Twelve shafts and twelve treadles are all tied up. I found and fixed one threading error. And I am still making some adjustments on the tie-ups to get clean sheds. But for the most part, the Standard is ready to go! I have a week with this loom, to weave towels for my daughter. This colorful double weave looks promising.
My helper this week peers up at me as I begin to tie on the warp.Lower lamms and upper lamms are connected to the shafts before tying up the treadles.Arrangement of the heddles on the shafts give a clue to the three blocks in this twelve-shaft double weave.Testing weft colors and patterns with granddaughter Lucia by my side.Two-year-old Lucia helps manage the shuttles.Design decisions for the towels will be made based on this beginning sample. It’s surprising to see the array of colors produced by only four shades of cottolin thread.
When the loom is properly dressed and prepared, the weaving is delightful. Every pick of color is a pleasant surprise. Our Father knows our needs. He is the loom dresser. Everything is set up for the threads to make gorgeous cloth. Do we think prayer is all about asking God our Father for things? Yes, he does invite us to ask for the things we need. But let’s start with admiring his ways and works, with a heart of gratitude. Then, with the threads he puts in our hands, the future looks promising!
It is not easy to see sleying errors in this fine-dentreed. I unknowingly quadrupled the ends in four of the dents, instead of the specified two ends per dent. When I check as I go, I find the errors while they are still easy to fix.
How to check and double-check for sleying errors:
Tie ends into threading groups, using a loose slip knot. (I do this before threading the heddles.)
Sley one threading group. (I sley right to left.)
Visually check the sleyed group of ends for skipped dents and crowded dents.
Do a Click Test. Use the hook end of the reed hook to count the dents by running the hook along the reed…click, click, click… Make sure the number of clicks matches the number of dents needed for that group of ends.
—This is how I caught my errors. When the dents came up short in the Click Test, I knew I had some crowded dents that I had failed to catch in the visual check.
Move ends and re-sley as needed.
Sley each remaining group of ends, checking as you go, visually and with the reed-hook Click Test.
Two ends per dent in this 70/10 metric (equivalent to an 18-dent imperial) reed.
As June comes to a close, it’s time to sign off for a short while. Meet me right back here the first Friday of August! And head on over to Instagram ( @celloweaver ) to keep up to date with all my daily happenings on and off the loom!
Some things are on hold right now. My “weaving studio” suddenly looks like the spare bedroom it used to be. The big loom is dismantled! Fortunately, it is not a problem for this smart Glimåkra Standard loom to hold onto the warp that I’ve already wound onto the warp beam. The good news is that this cherished loom is being relocated to our Texas hill country home, where it will take the stage as if it were a grand piano.
White sheet from my box of old sheets (for scrap rag weft) is used to wrap the warp on the warp beam. It is tied securely with some long fabric strips.Shafts are tied together at the ends with seine twine. Fabric strips are tied around to hold the shafts together in a bundle. The bundle of shafts is placed on an old Flintstones beach towel, and then wrapped up like a big burrito and tied up with more fabric strips.Piece by piece, loom is dismantled.Fully dismantled, the loom becomes sticks and pieces of wood. Ready for relocation!Loom essentials are in boxes labeled “KEEP WITH LOOM.” The wooden mallet will be one of the first things needed.
Hold. Several meanings for this word come to mind. Sometimes our familiar patterns of daily life are on hold. There’s a pause, a held breath. But during that pause, our plans and threads of normal practices are securely and lovingly wrapped up on a strong beam of hope. Wrap the spare cloth securely over your precious warp ends so that when it’s time, you can unroll the warp and finish dressing the loom for spectacular twelve-shaftdouble weave towels. Hold fast to Christ as Christ holds all your interrupted threads of being.
PS The Lizard tapestry is in full swing on the not-dismantled Glimåkra Ideal.
Lizard tapestry on the Ideal loom now has my singular attention. Thirty centimeters complete.
The first of my Christmas promise gifts is now complete. This large throw in vivid colors fills the request from my daughter-in-law Marie. How fitting for a mother of three exuberant little boys to wrap up on the couch in her own fabric hug of exuberant color! This colorful cotton double weave throw is Woven Radiance.
Radiance. Large cotton throw with radiant blocks of color. The warp for the next Christmas promise gift is wound and waiting on the warp beam.
Double weave, with eight shafts and eight treadles, and 2,064 ends, is a challenge. But results like this make all the effort worthwhile. My heart sings as I see these brilliant threads intersect to make sensational cloth! I am filled with amazement and gratitude that I’ve been given the opportunity to play with colorful threads on a weaving loom.
I hope you enjoy the process photos in this little slideshow video I created for you.
I am stepping out of the box with this combination, trusting that what is seen only in my mind’s eye will have an extraordinary impact. This warp will become towels for my daughter Melody. I chose cottolin threads in colors that remind me of the colorfully painted homes we saw on our visit to Chile a few years ago when Melody was living there. Aqua, light poppy, marigold, and orchid.
Mix of colors that remind me of Chile.First of three bouts on the warping reel.Beaming the warp with the help of the warping trapeze.Warp beam with new cottolin warp for towels.
We trust what we can see—a chair to hold us, and an airplane to fly us. But unseen things are also part of our trust—the chair maker’s glue, and the air that aerodynamic engineers depend on. Earth and heaven, seen and unseen. Jesus, seen on earth, made the unseen God visible. Trust the unseen.
