I was dealing with the aftermath of the pool table removal pretty well. I had an all day instructors meeting on Saturday and when I got home everything in our garage was out in the driveway. All the shelving units (ready to collapse at any moment) and one of the two work benches were knocked down and put in the dumpster. The huge dumpster was more than halfway loaded and they hadn't even touched the attic over the garage, family room, and laundry room. I took on that chore and was pretty brutal. There are a few piles to sort through now and then we'll be ready for to plan out the new work space and storage areas.
While this is, ultimately, a good thing, added to the basement organization, end of the year exams/projects/grades, Jackson's First Birthday (Saturday), and taking on two new grad courses to teach this summer - well, let's just say things are interesting!
I have the new loom put together, but I need to pick up some more washers and nuts for the carriage bolts. I also need a reed. Marie tells me I'll need a tensioning device and some spools for the sectional beam, especially if it's strong enough for rugs, but for now I just want to figure out some things.
Like how to wind on the warp and what some things are for. Why don't you take a look? There's a link to a second page with pictures taken after I attached the warp beam. I think that the tool hanging from the front should somehow hook into the pawl of the cloth beam to advance it, but I can't seem to do that.
Two naked looms were a little much for me but I kept getting hung up on all sorts of new things I wanted to try. Last night I just started winding a warp of an old standby, WEBS Eight-Two in Alabaster, for 2/2 twill blankets. I'm winding enough for three blankets and another 1.5 yards for sampling. I want to experiment with using one pick out of the repeat of a contrasting color and with two different size wefts. I'm using ideas I've picked up from Dixon's book and Leslie Voiers' monograph Plain Weave is Anything but Plain.
You go girl!! Wow! What a process -- the *entire* process, the organizing, sorting, finding, then new hand build loom to boot --- ya sure love an adventure, dontcha? *grin*
ReplyDeleteWill be looking foward to the next installment of Charleen and her newest loom. . .
Weave on!
Jane
I really like the Voiers book, though I never got past the first unit. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteCharlene, was thinking about that handle thing -- if you take the cloth beam off, then slip that handle on at the pawl end of the cloth beam, then slip the cloth beam back on -- a) will it fit there, and b) then if it does it ought to work to advance the pawl tooth by tooth to wind the cloth beam? Just a guess.
ReplyDeleteWill stay tuned to see how you solve the mystery :)
Jane
Congratulations on your superlative loom and your lack of a pool table! You may be interested in the applicable Top Ten I just posted.
ReplyDeleteI just found an older post of yours showing that you warp with a reel. I have tension problems warping with my reel. (One side of the warp gets longer as it climbs the pegs; I wrote about it a few weeks ago.) Does yours work okay for you?
I had a closer look at your pictures. That warp beam is a puzzle. I know your loom is handmade, I have noticed that many handmade looms were copied from factory made looms. Have you seen the Weaver's Friend loom manual library? Here's the URL:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.weaversfriend.com/page1/page1.html
If your loom resembles a Union or a J.L.Hammet or some such, you might be able to find get a manual that would help you make sense of the chain mechanism.