dreams-scarf

I have an example of the Diversified Plain weave scarf on my project page.  Or check my blog.  Click on the Diversified Plain weave label.

http://laurasloom.blogspot.com

cheers,

Laura

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 01:00

Eileen Crawford

Thanks Laura for sharing the project, and the list of creative possibilities for textiles.  I have much to learn, and ordered a CM loom with a second back beam, as my decade birthday gift to self.  

 

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 01:08

laurafry

Have a great time with your new loom.  One of the things I love about weaving is that there is always something new to learn!  :)

cheers,

Laura

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 03:12

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

I have used two back beams when working with two layers of warp, one merino wool and the other a rayon. This is fun with any kind of double weave (classic double weave, or on a double two-tie threading, or deflected double weave, etc) when the goal is differential shrinkage. My wool warp was more elastic than the rayon warp. However, it slowed my pace to advance both warps all the time.

I would definitely use two beams for pique.

Pleats can also be woven with two back beams.

Bonnie

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 10:32

Eileen Crawford

Thanks for your comments on my question Bonnie.  I am curious about the structures and techniques used for weaving so many textiles.  You have added to my list of inquiries and possibilities for learning.  Pleats?

Wed, 04/24/2013 - 00:04

mneligh

I frequently do 3-D double weave  -- faces, figures, etc -- where I feed different sections at different rates to create raised sections, which I stuff, sometimes as I go, sometimes not.  

I also once did a rug -- highly successful and a blast to weave -- where one ply was heavy wool rag, and the other 3/2 cotton in 2" sections, which interlaced through the rag rug.  Because of the beat on the rag sections, it was as thick as a karate mat and quite heavy. I'll do another with the same technique when I get time.

Also, if you are doing something else strange where a portion of the warp is twisted (like leno on a base) and the rest is not, you need different tensions and hence 2 beams.

Wed, 04/24/2013 - 12:38

Eileen Crawford

Did you use the 3/2 for warp, and also as weft, alternating with the wool strips? Thanks for extending my list of options for the double back beam. The inspiration for these projects justifies the additonal expense of this optional feature.

Wed, 04/24/2013 - 15:17

mneligh

I did use the 3/2 for warp on both.  The rag rug portion was at 5 epi, as I recall -- maybe 6.  I beat the rags so no warp showed.  The strips were at 10 or 12 epi, balanced plain weave using 3/2 as weft.  On each end there was a tube or two, forming stripes, then visually it became a checkerboard.  In parts the checkerboard was detached, and when I finished I wrote details on a section of ribbon and passed it through the open lattice of the checkerboard, to show it could be done.

This all began because a spinner & weaver friend came over, looked at my big loom and gifted me with her wool rag collection since it is a good loom for that.  I have a reputation to maintain for doing off-the-wall projects, and the closest I could claim to doing a rag rug prior to this was a series of hangings & pillows where I got panel prints, cut them in strips, and using multiple identical ones reconstructed them.  One I hung on black velvet with an embroidered gold lamee "plaque" that said "Deconstructive Dogs" -- it was a dog picture.  A lot of people didn't find it as funny as I did.  Anyway, I thought long & hard about rag rugs before I came up with the double weave idea -- "weave upon weave upon weave" -- that I regifted to my friend.  (We gift each other a lot in our guild).

But back to double weave and the need for 2 beams:  as soon as I get time (working on krokbragd on one loom, overshot on another), I plan to combine the strip construction & destruction with the 2 radically different plys in another biggish piece.  For that I will need both beams.

I also have plans to do a "cable weave" piece, using a chopped-top reed (or small reed segments) and snap-in repair heddles so I can laterally displace warp.  

I wish I didn't have to work a normal job too . . . so many ideas, so little time.

Thu, 04/25/2013 - 00:55

Eileen Crawford

I smiled to read your enthusiastic plans, and agree with your lament about the day job and how it intereferes with your fulfilling the creative work that is so worthy of your time.

Thanks for the inspiration!  While your descriptions of what you've got planned exceed my experience by far, I feel a kinship.