Winding on a New Warp for 8-Shaft Towels

I spent the last few weeks setting up the BIG loom for a new project: 8-shaft towels.  It's a kit, so a good one to practice getting used to the 8-shaft loom.  So farin the last 2 years, I've only used 4 shafts on her, since the bigger size was enough to manage up until now.  Weaving always stretches my brain and capabilities!

Last week, I sleyed the reed, and started threading heddles.  It's been going faster than I thought it would, and I managed to thread over 700 heddles in just a few days.  I would do them in sets of 90-ish and then take a break before my back gave out.  This pattern is pretty straight forward threading in a zig-zag pattern of 8 up then 7 back down 1 heddle from each shaft, then repeat.   I never look forward to this part of weaving, but I have made peace with it.  Patience and attention to detail ...

 

I invented a new tool to help with threading heddles:  I took a scrappy strip of cloth and tied some coins into the ends for weights.  

 

This serves to separate the bulk of the heddles from the set I was currently threading.  It worked like 2 charms!  On my smaller loom, I used 2 drawer pulls because they fit nicely over the 4 shafts, but they are  not wide enough to use with 8 shafts.  Hence this new tool.  Necessity is the mother of invention!

The 2 new heddle separators in use, and doing a splendid job!

As I was winding on, I realized I couldn't use the treadles with the set-up from the last project to open a common weave shed on all 8 shafts because I only used 4 shafts.  I wanted to set up the tension rods for the winding on ...

Then I realized, the treadle tie-ups for this project will be much more complicated than anything I've done before.  By my calculations, I will need 43 tie-ups, and I only have 24 chains-S biners and cotter pins on the loom at present.   Even if I flip the treadling map in the pattern, I would still need 37 chains, so why not just go for the 43?  It means a trip to the local hardware store for some additional supplies.

My Dear Husband volunteered to get under the loom and help get that set up -- That will be for next weekend, which will give me plenty of time to think things through ...

Once the treadles are set up for this project, I will re-wind the warp using the tension rods.  The first run through served to comb all the warp strings out and straighten out the tangles.   There was so much going on with the first run-through, I forgot to add the paper to separate the warp.  

 

The chaos side.  It looked much worse as I was winding on.  It always amazes me how things mostly straighten out if you've done things right.  I have not tied onto the cloth beam yet, as I'll have to pull it out and re-wind it onto the warp beam next week. 

Getting ready to weave again ...

It's working!

I finally decided what project to do on the new 8-shaft loom.  I've had a kit for my 4-shaft loom but have not done it because it's really designed for a wider loom that I had.    Although it's a 4-shaft pattern, it requires a wider weaving space.  This way, I can get used to the new loom without having to use all 8 shafts right away.  There will be enough other things to adjust to just with a larger loom.

The following steps happened over a period of several weeks. 

 

This is the project.  I think this kit came from Yarn Barn of Kansas. 

Earlier in the summer, I pulled out the 8-dent reed needed for this project.  The loom came with several reeds -- most of them older and some rusty.  I am reluctant to use such rusty reeds, or to take a lot of time to re-hab them.  I'd rather be weaving, not re-habbing old reeds.  I pulled off the old duct tape, and used a wire brush to scrape off some of the rust and the old dry adhesive.  Then I put on a new layer of duct tape and set the measurement markings for the center mark, and then every inch of the reed (green at the 5-inch marks) so that the reed itself can be used as a measuring stick to help keep things on track.  If you want to know more, read this blog post.

There is still some rust on the reed, but we'll see how it goes.  It it starts shredding my yarn, I'm going to trash it and buy a new stainless steel reed that I won't have to worry about.

This week, I plan to prepare the skeins of yarn for running the warp -- which means, I'll have to find my ball-winder and umbrella swift.   This is easy enough to do in the evenings after work.  It goes fast.  And there's enough room in the new loom room that I can set  up and do it right there!  What a luxury!  

Next wkd, I'll run the warp.   I didn't think to take any pictures of running the warp for this project.   I used my warping mill.   It's only a 3-yard warp, so it went ridiculously quick!  Here are the warp chains, tagged and ready to go.

 

See the separate post about refurbishing the old reed.  Here is is centered on the new loom.

I added a little heart to mark the center of the beater, so I have a place to aim when beating.  You need to beat from the center so you maintain a straight and even fell line. 

 Here I've anchored the warp chains at the back of the loom, and strung them over the top of the loom.

I warp them by color bundles, rather than trying to put everything in the proper order at the warping mill.

 

 Here I'm starting to sley the reed, with Tom Kniesley as my guide-at-the-side.

 

I follow the color threading chart in the pattern as I sley the reed, pulling the top thread from the needed color bundle.

Don't worry!  It all works out!  Tom K even says so ...

 

So here it is all sleyed through the reed.

Time to re-install the reed in the beater, and flip the remaining warp chain from the back of the loom to the front.   This way, I don't need a raddle. The reed acts as a comb to straighten out the fibers.

 

 

I know -- It looks like a tangled mess, but trust me: It will work out! 

 

 

The next step (another wkd) is to start threading the heddles.

 

For threading the heddles, I make a color-coded map of what I need to do, working from right-to-left at the back of the loom.  

 

All the yarns are in order because they are already threaded through the reed.

[Yes, it's still chaos on the other side ...]

 

 

I decided to use shafts 5-6-7-8 because they are closer to the back of the loom, and not as far to reach as shafts 1-2-3-4. 

 

I have to remove the back beam for this step, otherwise it's just too far to reach.  All part of getting to know the new loom!

 

I thread heddles in bundles of 4.  That keeps it manageable, and easier to double-check my work as I go.

I use 2 drawer pulls to hold the other heddles "at bay" so I can concentrate on the ones that need my attention.

Once the heddles are threaded, it's time to tie onto the back beam.  I didn't take any pictures of that stage.

 

Once things are tied on, it's time to wind onto the back beam.

I've learned to use angle wings for this stage to help even out the tension.  This is just 4 wooden dowels, sanded smooth.  Instructions for this simple tension device can be found at Joy of Weaving.

I usually pull it through 2 or 3 times to even out the tension.

This time, I am using clamps to keep the warp from slopping over at the edges--something I've never done before.  It may not matter much on this very short warp, but it would have helped on the coverlet project.  

The front end was more of a challenge because I don't have a straight-away out the door to pull a long and weighted warp.  Fortunately, that did not prove to be much of a problem with this very short warp. But it was one of the factors in deciding to purchase a sectional warp.

 

I pull out the angel wings when it's time to start weaving, otherwise they create too much tension when the shafts are also causing stress on the strings.

 

Back at the front of the loom:

The next step (another day) is to tie onto the front beam.

 

Because this warp is so very short, I decided to conserve some of the yearn and lash onto the front beam.

 

I found this video by Sarah Jackson that does a nice job of explaining how to do it: 

 

 I've had problems with this method in the past, but today, it worked beautifully!

All tied onto the front beam, with relatively even tension.

I was a little worried about using this acrylic yarn because it seems to stretchy -- How in the world would I manage to get even tension?  Turns out, it's rather forgiving, too.  It was easier than I thought it would be.

 

 Detail of lashing onto the front beam.

 

I am using weighted tent clips for a DIY temple on theis project. 

 

The white yarn is there just to separate the warp.  That will be picked out later.

It took a little bit of practice to figure out the beating for this project.  It's supposed to be 8 threads / inch, which means basically, you are just placing the threads at the fell line, not really beating at all. So the lesson here is: Be Gentle!

This pattern has a nice texture and feel to it.

It weaves fast, too.   

 

In this shot, you can see some of the first steps in weaving this pattern.

There was only 1 crossed thread -- easy enough to repair.  

I decided to use the ski shuttles for this project.  It glides across the fibers in the open shed.  

So far so good!

Also in the photo above, you can see the treadle beads running across the top of the beater.  This tells me what treadles (foot pedals) to push in the proper sequence.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me so far.  This turned into a very long post.

By the way, the problem I was having with that sticky shaft seems to have resolved.  After cleaning up and replacing the old and deteriorated bumpers, and re-arranging the shafts, all is well now.  Things move freely and as expected. 

A Few Small Repairs on the New Kessenich 8-Shaft Loom

 

Here she is -- Mary Meigs all waxed, oiled, polished,  and ready to weave! 

This post is about what I did to get her back in shape again.

 

Although most things on the new loom are in amazingly good shape, considering it was made in the 1950s (or so), there are a few things that needed some work ...

I think this decal helps to age the loom to before 1962, since that's when we started using zip codes in the US.  This loom predates zip codes. Which makes it more than 70 years old.

 

The fishing swivels that attach the treadles to the shafts.  Although these are in ok shape (not rusty or corroded), they are tricky to open when you want to change the tie-ups--hard on fingers / hands.  Having the right tool helps (a pair of jewelery pliers), but it would be even better to NOT need a tool at all.  

So we got these little 8-biners that work really well.  Same as on my other 4-shaft Kessenich loom. 

 No special tool needed to switch the tie ups.  These are much easier to manage.

The main thing that needed work is the bumpers under the shafts.  The rubber gasket material (or whatever that was) melted and is sticking to some of the other wooden parts, preventing them from moving freely.  Some of the shafts stick because of it.  Bruce Niemi, who now owns Kessenich Looms advised me to scrape all that old orange stuff off (a putty knife worked well), and replace it with some "closed cell rubber foam used for weatherizing windows.  1 inch wide x 1/2 inch thick.  I ordered this from Amazon, and cut it down to size.

 

This gasket bumper material should NOT be stuck to the wood like this. 

 This is a shot of the lams from underneath.  It was stuck to that surface as well.   Ew!

The old substance is strange -- It's the rusty orange color of plumber's gasket, but dry and brittle, and a little sticky sometimes, too.  Like it melted at some time, and oozed onto other parts.  How in the world did that happen?

 

Here's one of the bars -- there are 4 of them encircling the metal rollers that translate messages from the treadles to making the shafts move up and down.  This is as clean as I could make it.  It's ready for the NEW bumpers.

 

With this photo, I tried to show more of the context for where these bumpers are on the loom.  The lams are currently raised up so I can get in there to work on it.  The frames of the shafts have been removed, again so I can get in there to work on it.  There's another bar underneath those rolling pipes that also needed to be cleaned and scraped. 

 

This is as clean as I could get the lamms. [See photo higher up for the before shot.]

You can see some of the debris I scraped out on the paper underneath the loom that I was using as a drop cloth.

It didn't really take as long as I thought it would.  After I had most of the gunk out, I went over the wood with a little sandpaper to get out the last little bits that were still stuck to the wood. 

Here's a shot of the NEW bumpers, made from Black Adhesive Foam Padding, Closed Cell Foam Sheet 1/2" Thick 6 Inch X 6 Inch Neoprene Rubber Pad Self Stick Anti-Slip Adhesive Anti Vibration Foam Pad (6inX 6inX 1/2in, 8) and cut down to size 6-1/4 inch x 1/2 in thick x 1 inch wide.

The shafts are heavy enough to have made an impression / indentation on the new foam already.   We'll see how it holds up under stress /usage.  I have 8 sheets of it in stock!

Once I got the bumpers cleaned up, the next thing I did was to go over it with Murphy's Oil Soap and a sponge to clean her up.  She wasn't too dirty, but there were some spots that were dusty and linty.  Again -- not bad.  The previous owners took care of her well.

The next step is dust her and polish her up with some Howard's Feed n Wax.  It has a nice orange oil smell to it.  Bruce at Kessenich says to wax all the wooden parts that have the potential to rub together--that includes the frames of the shafts, and the lams (stick tray thingies underneath the shafts) that attach to the treadles.  And the ends of those lams where they nestle into the castle. 

A little oil in the "zerk" holes to lubricate the moving metal parts.  

I also oiled it from inside the castle [Look to the RIGHT side of this photo ...], as I wasn't sure I was pushing the oil nozzle far enough into the hole from the other side.  I may have been just oiling the wood at first.  Either way, I think this oils the ends of the metal pipes that the ropes twist around to raise and lower the shafts.  All the while being careful NOT to get oil on the ropes.

 

It's also important to periodically oil the roller bar (NOT the ropes) at the top of the castle on either end of the shafts.  There's a wooden topper there held by 2 screws, so it's easy to get in there for regular maintenance--which amounts to keeping it well oiled so you don't need additional maintenance.  

On the right side, you can see the tip of the sewing machine oil nozzle I used to apply the oil -- and the spaces the oil should go.

2 of the shafts are a little warped (although you can't really tell in this photo). I thought I would have to lay them out flat with some weights, so that they'll spring back into place.   But after waxing all the wooden parts and oiling the metal moving parts, things were moving much better.  I also tried moving the frames of the shafts around so that they all had a little more room to breath.  That helped, too.  

Also if I move the treadles of the sticking #4 shaft just so, it tends to go back down--if I make the right accommodation.  

It might be the lam that's a little warped, too?  Since all the other shafts I put in that #4 spot also stuck a little, it may not be the shaft after all.  That gasket melty-sticking gasket was holding it in an unnatural position for however long it was misbehaving.

I fixed 1 of the other warped and sticking shafts by changing the tie up.  Turns out the tie-up was chained to a treadle that was just a little too far away.  By changing the tie-up to a hook closer to that lam / shaft, it no longer pulled it towards the one next to it, and they both moved easier after that.  

Hurray for problem-solving!  That's what I love about weaving -- None of this is rocket science.  If you think about it for a little while, there is usually a way to solve whatever might be going on with the loom or the weaving.

Finally, I oiled the spring clips that hold the heddle bars in place, too, since they seemed a little stiff. 

I also rubbed some furniture paste wax on the metal bars that the heddles slide on.  They had just a little rust on them, and the paste wax will make them slide more smoothly.

I found a few blog posts that were helpful in telling me what I needed to do to get her back up and running again.

* KB Knits & Crafts did a whole series on updating Kessenich Floor Loom.  Although I didn't have to do everything she did, it was very helpful.

• Updating my 1960s Kessenich Floor Loom (May 2016)

•  Kessenich Floor Loom Updating (May 2016)  

• Kessenich--Replacing the Shaft and Lamm Cords (May 2016)
  

• Kessenich Loom Renovation--Cords, Texsolv, and Apron (June 2016)

• Kessenich Loom Renovation--Almost There (June 2016)
  

•  1960's Kessenich Loom Renovated (July 2016)

   

  Bruce and Ann Neimi at Kessenich Looms in Michigan have also been very helpful.
  

Here she is in resting mode.  You'd think there was a grand piano under that drape!  

Remember that vintage wedding ring quilt I bought on eBay?  I was young and naive and believed the seller when they said it was from the 1930s.  It was more like the 1990s -- and with rips and tears everywhere you looked.  I finally gave up trying to repair it.  It should have been listed as a "cutter quilt."  Oh well -- live and learn.  It's good enough (and BIG enough!) to keep the dust and sun off the loom and whatever projects during my work week -- Oh I am looking forward to retirement, but it will be a while yet!

Now we wait -- I ordered a couple of kits to get started.

• Summer Winter Dish Towels  - Kit from Cotton Clouds  This makes 12 towels on 11 yards of warp, so I'm thinking I can mix up the pattern weft colors. 
• Feed Sack Towels Kit - from Yarn Barn of Kansas
  

Kits are usually good ways to get started with a new machine and new fibers.  Someone has picked a pattern, colors and the appropriate materials, so you can concentrate on getting to know the new loom.  ;-)

 Mary Meigs Atwater   [Photo from here.]

And finally -- Homage to The Dean of American Handweaving for whom this loom is named.