Hello! I am a new weaver and need a little advice. So far I have done two scarves that turned out well. Last night I warped my Cricket to make my first string of placemats. The piece is 15" wide... My weaving space is 15.5" on a 10 dent heddle. As you can see in the picture I'm attaching (hopefully ) one of my edges has fallen out of the paper bundles wrapped around the warp beam. I used tissue paper to separate my layers of warp.... I figured it was easy to fold and would not fold and mess up the tension on the center of the warp bundle... And all of that was true, but I have this problem on the edge. I know I need to re-slay this but I thought I would ask for advice for keeping the edge strings taught. The videos I have seen use paper bag strips or rolls of corrugated cardboard.... I looked for such a roll online and found it at Staples, but it is still as wide as my project, so falling off the edge will remain a problem. Thoughts and suggestions? Would I be better off just dropping off that dark brown stripe and limiting myself to a 14 inch project on my 15 inch loom? Thanks! Leslie Well... I can't figure out how to add the picture... I guess that is something else to ask! Thanks!

Comments

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 16:28

endorph

wwant your packing material to be slightly wider than your warp so you won't have the warp coming out of the ends. I would look for something a bit heavier than tissue paper - I use brown wrapping paper or warping sticks, depending on my project. I have also found that I need to have the ends of the packing paper doubled over to give enough stiffness on the edges - did that make sense. You might need to play around a bit but I would limit to about 14.5 inches width - others with a Cricket might have other advice to give on weaving at a full 15 inches.

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 16:56

laurafry

Tissue paper isn't nearly firm enough to provide good support for your threads.  As soon as tension is applied to the warp ends they will tighten and try to cut down through the layers beneath - or fall off the sides as you seem to be experiencing.  The warp packing should be wider than your warp to give the threads the support they need.  There are other options - heavy brown paper or lengths of vinyl wall paper which can be cut to size.  I use bamboo mats but they may not come in the size you need.

cheers,

Laura

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 19:02

sally orgren

Or the paper tubes from gift warp, as they could be cut to the width of your warp beam. 

I will also cut brown paper grocery bags into flat pieces that can be curled around the beam.

It's kind of like getting a new pair of boots. No matter how tall they are, you eventually "top your boots" until you figure out how deep you can wade into the stream safely. I think we all test the capacity of our looms fairly quickly in one way or another ;-)

Good luck!

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 23:51

Sara von Tresckow

You are pushing your luck with 15.5" - an experienced weaver might make it work, but crowding loom width makes everything more difficult.

I have successfully used newspaper for packing for many years - it is stronger than the tissue paper and doesn't cut through or have ink rub off. It is also thin enough to allow for longer warps.

Thu, 01/23/2014 - 08:05

Weavejoyforall

 Hi MomTodandt ,

   I unfortunately cannot help with they over lap you are haveing ... dang! However you can make a difference with the next warp you do..by using warping sticks instead of paper...   I started using home made ones on my little brio loom in 2012.  I tryed heavy paper my first warp and it failed as did yours...at the edges.   I went to home depot and got 3/4 inch screen molding cut for me in a size that will not touch the ratchets on my loom,(need to use a yard stick and carefully mesure as not to touch the  Rachets or prawl on your loom)then only make my warp at least inch short of the size of my warping sticks  so that there is at least 1/2 inch empty space on each side of my warp to allow for a small amount of sliping of the warp threads on the edges. The warping sticks are reuseable for many many warps to come.   I strongly recomend your rounding the edges of the screen molding with an exacto knife then sanding down the warping sticks before use so as not to get any snags in your warp.  It is work, yes but if you are going to be weaving for a long time to come WELL worth the effort. Warping sticks are a tryed and true method to keep a warp in Near perfect even tension for the whole warp. You need at least One dozen for a warp of about 2 yards or so.

 

Thu, 01/23/2014 - 11:17

ReedGuy

I also use sticks exclusively, and I have a good pile of them. Never had a warp slip out the edges. Your warp will be uniform compared to paper that will undulate even if it doesn't cut down through it simply because it is not stiff and solid, and it definitely will, due to the cords under it for the tie-on rod. I try to stick as closely to traditional, as it is tried and true.

Thu, 01/23/2014 - 22:42

Weavejoyforall

So ture REEDGUY... since i am still a pretty new weaver I spend lots of time Not weaving but learning as much as I can about what has worked by reading books and reading other weavers blogs and posts...I still have so much to learn but I am learning. Unfortunately there are very few weavers in my location and the ones who do weave live at least 50 or more miles away so a Live teacher is kind of out of the question.