December 2016 – Backstrap Loom Weaving

Backstrap Weaving – A Long Time Coming

Some projects take a long time to finish simply because I run out yarn and can’t add the finishing touches. Then I forget to buy the yarn and the piece gets stashed…out of sight, out of mind. This piece which I had on the loom almost 2 years ago has finally been finished. It was just a matter of buying the purple wool that I needed to weave the edging.This was an experiment to see if I could use up some Knit Picks Palette wool that I had in my stash. I wasn’t sure if it would work for warp-faced weaving with its fairly loose twist and I didn’t want to add more twist myself. I found it wove up well with some extra care and precautions and I decided to use it to weave a piece with 4 selvedges. Below, you can see the final stages where the two woven ends are meeting in the middle . Eventually I had to remove the shed rod and needle weave one of the two sheds. Then, the heddles had to go and I needle wove all the remaining sheds. I split the 2-ply yarn by mistake a few times with the needle and the back of the cloth shows evidence of that.

After finally bringing the purple wool home, I could think about the edging. I decided on the kind of tubular edging pattern that I have seen used by weavers in Chahuaytire, Peru.

I was lucky to have been able to watch a weaver at work on one of these bands and bring home an unwoven warp set up for weaving. Talk about long warps!…this one was created to edge one of the large 2-panel carrying cloths.

My wool cloth was not firm enough to support the spiraling tubular band and so I applied it as a flat edging instead. There is always the challenge of figuring how to best disguising the start and finish of the edging band and I all I could come up with was to hem a bit of left-over band and sew it over the spot where both ends meet.

And so, this 2-year old project finally sees it completion.

Other projects sit by while I wait for ideas on how best to finish them…

These 3 wall hangings in a series I call Plain Tales are off the loom but remain unfinished as I can’t decide how to finish their fringes.

And now, I have just put together a new warp that will take a long long time to finish not only because it is so long, but also because I have planned a heck of a lot of pick-up for it….3-color reversible pebble weave in 60/2 silk.

On top of that, after finishing about a 1/2” of pick-up, I decided that I prefer the reverse. That would not normally matter. Both faces of a double-faced weaving can be enjoyed. The problem is that I also plan some single-face supplementary-weft patterning and so I need to decide now which side will be the ”good” side. I could flip it over and re-position the heddles. There are lots of heddles. It’s a good thing I like making them. Or, I could simply un-weave the 1/2”.

I got rid of a table in my living room which allowed me to stretch out the warp while I got things settled. Something always gets given away when I arrive home from a trip. This time it was the dining table. More room for weaving…you can see where my priorities lie! I installed a coil rod to help keep things organized on the far side of the cross as well as help settle the plain -weave sections.While I was there, I thought I may as well install some heddles…
Then, I rolled up the far end of the warp so I could fit everything into my usual weaving spot in the bedroom. I am still not a big enough fan of circular warps to have taken that route.

At this time two years ago, I was weaving on another black fine warp. This one was in Guatemalan cotton and I used supplementary weft for the patterns. It was a project that experienced its own share of hiccups with multiple do-overs. I put a lot of strain on that poor cotton warp with all the un-weaving and weaving but it forgave me.

I am just glad that I decided to stop after only 1/2” on this current project. I hope the silk will be as forgiving if I decide to un-weave.

I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year. Thank you for all your support! See you in 2017.

Backstrap Weaving – A long band in a short post

Longer, finer, wider….the challenge continues. This time I certainly went longer. In fact, I think this might be the longest thing I have woven so far on my backstrap loom. It is reasonably fine but it is certainly not wide….. a decorative band to edge my wool lap blanket.

I wanted to finish the lap blanket that I had woven some time ago. I thought that I had been weaving the two wool panels this time last year. I can remember feeling really uncomfortable in the summer heat having the panels on my lap as I sewed them together but, when I took a look back at my blog posts from December last year, it seems that I was actually on a silk binge at that time. That is certainly a much more pleasant material to use in the humid Bolivian summer. The fabric for this little yurt-shaped silk pouch was one of several silk projects I had on the loom last December.

It is fun to look back at this time of year and remember what I was weaving… and then be horrified at how fast the year has slipped by. I am sure that I am not alone in that. It certainly was an active one for me travel-wise. There was a little less time spent at the loom and lots of time spent on the road gathering inspiration.

Anyway….back to the long, long band. My edging band needed to be 112”. I wound a warp of 150” length just to make sure that I would be comfortable weaving right to the end of my 112”. I could weave a few inches to spare, just in case, and I would not be rammed up against the far loom bar trying to squeeze those last inches in. I also needed a fairly large working space as I used 7 sets of heddles so that I wouldn’t need to do pick-up.

As much as I love having my hands in among the threads picking patterns, this band was too long and the motif too small and repetitive to make the weaving interesting in my usual slow thread-by-thread style.

I rolled up most of the unwoven warp around paper and a couple of beams so that I could fit this long warp in my weaving space. That also meant that I could stay more or less the same distance away from the far beam which I think helps me maintain a consistent tension. I could roll up the woven length of band and, as I did so, unroll a bit more unwoven warp. You can see that I changed to a band lock after a while rather than continue using my long backstrap beam. There was just too much band piling up on the beam and it was getting uncomfortable having that wad of cloth at my belly.

I got that nice long and heavy band lock from the Santa Cruz guild. It had belonged to the late Nora Rogers and it was given to me with one of her many fiber experiments in progress…a sprang Hopi-style sash. I still have the sash and can pop it back into the band lock at any time should I wish to continue with Nora’s sample. I have to admit that I prefer the length of my backstrap beams. I find having the backstrap around my hips sitting on those wide beams very comfortable. It felt a little strange having the ends of my backstrap pulled inward to sit on the ends of the short band lock.

An advantage of the band lock is being able to slide the woven cloth out of the way between the two wooden bars very frequently. I didn’t have to wait until I had woven enough to roll all the way around two beams as I usually do. I could adjust length every inch or so if I wanted to. It makes it seem like you are progressing faster!

In the picture above, you can see that I have cut off the finished length of the woven band and just left the unwoven warp clamped in the band lock. I figured that I could make a couple of wrist cuffs with the warp that remains. Let’s see if the band lock grips that unwoven warp well enough to enable me to do so.

I am grateful for having this large heavy band lock. I am wondering if Nora Rogers had made this herself. Most of the band locks I have seen for sale are much smaller and lighter. You can see a small one sitting alongside my larger one in the picture above. That one was given to me by Becky and the staff at Vavstuga when I visited.

The last time I was in Cusco, Peru, it was interesting to see a weaver from Chahuaytire using a similar set-up…

The woven cloth was clamped and hung free rather than being rolled up around two beams.

My weaving friend Marie showed me how she uses her small band lock with a backstrap…

And, you can see in Marianne Planting’s Andean Pebble Weave project below, how the band passes around and between the wooden pieces to be locked off. The pattern she is weaving is in my second book.

I haven’t become a band lock convert! I will, however, use it for long, long bands. I have another blanket waiting for its edging band and the band for that will need 136” or so of warp….

As for the long band that I just wove, you probably recognize the colors and remember the blanket for which it was intended…

After washing and ironing the finished edging band, I folded it in half and stuffed the very center part that has the pick-up pattern with wool and sewed that into place so that it looked like a tubular band. Then, I sewed the band to the edge of the blanket by hand. I don’t have a machine and really enjoy hand sewing. What I didn’t enjoy was having the wool against by bare legs in the heat. The corners were tricky.

Here you can see some details of the finished item.

Before taking on the 136” for the purple blanket, I think I will tackle something a little shorter…

This 4-selvedge wool piece has been sitting around for quite a long time. I finally bought the purple wool that I needed to weave its edging. The edging will be a tubular band that I will weave and sew directly to the edge using the weft as the sewing thread. I think I will use the Chahuaytire-style tubular band. While doing that, I can think about the pattern and structure I want to use for the edging of the larger purple blanket.

I need 82” of woven band for the 4-selvedge piece. I am using the small band lock to lock off the far end of the warp with all the excess warp pooled on the floor. This way I can extend the warp and fit in my weaving space and don’t have to roll up the unwoven warp around paper and dowels. I am finding some cool uses for these band locks!
I have a couple of large and complex projects planned for this summer. They involve wool and silk and dyes and ikat tape and 3-color pebble weave and lots of risks as I venture into some unknown territory!

I guess I am just getting warmed up for them after having been away from the loom for a while. It is nice to be able to finally finish some of these pieces that have been sitting around for some time. I have lots of ideas for more jewelry too…little things that I can weave when I need a break from the big stuff.

I have also been busy at the computer planning the dvd cover and disc design for my backstrap weaving class. Yes, that was what the in-front-of-the camera activity that I mentioned in my last blog post was about. There will be a dvd as well as the ability to stream the class. Until I have a release date for you, I will keep you in suspense! I am in suspense too!

Here is a shot of filming in November that Marilyn Romatka took with videographer Rainer Romatka capturing some nice detail,…