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Warping Gala Style

I feel like I should do a funny dance.

Anyway, it occurred to me that the method of stake warping that is traditionally popular in industry and the college here in Scotland is far from universal, though I think it's probably the best and simplest. I hear lots of talks in various lists and forums about warping up one or two threads at a time, or warping up without having a 1/1 cross throughout, or warping up using a paddle with holes drilled through it and all sorts of odd stuff like that.

We don't do any of that. We use a 1/1 cross all the way through the warp as otherwise we feel there's no way of making sure that every thread is exactly where it's supposed to be. And we don't use paddles or anything like that, and we can warp up with as many threads as the yarn stand can take.

So, we have the yarn coming from the yarn stand on two levels. Every even end goes on the bottom and every odd end goes on top.

You make the cross to go onto the cross sticks by picking up with your hand. You get all the threads and tie them in a knot then put this knot over the first stake. The ends should be reasonably taught by now. Then put your right hand between the two levels of yarns, then using your thumb pick up from the top, then the bottom and then repeat until you have all the ends in a cross going over the joint of your thumb. Then move your hand up towards the cross sticks with your palm facing upwards and your thumb to the left. Put the left hand side of the cross on the left most stick, then the right hand side on the right. Go down to the bottom and back up and repeat when you get back up to the top, but back to front. Difficult to explain.


Here is a wee video. I should also point out that I am making this warp in three sections as it's too big to put on all at once.

Is this helpful? Could it do with being higher resolution and having a better view of my hands? Any and all comments are greatly appreciated. Would you like me to do more of these videos?

Comments

heather said…
very interesting video :) i had not seen that technique before
Andrew Kieran said…
Thanks Heather, I hope it was helpful
Michelle said…
I love seeing 'how to' videos! Way to complicated for a beginner like me, but will be handy as I get more advanced ;)
Andrew Kieran said…
Thanks Michelle :-)

Making a hand cross like this is actually very simple, but it takes a little bit of practice and it's difficult to explain to someone on the other side of the world.

It's all about how you move your hands, and also where you place your body.

Difficult stuff, but for me a lot of this is about grace in motion and trying to be efficient with my labour.

I am very envious of the journey you're about to embark on, you have a very good foundation to start on and you're already so much further ahead in your weaving skills than I was, even when I was one year in. I guess the tapestry teaches you a lot.

Weave happy :)
Michelle said…
Thanks Andrew, that's encouraging ;)

I didn't think that tapestry weaving would necessarily help me with my handweaving - but it *has* made me keep an eye on those selvedges!

Andrew Kieran said…
oh, i'm sure it'll teach you things you don't even know you're learning. Selvedges certainly, I still have difficulty with my selvedges, but I'm kinda production minded when it comes to cloth, On the other hand, when making rugs I pay careful attention to each and every pick and sort the selvedges out by hand sometimes.

Something I liked learning was the relationship between the sett and the warp-facedness of a cloth.

Here's a fun thing you could try; say you've got a 2/2 tartan twill right, just the normal way. Say your sett for a balanced cloth is 24 epi, which is very nice. What you can do is reduce the sett gradually or increase it and you'll change the angle of the diagonal twill line. So say if you put 2 ends in a dent for a bit, then 3, then 4, then 5 and so on then back down, you'll get this undulating line. It's pretty cool, makes nice effects.

don't tend to use it myself, I'm all about exotic structures and materials these days, but some of my classmates have had a lot of fun with that kinda thing
Michelle said…
Oooo, that *does* sound cool, thanks for the tip! ;)
Andrew Kieran said…
I think I did a bit for my portfolio before I came to college. I'll be raking through my sample box over the weekend at some point for a project for to make a wee gifty thing for a friend, so if i find it i'll take a picture.

while i'm on twills, you can have 3 different twills on 4 ends, a weft faced, and even faced and a warp faced twill, and you can get a very wide variety of colours coming up by crossing different warps over in different twills on the same warp. did a lot of work on that tack last year in my African Ties project, so much fun.

Never mind satins and sateens, I could go on and on, I really could

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