Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:23

SKSchulze (not verified)

 I made a "twice woven" mat which is basically handwoven chenille.  If your thrums are all the same length you could do that - I thought it was easy and I love, love, love the mats.

There's an article in a Handwoven - the one about pets that got many people all wound up - about making the mats.  You can have a fairly narrow warp because the "chenille" is actually make from warp lengths.  You set the warp with big spaces between a very tightly set few ends.  Then you weave with your thrums or whatever.  Then you cut it off and cut the warp into strips by cutting down the wide open spaces.  Then you use those long pieces of warp as weft. 

Not a great explanation but I'm at work - sorry!  It's well described in Handwoven, though.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:23

SKSchulze (not verified)

 I made a "twice woven" mat which is basically handwoven chenille.  If your thrums are all the same length you could do that - I thought it was easy and I love, love, love the mats.

There's an article in a Handwoven - the one about pets that got many people all wound up - about making the mats.  You can have a fairly narrow warp because the "chenille" is actually make from warp lengths.  You set the warp with big spaces between a very tightly set few ends.  Then you weave with your thrums or whatever.  Then you cut it off and cut the warp into strips by cutting down the wide open spaces.  Then you use those long pieces of warp as weft. 

Not a great explanation but I'm at work - sorry!  It's well described in Handwoven, though.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:29

tien (not verified)

Hi Peg,

The "posting in two places" problem should be fixed in the next two days - the posts currentlly on the Group pages are being migrated into the forums, and the same forum will appear on the Group page and the Forums page.  I've told the developers that fixing this is their top priority.

There's no "reply to" under the first post in a thread, since all comments posted are assumed to be replies to the thread starter unless they're specifically replies to comments.  I think there are technical reasons why it works that way - thread starters are treated differently from all subsequent replies/comments posted in the thread.

I'll take off my Webmistress hat and quit hijacking the thread now :-)

Tien

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 18:29

tien (not verified)

Hi Peg,

The "posting in two places" problem should be fixed in the next two days - the posts currentlly on the Group pages are being migrated into the forums, and the same forum will appear on the Group page and the Forums page.  I've told the developers that fixing this is their top priority.

There's no "reply to" under the first post in a thread, since all comments posted are assumed to be replies to the thread starter unless they're specifically replies to comments.  I think there are technical reasons why it works that way - thread starters are treated differently from all subsequent replies/comments posted in the thread.

I'll take off my Webmistress hat and quit hijacking the thread now :-)

Tien

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 19:10

topenchilada (not verified)

Interesting question. I'm a new weaver, and no one has told me which way to do it, but I've always beat on a closed shed. I just assumed that would be better since I use a jack loom, and the threads are all tensioned evenly with a closed shed. With the shed open, the lifted threads are under more tension, and I think beating then could cause breakage.

 

Laura in Orlando

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 19:10

topenchilada (not verified)

Interesting question. I'm a new weaver, and no one has told me which way to do it, but I've always beat on a closed shed. I just assumed that would be better since I use a jack loom, and the threads are all tensioned evenly with a closed shed. With the shed open, the lifted threads are under more tension, and I think beating then could cause breakage.

 

Laura in Orlando

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 19:22

cmerritt923 (not verified)

Hi

 I'm in Atlantia (Highland Foorde in Maryland) I'm just learning to spin on a wheel. I am also learning dying with natural materials. I have a four shaft floor loom and an 8 shaft baby wolf. I'm working on ta projects, and would appreciate pointers or resources:

I was asked to weave a very special shawl. I was thinking of doing something with spun patterns, where the design shows based on the different spin directions. I have some references and some ideas, but thoughts/suggestions here would be helpful...but on TOP of that, I was asked to include some design work. Like laurel leaves or something. I am not sure where to begin with that. I was thinking soumak, but know NOTHING about it. Thoughts? Suggestions? References?

 THANKS

Alessandra/Cheryl

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 19:23

ilaine (not verified)

That isn't necessarily true of jack looms.   In mine the at-rest position is not flat, it is raised half the shed-heigh (it is a sinking shed style)  so when the shed is open tension is even on all shafts.  There's a dingus that goes into the cams to hold the shafts at mid-level for threading.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 19:23

ilaine (not verified)

That isn't necessarily true of jack looms.   In mine the at-rest position is not flat, it is raised half the shed-heigh (it is a sinking shed style)  so when the shed is open tension is even on all shafts.  There's a dingus that goes into the cams to hold the shafts at mid-level for threading.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 20:07

Lodi_Weaver (not verified)

Personally, I'm beating the shed in as I'm closing it - probably just hitting the fell as it's closed.  It seems to work fine for the weaving I've been doing and it's significantly faster for me to do it this way.