Comments

Mon, 11/26/2012 - 12:23

ReedGuy

I'm not sure if this is a call for help with lease sticks or not, but here goes. :)

Lease sticks are used when warping to keep the cross, which makes it easier to keep threads from crossing and tangling, keeps the order. A lease stick, can be a dowel as you've used and a piece of cord tied at both ends. Ed Worst does this in his book, but warps from the back. Put the dowel through the end of the chain where the lease is, then thread the cord through the second loop of the lease and tie off the ends. In your case you can secure the lease stick to the breast beam with cord and then draw groups of ends (4 or 8) to the reed and cut the ends to thread it, then bunch those in a slip knot. Once sleyed, take the groups and sley the heddles. Once sleyed, tie onto the warp tie on bar. Then wind. Then slip the lease end to the cloth beam tie-on bar.

I guess you could use the tie-on rod in a similar fashion rigged up like you've pictured. Although, I can't tell if the ends of the cross are on the tie-on bar or not. The thumb nail image was be huge because after 60 seonds or more it wouldn't come up on my dialup connection. :)

I warp from the back. So I beam, then I cut the other end of the chain and sleigh. And I spread with a raddle and the lease sticks in place on the warp bar.

It's whatever your comfortable with.

It might be easier to thread your read if the lease is back to the breast beam. Remove the reed and lay it flat in front of you. Might have to use a couple slats of wood at the ends of the reed to make a kind of table to lay the reed onto. Come from below the reed with the reed hook and thread the ends down through. Put back in the beater and sley the heddles. I would remember to tie bunched of ends, 4 or 8, with slip knots to keep from being a tangled mess of ends. To use lease sticks behind the heddles, it's just a matter of hitting the right treadle to insert a stick, then hit the opposing one to insert the other or cord. Tie off the ends. It just helps make the warp beam on like a smooth sheet if there are lease sticks in place back there.

Mon, 11/26/2012 - 23:17

prairiegirl (not verified)

The tie rod is not actually involved; I just had it hanging over the breast beam. My cords supporting the dowels were wrapped around the breast beam and the beater.  I don't have a raddle so warping from the back isn't an option for me right now. That's not a problem because I'm not likely to be doing any super long or complicated (colorwise) warps any time soon. 

I don't know why the thumbnails wouldn't pull up; they've pulled up fine for me...

Thanks for the info!

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 00:08

ReedGuy

Slow connection here as I said.

None-the-less it can be done from the front and really should help speed things up actually I would think. To me it would be a frustration to not use them. :)

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 00:27

endorph

without a raddle - I just rough sley reed and beam on - but that being said I love your ingenuity in creating something that seems to be work for you.
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 00:57

ReedGuy

Nothing wrong with using the reed to do the spreading.

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 02:26

prairiegirl (not verified)

I'm threading heddles at the moment: once I got in the swing of things I did like using the lease sticks- it wasn't a big deal not to use them with only 40 ends per cross, and 80 in the entire warp, but I can see where the virtue in their use would be if I had a warp with a lot more threads: and it was nice to be able to stand and get a drink of tea, or a tissue, or the telephone....

Endorph, I'm having some trouble visualizing your method, but if it works for you then I won't knock it!  :-)

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 03:22

endorph

strange to get used to but now I love it - it is described in the Big Book of Weaving and Joanne Hall's Learning to Warp Your Loom - I do the rough sleying on my loom and not on a table but other than that. I think whatever method works for you is the correct method!

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 04:28

prairiegirl (not verified)

 I'll have to pick those up sometime- the only weaving book I have yet is Deborah Howard Chandler's Learning to Weave. My only other resources are online.

 

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 09:09

kerstinfroberg

On my blog I have some pictures of how to rough-sley (on the table) and then transfer warp to loom - here. (This is a bit more complicated, as I was doing a double-layer warp, but the principle is the same) To get the warp wound on to the beam - here is how I do that. Hope it helps clarify things!

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 10:28

ReedGuy

It is a good book, I have it as well. I find that good drawings are better than photos when describing methods.

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 13:17

endorph

thank you for the links to your blog - nice detail and good photos! If I could find my table (under layers of yarn) I would rough sley the reed at teh table and then move to the loom - but since I can't find the table I lay the reed over two support poles and rough sley there.
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 15:00

ReedGuy

Yes, I just make a table on the loom from two warp/lease sticks. Sit on the foot rest and thread. Put the beater on the loom. Then it's just a matter of lifting it up a few inches from the sticks to place in the beater. No dragging around warp chains. In my case it's already wound, but even if done from front the chain(s) of warp are where I started. ;) If I was to want it elevated more I would put the empty beater on, then run the warp sticks from beater race to breast beam, making sure I put the warp chain between the beater bar and race before sleighing. Sitting on the foot rest is fine for narrow warps, up higher is recommended (by me) for wide warps. The loom bench will be more comfy than a 2x4. ;)

Wed, 11/28/2012 - 00:59

mrdubyah (not verified)

Great job working with available materials.  Here's a photo showing my own improvised lease sticks; yard sticks bought for $0.69 each at my local Lowes and lightly sanded to smooth them and round the corners.  Not exactly period correct, but any port in a storm! 

 

Wed, 11/28/2012 - 17:00

prairiegirl (not verified)

That is exactly what I need to get!
Sat, 12/15/2012 - 22:16

Artistry

Very nice finished scarf! I love red and black! AND I love, love, the photo too:)
Sat, 12/15/2012 - 22:23

Artistry

Sorry, it's more like pink and burgundy ? Very pretty!
Sun, 12/16/2012 - 00:29

prairiegirl (not verified)

Pink and black, actually- this pink is so stinkin saturated, I kept on having to tweak the pictures in order to have any detail show up. The ones showing the sleying process are more true to the pink.

Finished Length Unit
yards
Finished Width Unit
yards
Length Off Loom Unit
yards
Length on Loom
110.00
Length on Loom Unit
inches
Notes

Pics will be forthcoming as soon as it's dry. (Sorry, that actually turned into "as soon as I find my camera" lol) Would have gone faster than 10 days but there were a few days that I just plain didn't feel like working on it. I should have taken more of a break between the first attempt and this one, because it was towards the end my heart just wasn't in finishing this one. I got the rhythm of working with two shuttles but it still annoys me.

 

I'm not actually certain what posessed me to try this... but I was going to have to try it eventually! My craigslist-bought loom didn't come with lease sticks or pickup sticks, so I'm making do with what I've got on hand. It seems like more bother than it's worth... I can see where it could be useful in projects with a lot of color changes... or... something....

This will be another houndstooth scarf. Hopefully I will be successful at applying the lessons learned from the first one!

Number of Shafts
4
Number of Treadles
4
Project Status
Finished
Sett
10.00
Sett Unit
epi
Width off Loom Unit
inches
Width on Loom
8.00
Width on Loom Unit
inches