Trial Run

A month or so ago, I posted about the Leksand Band loom that I had gotten in trade for an Irish Castle Wheel.  I set about oiling the cherry wood with walnut oil, and I only got 4 coats of the oil applied and then I had to work on the rug so exclusively that the oil was well absorbed into the wood, and I thought that maybe before I add any more coats of oil, I could throw on a long narrow warp that I already had partially woven on a different loom, just to see how my new loom held up to the pressure of weaving.

Windhaven Harpsichord

 I took the warp off of my small floor inkle loom, I chose that one because I had wrapped the warp around the pegs a couple of extra time and it was awkward to advance.  To be honest this warp had originally been on a box loom to start off with.

extra warp wraps

 I had moved it to the floor inkle to see if I could weave sideways on it. (in preparation of getting this Leksand loom)  So this warp has been around!




I saved the cross on the warp and then I chained it to
keep it manageable.  I placed a loop of 8/4 on the cloth
spool and attached the finished part of the band with a larks head,  then I began to wind the band onto the spool under a good bit of tension.  Everything went smoothly, and I placed the cross on the Inkle heddle of the Leksand loom and made new heddles to get the correct length of the heddled strands.

All dressed up!

It was a piece of cake really, I made sure that the tension on the warp was even on all of the strands, I made a knot on the end of the warp and using the long loop I had placed on the warp spool I attached the warp with a larks head.  I wound on the rest of the warp under tension to the warp spool.  I adjusted the tension to get it just right and then I went looking for my special band knife from Vavstuga.  I love that band knife and I had been using in on the Windhaven Harpsichord but it wasn't there. (You can see it in the picture above, hanging from a peg!)I have been looking for the last 3 days, whenever I get a chance and nothing, it has gone awol!

This morning I remembered that Karin's husband had made me a substantial wooden inkle band shuttle.  So when I went upstairs, I found it easily and I hoping it would work, I sat down at the loom and I began to weave.  I switched out chairs once to find the right height, and I found that I am going to need to find someone that can help me tighten the loom up, there is just a little bit too much play in its structure.

Tiny band

With all of that though, we have a band!  I probably put in and hour and half of easy weaving.  I hold the band knife with my right hand and use it to open the shed and beat the previous shed and then I pass the weft with my left hand.

I am loving this!  Once this band is done I have another one to do that will join the ongoing band project at the center.  Then I should probably finish "finishing" the loom before I go on to the fancy bands I really want to do!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Sunny Day

  After our week of rainy weather (and flooding on Saturday,) we have been enjoying some lovely sunny days.  Of course, it is always "sunny" in the studio!!!
  Is that a forehead smack, Pat????
We were gifted with several large bags of wool cloth from a braided rug maker.  Carol is thinking that Carl can weave some wool rugs on his next warp.  In the meantime, these bags have to go somewhere..............

  Welcome to our newest weavers:  Leslie and Laura!
  That's Leslie on the back wall.  She's driving all the way from Crossville to learn to weave from Carol.
  Margi brought Laura to us.  Weaving can be contagious!

They both got their warps wound....now let's get them on the loom.














  The first warp is on the loom, and she'll be ready to start threading.

  The second warp will have to wait until next week....yes....Marie and Tina are putting the new loom together.
  We are slowly replacing the old table looms with the Ashford table looms.  The are so much more user friendly!!!!












  Marilyn started weaving on "B" today.  She got a quick course on B's personality quirks, and she was off and weaving.
  Bonnie is threading the shawl warp, and she might be ready to wind on next week.
  Linda got as much weaving time as she could today since she'll be taking off for her big cruise!!!  Anchors away, Linda!!!!

  Ms. Ila is on her last shawl on this warp.  She should be cutting it all off next week.
     Liz is threading her towel warp....slow and steady gets the job done.














  Jocelyn stopped by the loom that Margi is threading for placemats.  It's fun to see what other folks have on their looms.





  Anna and Frieda have their own little space in the loom corral.  Sometimes floor space is at a  premium!!!

 Christy is working on her newest band on the Inkle loom while Pearl does a little research.











   Carl needed to cut more blue jean strips this morning before he started a new rug.  It's a good thing Christy had all those panels ready for him!





                                                                           
   Here's a close-up of Sharon's scarf.  It's so much fun seeing the pattern develop on these painted warps.













  Folks that read this blog know that we LOVE to eat...and Pat made sure we had a great treat today!  Homemade  buckwheat, bran, whole wheat bread!  Oh, yes!

                        
Margi thought we might need some doughnuts for extra energy....yum!!!

Oh, yes....it was a SUNNY day all the way around!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn











 

Big Present for a Big Day

I looked back over the blog posts to see when I had started to weave the shag rug, turns out it was the day after Christmas.  If I remember correctly, I wove through one color repeat and decided that I wanted to add another color to the rug.  It was about that time that I decided to cut all of the poly fleece into 4 in strips at about 1/2 inch width.  (That took some time and a dust mask!)  Once I had cut all of the fleece I had already purchased, I began to weave again.  I realized part way through the second color repeat that I would have to buy some more fleece, but I only stripped half of the new purchase, I thought it would probably be enough, and it was.

I'm not sure how it happened, but the project that I thought would never end, did!  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I had never woven something quite this massive.   It was a project which I was able to do many things new:

First full width project on Big Bertha
First Shag rug
First time working with polar fleece (so squishy in this context)
First time tying up direct tie up treadles on both ends of the rack of treadles, which worked perfectly by the way

Anyway the day came when I had finished the last color repeat, I wove the 16 picks of peaches and cream tabby ground, and I was ready to cut and tie the warp strings.

Once I had the first end secured I had to throw the rug over the loom and do the same thing for the beginning of the rug.  I like how the rug completely covers the loom.

I let the rug rest overnight and then I turned the hem under twice and stitched it to the underside of the rug to hide it all.  I finished it Monday night, so I was able to bring it to show and tell Tuesday at the Center.

Wednesday morning I got the call that the Birthday girls mom wanted to surprise her with the rug in place when she got home from her birthday party at the local "jump" house.  So I packed the rug up and took it over.

The rug fits perfectly into the space she wanted to fill.  It is soft and squishy and so colorful!  I heard later that there were squeals of delight and that the birthday party pretty much camped out on the rug all afternoon!










This was a project seemed too big for me to complete, but 4 inch section by 4 inch section, week by week, I managed to get it woven.  It wasn't supposed to be a birthday present at all, but when I remembered that her birthday was only 3 weeks away,  and the rug was so close to being finished it gave me a deadline to work towards.

Now on to the next project, Happy Weaving, Tina

New

  Off with the old....on to the new! 
Mary finished her first warp, and she was so ready to cut it off the loom!  She is taking over the white placemat warp on the Leclerc counterbalance loom.  She wove the hem and started on the body of the placemat this afternoon.  Ah, yes...weaving on a floor loom is so much fun!!!!












  Meanwhile, Elizabeth is threading her first warp:  4, 3, 2, 1.  Just keep going....you'll get to weave soon, Elizabeth!

 

  Four of our weavers have volunteered to be trained to be shop workers.  Peggy, Pearl, Liz and Marilyn spent the day with Susan learning the ropes. 













    This is Margi's new-to-her Baby Wolf.  She's been watching the ads, and when this one came up, she jumped on it.  It's been awhile since Margi warped a loom, so Carol is helping out with the task.










It was business as usual for Bonnie and Ms. Ila.  The "snakeskin" pattern has a long repeat, so they really concentrate while they're weaving.









  Stick shuttles????  Oh, yes, we have a few!
Marie and Pat decided to clean out the storage, and before we knew it, the counter was FULL of stick shuttles!!!!!
(It never fails:  we get a donation from an older weaver and there is a truck load of stick shuttles!  Do you think they actually used them?  Or, did they get them from another old weaver?)

  The Inkle band project is coming right along.  I brought my Inkle today to join in on the fun.
  Tina finished her band, and Betsy is making headway.



 











  Tina and I warped our looms with the same colors, but different patterns.

  These are the rolls of finished bands ready to be made into keyrings.












  There's always time to catch up with friends.......










  Now that the warp is behaving, Ray has been getting some weaving time.  It seems to me that doubleweave takes twice as long to weave.









  We all celebrated Tina's finished shag rug.  It's a masterpiece!!!!  I'm sure she'll blog about it later this week.

Have a wonderful week!

LouAnn

Flood of Weaving

  Although there were flash flood warnings out, and a flood advisory issued, the weavers came to the Center to weave.
  Marilyn has taken off on her Inkle loom, and she's working on a new band using a new technique that she found in the Inkle loom book.  She's really got Tina's attention!
  I think that Peggy will be starting to weave on an Inkle before long....what do you think?










  Christy is all caught up putting together panels for Carl's rugs right now, so she's started a warp on her Inkle for our key chain project.  She's using perle cotton on her loom.  Christy always puts together a beautiful warp!!!











  Advancing the warp on the barn loom requires getting around to the side to release the back beam.  After you have advanced the rug onto the cloth beam, you tighten up the warp beam.  Carl has it down to a smooth operation!

  Yes, that's Ray over Carl's shoulder.  He got in some weaving time today, too.







 
  Take a look at what Ray brought for the weavers!!!  He made chocolate covered strawberries!  (Valentine's Day is Thursday, you know!)  They were a BIG hit.
  He used dark chocolate....healthy!!!
Thank you, Ray!!!!









  Now that the huck placemats are off the loom, Bonnie is threading a shawl warp with bamboo. 














   Anna is threading a new scarf warp using some of the rayon boucle.  This will have such a nice drape.






  Our new student, Elizabeth, got her warp wound last week, so it was time to get it on the loom.  Carol jumped in to help her beam it on the loom.

 


  Alyce's warp is threaded, and now she's ready to sley the reed. 

  Margi is winding a new warp while her friends talk to the weavers in the studio.  Pat is threading a new warp for soup cozies.  (I think they may join our merry band of weavers!!!)










      It's time for me to pass the placemat warp to one of our new weavers.  This will give them the opportunity to weave on a floor loom (vs. a table loom) and develop an even beat. 
  I wove the sticks into the warp before I cut off the placemats I had finished.  They are already tied to the bar and ready  for next week.

  I'm looking forward to a sunny day tomorrow....we've had our fill of rain!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Looking Good

It has been busy the last couple of weeks, I forgot to post last week, but I actually got more done in the studio since then than the week before.  I sanded down the Leksand band loom and debated about how I wanted to finish it.  The wood is cherry and I knew it would be beautiful even with a simple walnut oil finish, so that is what I went with.  I have done 2 coats of oil and I plan to do many more, but got sidetracked the last couple of days.''

Here is the wood after I had done a little bit of sanding.  I was a bit nervous, so I tested the oil on the underneath side of the bottom pieces, and that encouraged me to continue with my plan.

See what I mean!  Even with just 2 applications the transformation of the wood is breathtaking.  I will need to apply several more coats and then let it cure before I can actually use the loom.













I spent all day Monday working on the shag rug, then again a few hours Tuesday afternoon, and a few hours on Thursday afternoon.  I am pleased that I won't have to do 4 repeats of the color progression after all, only 3 repeats.  Thursday I got to the end of the 2nd repeat, so that means only 30 more inches to weave!

I am so glad that I took the time to pre-cut all of the shag.  Weaving is slow enough as it is without having to stop and prep.

One of the accent colors placed into the proper shed.

Coming around the cloth beam!

One of my favorite shots of the back of the rug, it really makes it easy to see the color progression.

I love the selvedge edge of this rug, I have to be careful to wrap around that edge piece to lock everything in place.
It will be Monday before I can get back to the rug, and I hope, hope, hope that  I can finish it this week, hems and all.  If it all goes well I will be bringing it to the Center the following week for show and tell.

Until next time Happy Weaving, Tina