I'm in a quandary.

40/2 linen warp, 1440 threads, 40" wide.  Took FOREVER to dye, warp, thread, beam, etc.   Now weaving it and my loom is giving me fits.  Shafts rising that shouldn't.   Plus broken threads, and I have major twisting occurring in the threads between the heddles and back beam.   I used a raddle that was too wide.   I have about 40" of an 8 yard warp woven.  Part of me wants to just rip it off the loom, but part of me wants to soldier on.

What would you do?

After a few days of thought, I am wondering about the feasibility of re-beaming the warp to eliminate the twists.  How do I do this?   Is it feasible or would it be a real waste of time?

 

HELP!!!!!!

Comments

Tue, 04/22/2014 - 21:53

Yvonne K

i imagine that the warp was not twisted when you wound it, but has become twisted as you beamed it somehow. I think that you have to weave it off as it is, because if you cut it to untwist it, you will in fact be putting twist in that was not there on your warping board. Have you left the cross sticks in your warp? If not, make a tabby shed and put them in behind the heddles. Very gently ease the sticks to the back beam, working out the twists as you go. You will need to repeat this procedure each time you advance the warp. My sympathies are with you, only 6 more yards to go.

Tue, 04/22/2014 - 22:02

sally orgren

First, you know that linen is stronger when wet, right? So perhaps keeping the room humid or misting the warp might help some.

What kind of loom? What sett and reed? What type of heddles?

I think if the warp is badly twisted, I might consider rebeaming. I had a twisted bout on a recent 8 yard project, and I posted how I corrected it here:

http://www.weavolution.com/project/sally-orgren/shadow-weave-towels

I basically used water bottles on the front of the loom to help when unwinding. I did not rechain it or add the choke ties back in. Just let it fall to the front floor and pile on itself. (Put a bucket under each bout if you must.) It will fold onto itself as it comes off the beam, then will feed back onto the beam in exactly the same order. When I had all the warp bouts piled in front, I made the corrections at the back, and then rebeamed with the water weights. For my project, it was worth the additional hour or so it took to make the correction.

Tue, 04/22/2014 - 22:08

sally orgren

If your threading will give you plain weave, you can leave them in or remove them when unbeaming.

When you go to make the corrections in the back, you will have to remove them.

Once corrected, hang the water weights back on the front, treadle tabby A, insert the lease stick in back. Treadle tabby B, add the other. Lash the sticks together and to the back of the castle and begin beaming.

I have no doubt you will have a perfectly tensioned warp in no time and a much happier weaving experience when you don't have to worry about the next tangle.

 

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 09:51

ReedGuy

Did you beam and thread the heddles originally with lease sticks in the warp cross? They help control threads to keep them orderly.

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 14:02

apw1970 (not verified)

Thank you.  I keep trying to figure out how the warp got twisted so badly.   I tried to be really careful when beaming.   I did lose some of the cross (back to front) - ok, quite a bit of the cross - somehow and had to pick out threads one at a time with the help of my son.    But we were careful there too.  Doing some reading, I realized that I should have used a raddle with narrower spaces.   But, geez, what a mess.   I tried last night to form a new tabby but things are just so messed up...  

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 14:02

apw1970 (not verified)

Thank you.  I keep trying to figure out how the warp got twisted so badly.   I tried to be really careful when beaming.   I did lose some of the cross (back to front) - ok, quite a bit of the cross - somehow and had to pick out threads one at a time with the help of my son.    But we were careful there too.  Doing some reading, I realized that I should have used a raddle with narrower spaces.   But, geez, what a mess.   I tried last night to form a new tabby but things are just so messed up...  

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 14:02

apw1970 (not verified)

Thank you.  I keep trying to figure out how the warp got twisted so badly.   I tried to be really careful when beaming.   I did lose some of the cross (back to front) - ok, quite a bit of the cross - somehow and had to pick out threads one at a time with the help of my son.    But we were careful there too.  Doing some reading, I realized that I should have used a raddle with narrower spaces.   But, geez, what a mess.   I tried last night to form a new tabby but things are just so messed up...  

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 14:02

apw1970 (not verified)

Thank you.  I keep trying to figure out how the warp got twisted so badly.   I tried to be really careful when beaming.   I did lose some of the cross (back to front) - ok, quite a bit of the cross - somehow and had to pick out threads one at a time with the help of my son.    But we were careful there too.  Doing some reading, I realized that I should have used a raddle with narrower spaces.   But, geez, what a mess.   I tried last night to form a new tabby but things are just so messed up...  

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 14:10

apw1970 (not verified)

Thanks so much.  It is an honor when a well-known weaver replies to my humble request!   

Let's see here.   The loom is a jack Kyra (8/45).   The heddle bars drive me nuts sometimes.  They like to unhook themselves if there are too many threads on them, and the shafts like to rise voluntarily when the heddle bars are acting up.

The reed is a 12-dent reed sleyed 3/dent.

I looked at your project photos.   My warp has that twisting in many places, not just one.   So I see many hours of work ahead of me here.  But I'm a patient man.   And some of the threads are out of order because I lost part of the cross when I put the warp on the lease sticks.   :(