Have invested in some knowledge from interweave.com and two dvds about warping and weaving. Have been great help, but have been researching warping boards. Managed to find them at arount 150 quid, ouch. so looked a little further and found a canadian guy on youtube who has a wood work shop, and shows blueprints of a board.... great if you have the equiptment.

Then i thought what is basically needed is a good strong frame and pegs, preferable beach, mounted.

Ended up looking through ikea catalogue, and found a baby cot!!!

Have a look at this:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30248537/

and imagine it with the top 6-7 inches choped off! ureka!!

and to boot you would also keep original fixing, have a spare board at the bottom, and have lots of spare pegs, for maybe a reed holder if you want to sley it on a table and not in-loom. and what is it made out-of : BEACH.

Grand total 35 of your finest pounds. Will update when get hold of one and tell others if works or not!Money mouth

Comments

Sat, 05/30/2015 - 14:00

mneligh

3 stakes in the ground or a picket fence also work.  I've used both.  There's no end to possibilities.

Will the pegs pull together under tension?  That is the problem with using 2 chairs.  You have to put friends in them to keep them in place.

If you haven't cut the cot yet, you might look at turning it into a warping mill -- a much more sophisticated piece of equipment.  It would do very well for that.

Sat, 05/30/2015 - 18:35

ReedGuy

Saw, drill, boards, dowel, screws and sand paper. Then use the drill to wind quills or spools for the shuttle. A board or a mill is set up for a certain yardage, like 1 or 3 yards with each pass or circumference. It will be awkward if you end up with say 1.2 yards per pass. Just saying. You can throw anything together I suppose, but it's easier to work with a tool that you haven't got to stop and figure out a bunch of fractions.

Good luck :)

Sun, 05/31/2015 - 12:18

kerstinfroberg

'cos, with a measuring string one can often find a route for warps of "awkward" lengths...

Sun, 05/31/2015 - 14:56

ReedGuy

It's not really the warps, but the spacing between turns that the pegs present. It's not the end of the world, and mostly cope-with-able. On a mill the steepness of the guide string is easier to accomodate for differences in yardage as you spiral around the mill. On a board you have a series of dowels up both sides and 1.2 yards becomes more fixed. 1 yard is just more convient.

Sun, 05/31/2015 - 14:55

ReedGuy

forum went berserk with error messages there for a bit, double post.

Sun, 05/31/2015 - 17:33

Leandros Komninos

I was planing to modify it to one yard width. And the way warping on a board is shown in the interweave video you hold the warp in right hand and draw it to the left with your left, thus reducing the tension. But will obviously have to have a good look when it arrives on 4th. either way just 35 quid, so worst comes to worst i will have to get a cat for the cot!

Sun, 05/31/2015 - 18:37

laurafry

While cutting the cot down may work - after a fashion - it may not work very well.  But you won't know that until you try.

Equipment (in my opinion) should be easy to use, enhance the experience, and not interfere with the job that needs to be done.

Therefore my warping board has pegs that can be removed so that I only use as many pegs as required for the length of warp I want to wind.

It needs to be sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of winding a warp - newbies tend to wind with way too much tension, so paying heed to how much tension is used will help.  Much more important to be consistent than taut.

Making the cross requires placement of pegs that will allow the making of a 'good' cross - again one that does not interfere with the next job after winding.  

One of the problems I see with the cot is that the frame just isn't going to be heavy/strong enough, that if the pegs are glued in and the spacing isn't large enough for the passage of hands, that this will make winding go more slowly than need be.  OTOH, the cot can be dismantled (it's IKEA so it probably comes in pieces anyway) and the wood re-manufactured to make something that will work.

Following the principle of 'a thread under tension is a thread under control' means that a warp can be wound on pretty much anything - three pegs staked into the ground, for example.  But not all tools are very ergonomic and aging bodies don't tend to take bad posture/position very well.  So if people experience pain doing a task, they should stop immediately, take a rest break, stretch, do something else, and then go back to the job that was causing them problems.  Or try to figure out a way that is less uncomfortable.  That may mean a different tool, or different placement of that tool.

Weaving is full of repetitive motions.  Working ergonomically means a reduction in the stress involved in those repetitive motions so that more work can be done in less time...with less adverse effect on the body...

cheers,

Laura

Mon, 06/01/2015 - 17:43

Sara von Tresckow

Ikea furniture is simply too flimsy to produce quality results. Use some of the other suggestions here to make something worth using.

Wed, 06/03/2015 - 00:24

sandra.eberhar…

I am usually very supportive of people making their own equipment (sometimes oddly), I do that.  But I have to agree with the naysayers.  A warping board has to be very sturdy; the best one I have has 1" pegs.  It has to allow a rhythmic, fluid motion or you will hate it.  When you are thinking about the cost of the equipment you need, think also of the cost of the yarns that you will be using.  If you have your 35 quid warping board and it destroys your 50 quid warp because the tension is so uneven that you finally cut if off the loom, it may have been more cost effective to buy a warping board.  That said, there are small woodworkers that offer excellent equipment for much less than the big manufacturers in the US, and I'm sure there are where you are.  You just have to look for them.  Ebay is often good.

Sat, 06/13/2015 - 11:43

Leandros Komninos

Head/foot panelHead/foot panel in bitsside panelside panel in bitscot bed frame with cover removedbed frame with panel partsTools required ATools required BGlued 1Glued 2Glued 3

Thought pictures speak a thousand words. Only used one of the side and end panels. Came apart with help of a rubber mallet coved in masking tape, so not to mark. managed to break one or two tenons when removing, but they get cut off anyway. Offered up the pieces with holes in to the sturdy bed cot frame, used three screws each piece to secure, after drilling pilot holes and countersunk them too. Made sure holes went into the cross-bars for extra strength. Had a look at 'inthewoodshop.org' http://inthewoodshop.org/projects/109-weavers-warping-board-with-plan.html for an idea, and decided on 6 1/4 inch pegs total. had 24 pieces of dowel from only two pannels so, no bother! each dowel was also chamfered too. cut, and used 120 grit wet and dry to smooth. Put wood glue into a little container (got from sainbury's for pic-nic salad dressings!). good blob in hole, some extra round chamfer, driven home with mallet. voila. yes not perfect, and some pegs are not perpendicular, but for a first attempt, and for 35 quid. can also use same wood glue as a sealant. Will wait untill pegs set to see if i shall.

Have plenty left over for spares, or for a reed holder, or whatever.

Hope this helps.