Hi All, I am using a slick rayon yarn, warped through two heddles on my Flip at 16epi. The yarn is Slinky from Silk City Fibers, in case anyone is familiar with it. I have never used this yarn before and am only a couple of inches into the weft. It is beautiful, however, I am having two issues with it. I am hoping someone here is more experienced and can lend a hand! 1. The knots where I tied on to the front apron are coming undone while I weave. Aargh. 2. The yarn is so slick that I can't get balanced weave. When I beat a pick it is like elastic and bounces back up. The tightest I have gotten so far is 10 picks per inch--looking for 16. As I haven't used this yarn before, I don't know how much fulling I can expect, but it is rayon, so doubt I will get very much, and I am fairly way off balanced weave right now. Any help or tips you may have are appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

Mon, 12/01/2014 - 18:48

Sara von Tresckow

What many new weavers have not yet learned is that the pick being inserted is not really pushed into place until the next pick has been entered.

With slippery yarns, you push the weft to the fell line, change the shed, and use the edge of the shuttle to press the weft as far as you'd like. For weft faced weaves, it also helps to use a tapestry fork to achieve maximum results. This is far more effective than repeated "beats" on the open shed when inserting weft.

As for your knots, use a good surgeons knot with the full bow and don't put your tension at its highest until you get those knots on the cloth beam. After that, they aren't a problem any more.

Mon, 12/01/2014 - 21:16

laurafry

I have used slinky and feel your pain. About the only way I could work with it was to tie overhand knots on bundles and lash on to the front. As Sara says, it is actually the next pick that pushes the one below into place. However you may not get a balanced weave because slinky is very dense. It also doesn't full, at all. Only wool and some of the other hair type fibres full. Rather you will have to apply compression during wet finishing to flatten the threads and thereby fill in the spaces between the individual threads. Can you change to something else for the weft? Cheers Laura
Mon, 12/01/2014 - 21:17

laurafry

I have used slinky and feel your pain. About the only way I could work with it was to tie overhand knots on bundles and lash on to the front. As Sara says, it is actually the next pick that pushes the one below into place. However you may not get a balanced weave because slinky is very dense. It also doesn't full, at all. Only wool and some of the other hair type fibres full. Rather you will have to apply compression during wet finishing to flatten the threads and thereby fill in the spaces between the individual threads. Can you change to something else for the weft? Cheers Laura
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 07:35

SB

I appreciate all the advice. Espcially knowing someone else has had the same issues with Slinky, and not to expect that my most recent pick will necessarily stay in place. I decided to open up the front apron knots completely and pull out the few inches of weft. I have retied to the front apron in tiny, tiny bunches with overhand knots. I lost a bit of evenness of tension but so far the knots are holding. I also changed weft to a black wool/nylon crepe. It is doing much better than using the Slinky as weft, thou still haven't gotten perfectly balanced weave. And I had to sacrifice some color excitement. Can't say I am loving this project yet--the weaving itself is going so slow as I have to carefully tweak each pick--selvedges are really a challenge with this warp too. It is interesting...I bought the Slinky to use as a wrap or plying thread for spinning art yarns. I never intended to weave with it. It just caught my weaving imagination last week. Another learning experince experiment!
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 13:22

gailc

I purchased a large amount of slinky because it is so beautiful on the cone and feels so silky and cool. I was also in for a rude awakening when I wove with it. I wove a scarf with slinky as both warp and weft. When it came off the loom, it felt like something that should be used to cover a truck seat. It improved with wet finishing, but still doesnt have that slick and cool feeling that the yarn has unwoven. The other issue is that slinky doesnt hold knots in the fringe. I have even glued the knots and they are starting to come undone. So, no more slinky as warp I had better luck with a warp of cotton alternating with the slinky and the slinky as weft. Still, the texture is not what I had expected. I am now wondering what I will do with all the slinky yarn that I have.
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