Hi everyone!
My question is regarding winding off warp. I want to wind off warp for a piece that has a six color repeat. Red, yellow, pink, orange, yellow, pink. When my instructor had us do color and weave samplers we just wound off the colors in separate bundles.

I'm wondering if there is a better way of doing this that causes less tangles and mess while dressing the loom. I haven't wound off more than one color at a time before and I don't really understand how to but it doesn't seem to make sense to wind off in separate bundles. Any help would be appreciated.
-JoAnna

Comments

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 05:35

laurafry

I guess it depends on the number of ends you want.  If it is just one end of each, a paddle would probably be your best bet. 

When I'm winding a warp with multiple ends of colours in a stripe sequence, I wind each colour, just dropping the ones that aren't being used.  My warping board has a reed along the bottom through which I thread the various colours being used.  This keeps them coming up straight off the cone/tube.

This works best if you have even numbers of ends, of course.

Perhaps others will have more suggestions.

Cheers,

Laura

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 14:10

JoAnnaWeaves (not verified)

The piece I'm working on has 450 ends and each color stripe is one end each. Since I am using two different sizes for my warp I wanted to space them evenly rather than have large chunks of different sizes. I'm mostly using different sizes because that's what I have in my stash. I am using 5/2 cotton for the orange and red, and 10/2 cotton for the yellow and pink. I will be denting the 5/2 cotton single and the 10/2 cotton double. It ends up being a sett of 22.5 epi. in a 15 dent reed. I have never used a warping paddle. I don't have one. It would seem to make sense to use something like that, but I can't really get one right now. I really appriciate your help though! Maybe sometime soon I can get a warping paddle. Another tool to add to my list. :)
-JoAnna

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 15:20

laurafry

I certainly understand wanting to use up what is on hand!  :D

Another option, which probably isn't possible for you right now is sectioinal beaming.  When I want to combine a bunch of different yarns in the warp like that I turn to my sectional warping equipment.

Since that isn't a possibility, though, that suggestion isn't paricularly helpful.  :(

When winding more than one end by hand, I restrict myself to 4 ends and position each end between my thumb and fingers.  If your warp is short (5 yards or less) you could just try winding all 6 ends at once and then just thread them in their proper order.  If your loom has a fairly long reach from breast beam to back beam, any twists in the length should even out during weaving.

Are you beaming back to front?  i.e. winding the warp, beaming it, then threading/sleying?  I don't think this would work too well front to back, but could be okay back to front.

Cheers,

Laura

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 22:16

berylmoody

I use a stationary rigid heddle paddle for a yarn sequence that repeats.  I bought one from Schacht this year and mounted it on a pole that is stuck in cement in an old coffee can.  I started out using just a few threads and have worked my way up to 10 threads and must admit I'm still working on technique.  I can also use the same system by putting the heddle in front of my warping wheel and feeding the threads up through the slots in the paddle before I wind on the wheel.

I would love to see a good video of winding a warp using a stationary paddle and also using a hand held paddle.  Does anyone know of a U-Tube version?

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 22:34

JoAnnaWeaves (not verified)

Thank you both for the ideas! I think I'll probably end up trying to wind all six off together. A video of warping would be helpful. I guess this will be a good lesson for my weaving self education. I'd never learn anything if I didn't try new things. :)
-JoAnna

Wed, 07/08/2009 - 23:06

laurafry

There are many videos of how to dress the loom - from Becky Ashenden's to Nadine Sanders.  Not exactly a video is my publication CD Weaver III - a book on cd with video clips of parts of the process I felt needed to be seen in action.

There are two of the video clips on my blog http://laurasloom.blogspot.com

Click on the tag video clips to the right side of the page.

Cheers,

Laura

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 14:19

JoAnnaWeaves (not verified)

Laura,
I watched your videos when working on my last project that I was having all the problems with my selvedges. They completely changed the way I weave! It is easier for me to stay consistant when I weave quickly. My instructor always tried to make us slow down though so I thought that weaving fast was "bad". If I started to get a good, quick rhythm, I would always be told to slow down. Also, my instructor told us that to get good selvedges we should place the weft shot where we wanted it to touch the selvedge. So there was no real rhythm. Throw the weft shot and then fiddle with it until it pulls the selvedge just so. I think this was another part of my problem on the last project. The Tencel couldn't really stand up to me messing with it every single weft shot.
Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Weaving has become fun again. :)

-JoAnna

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 14:56

Michael White

JoAnna, your instructor was wrong, once you get a rhythm going just let your feet dance across the petals. The weft shot needs to arch across the warp, fiddleing with it only 1. slows you down & 2. pulls the selvedges in.

You can warp your yarn with out a paddle, just warp a number of threads at a time. Remembering to tie off the crosses in inches. Depending on the size of your warping board you may have to do this in groups. For long warps sectional beaming is the way to go. I have to dress a loom today with a 17 yard, 20epi, 20 inch dish towel warp made on a warping board. 

Michael

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 15:39

laurafry

We all learn the best we can and when we find something that works for us, we think that is the only way to do something.  Unfortunately, we are all different and there are many ways to skin a cat (as the old adage goes).

However, if issues of efficiency are important to you, then developing a good rhythm is paramount and stopping to fiddle with your threads will only get in the way as Michael says.  :)

And as you discovered, Tencel really doesn't stand up to much in the way of fiddling.

Glad the video clips helped.

Cheers,

Laura

Thu, 07/09/2009 - 15:47

JoAnnaWeaves (not verified)

I sometimes get so frustrated when things go wrong. It's really helpful to hear more than one weaver's opinion and more than one way of doing things. That way I can experiment with different techniques and decide what works better for me. That is one thing my instructor tells us: Every weaver does things differently. I'm slowly discovering this. Thanks again for the tips everyone! :) I'm hoping to start dressing the loom this afternoon.

-JoAnna

Wed, 09/27/2017 - 20:04

Sam Wallis

You did not mention the yarn you are using for warp, but if I was doing the 6 colors and using a yarn that was sturdy enough to be combed, I would just gather the threads into a 6 strand bundle and wind the warp onto the warping board making the cross just as if the bundle was one thread.  I would insert the lease sticks in the cross, bring the threads through the reed, then through the heddles and then tie on in back.  I would then remove the lease sticks and replace them in front of the reed with the sheds that best separate the threads, plain weave if possible,  then wind the warp to the warp beam while using a hairbrush to detangle the warp.  The lease sticks and the reed and heddles would put the warp in good order as it went to the beam.

Thu, 09/28/2017 - 14:33

sally orgren

Perhaps something for the brave to try? If no paddle is available, I might consider winding all six colors in my hand, grouping colors 1+2 together, colors 3+4, and colors 5+6, so that I am actually holding 3 groups of threads in my hand, not six individual threads. Then I would use a 2:2 cross instead of making the cross by alternating each thread. This way, my warp would be wound in the correct order without all the tangles, and I would know the threading and sleying order because I could see the color order (Red, yellow, pink, orange, yellow, pink.) For instance, with colors 1&2, yellow always follows red.
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