I Coulda Been a Contender…

As a side note before I even get started, lol. I found a video of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) saying that famous line and, as a weaver, my eyes zeroed in on his brother’s scarf. Look at that checked twill! And look at that buffalo plaid jacket… Seriously… hysterical. But I digress… already… Here’s the video so you can see for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBiewQrpBBA

Anyway… every now and then I have a brilliant idea, usually at about 3am, and I think I’m a genius. Genius, I tell you! And then I find out someone else thought of it before me…. Reminds me of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s un-venting instead of inventing. But still… someone might find these useful:

When working on scarves, I sometimes like to use a Saori Clipping Rod that I bought from Handmade Saori Weaving Studio in Belton, TX, a registered SAORI weaving studio (and Sarah is a joy). It allows me to easily cut off a scarf that I’ve woven and preserve the rest of the warp for future weaving. This is a 10/2 cotton warp on my Baby Wolf and it worked like a charm. If it worked on slippery 10/2, I think it would be even better with 8/2. I had just taken a Saori workshop with Sarah and fell in love with the clipping rod for cutting off woven cloth from the warp, and quickly using the clipping rod instead of tying or lashing on again. I saved the last scarf on the loom to try it out and it worked like a charm. I just had to put some new Texsolv cords in from the cloth beam to hold the clipping rod with the tubing that comes with it and it worked great. I love this thing.

On my Baby Wolf, I just threaded the free end of the Texsolv (not included, but the tubing is. It’s just like fish tank tubing) into the hole on the cloth beam and threaded the dowel through it. I kept my original cords on so I can go back to the traditional rod when I want to.
I’m adding this edit to say that after a while of playing with this, I actually prefer the Vavstuga method that Becky shows in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anH8SNCLg4s.

When sleying the reed after threading the Glimakra, you can use the beater to hold the reed. I’ve also hung it from the shafts with loops of Texsolv. I find it much easier to sley with the reed flat and pulling the threads through from the bottom. I can see what’s going on much more clearly this way and I’m less apt to miss a dent.

When you unwind a wool blanket from the cloth beam only to realize you forgot to hemstitch the beginning. 🤦‍♀️ I fixed it by pinching one end under the reed and sandwiched the other end between the front beam and cloth rod, holding it all together with clamps. Worked pretty well! 

These coat pegs work great for floating selvedges, broken threads or wherever you need some added weight on a warp thread. I wrap the thread around the main part, a couple of wraps around the bottom hook and then the top hook and good to go. I bought the pegs at Hobby Lobby in the wood section.

These large twist ties from the big box stores make great cross holders for my Glimakra where the clamps won’t fit. They are easy to just squeeze the tops together to lock in the cross when I’m going to leave the loom.

I use hand weights when beaming. Besides giving even tension while beaming, it helps spread out the “V” that is always at the end of beaming because you’re so close to the reed which can cause uneven tension in your warp. This is at the end of the winding when I’ve taken the trapeze off. Before I release the weights and tie onto the front, I step on my treadles to check my shed for obvious errors like crossed threads. Much easier to fix at this point than after you’ve tied everything on. I would imagine that I could even throw a few shots of weft to check threading errors. The tension wouldn’t be great, but it would give an idea at least.

I’m gonna be honest…. I hate using a temple and rarely do. When I go to Homestead Heritage Fiber Crafts I use them because… well… that’s what they do there and when in Rome…. I really despise the wood or metal ones with the pins. I always poke myself and tear up my selvedges. This is one of those places in weaving that you’re either a believer or you aren’t. I’m not and I’ve done miles and miles of cloth that has beautiful selvedges and I haven’t had a broken selvedge thread in years (I’m sure I just jinxed myself). When I do have to use one, this is what I use. Tarp clips available from any place you buy tarps or camping gear, some Texsolv, and little weights I made with scraps of handwoven fabric and a pound of buckshot in each. I put command strip hooks on the sides of my looms and it works great without blood-stained shredded selvedges.