Hello All,

I am working my way through Rev. David B. McKinney's Weaving with Three Rigid Heddles.  I have warped up my loom and am now having trouble manipulating the three heddles?!!   Does anyone know of a youtube or possibly have any suggestions?  I have a 25' schacht flip.

Thanks!

Carolyn

Comments

Sun, 02/20/2011 - 15:38

Claudia Segal (not verified)

One thing that helps is to tie together two of the heddles and use them as one unit.  It depends on what your goal is.  Are you making something with a twill pattern?  Do you have any pictures to share?

I tried working with 3 heddles and found it too cumbersome so I used string heddles instead of the third heddle.  I was using a 24" Harp.

Claudia

Mon, 02/21/2011 - 15:55

seaphish (not verified)

Claudia,

I am transfering to string heddles and will give that a try.  

I am working on a sampler with "basic four harness weaves" (I must admit that they are not feeling very basic to me!).  The sampler includes twills and double weave.

Thanks

Carolyn

Mon, 02/21/2011 - 16:03

seaphish (not verified)

I just read my first post and realize that I have claimed to own a 25 foot loom.  Wouldn't that be interesting!

I will post as soon as I have something other than just a warp.

Carolyn

Mon, 02/21/2011 - 20:08

Claudia Segal (not verified)

The one book that was a great help in doing twills on an rh loom was the Xenakis Technique by Alex Xenakis.  It's available at WEBS at this link.

Now a 25' rh loom might be a bit cumbersome!!

Claudia

Tue, 03/08/2011 - 00:41

CraftinSusan

I actually worked through the McKinney book using three heddles on my Beka RL loom. I found it hard to get a clear shed for shaft 4. I ended up slipping a pick up stick in the back to help get a clear shed. I worked through all the variations on plain weave and at the end of the section he mentions that it is hard to get clear sheds. When I switched to twills everyhing was so very easy! I am convinced that RH looms using multiple heddles were designs for twills and double weave. I have a Schacht Flip. I have used two heddles with it but probably won't add a third. The length is much shorter than my Beka RL loom and that could make a difference in shed size.
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 04:50

KatP

I just got a copy of McKinney's monograph (which he sells on eBay very reasonably). It is well-written and heavily illustrated, so when I am finished with the warp that is presently on my 20" Flip, I may try his sampler, but am a little worried about adding a third RH after Claudia & S Sarwinski's comments. My current project uses two heddles and pickup stick, and I am having some issues getting a clear shed already. Adding a third heddle might just drive me over the edge, but then, using 20 e.p.i. is probably asking for trouble... I will probably follow Claudia's suggestion to tie the two heddles together since this project ( a waffle weave based on the structure for "Shetland Scarf" in Feb [unknown year] issue of Handwoven) doesn't call for using the heddles independently.