Saturday 30 January 2016

New adventures

Well, two weeks after my visit to Diss and The Saori Shed , yesterday saw a delivery to our house.

That decision didn't take long did it?  I was lucky enough that Kim at the Saori Shed had the loom I wanted in stock so it was here within two days.

First of all came unpacking and reading and re-reading.


The instructions that come with the loom are very clear and detailed but it helps if you really read them properly and pay attention to the photographs. It comes out of the box with only a few bits to hook on, clip on or slot on and a few bolts to screw down.

Once you've attached the bobbin winder you take hold of what's called the inside set which is the heddles (those stringy looking metal things), the reed and the warp on its support.  You may spot the deliberate mistake in the photo above.  Those hooks holding the heddles are supposed to fit through the holes on the heddle bar.  Error number one but not too serious as I eventually spotted it.  Happily I got the heddle the right way up indicated by the blue colouring across the top.

Unhappily I got this fitting of the warp roller wrong.  That lever is the brake and is in the wrong place at this stage.

This is what it should look like. It stops the warp roller from coming loose which turned out to be rather important.


 This is where things started to go a bit adrift.  You might be able to see above that the warp is already hanging rather loosely behind the loom.  

This pre-wound warp is supposed to go on really easily and normally it would but messing about with the roller meant that part of the warp sprang loose and I had a bit of a mess.  

It was looking a bit of a mess at the weaving end too.  You know how it is with something new and unfamiliar to you.  You think you have an idea of what needs to be done to sort it out but you're too scared to try in case the whole lot (of warp in this case, all 6 metres of it) ends up looking like spaghetti on the floor.  I gave up last night other than asking a Facebook group for some help which one lady in particular gave and which I had a go at (and which was sound advice.  

Today Kim kindly rang me up and talked it through and the answer, which I knew really, was to wind all the loose warp towards the front until I reached the tauter warp.  Then it was a question of pulling and combing at the tangles until it was all smooth and then getting a glamorous assistant aka my husband to hold it all taut while I wound it back on the warping beam.  Success!

That looks better!

Not my best weaving but so much better than I thought I was going to get to today and I didn't lose any warp! 

I am busy quilting too, have no fear, and I've almost finished a baby quilt.   No, not for me ;-)

9 comments:

Judy Cooper Textile Artist said...

Nice loom! I've never tried weaving but I do own several woven pieces. I can appreciate the time it takes to set up the loom and then do the weaving. Have fun!

Jackie said...

I am in awe of you, Julie...
Truly.
You are a gifted artist!

Amanda said...

Fabulous! I'm being very, very good and 'not looking' though. ;-) I will admire your creations instead.

Heather said...

It all sounds terribly complicated but I am glad you didn't give up and have actually produced your first piece of weaving. There'll be no stopping you now!

Debbie said...

Its that sort of thing that has put me off buying a loom like yours but you obviously got it sorted. Having a ready to use warp must help hugely. Being a tapestry/freeform weaver I haven't the equipment or expertise to start winding a warp from scratch though I do have an Ashford knitting loom which is quite easy to warp. Happy weaving, looking forward to seeing the results

Peneller said...

How wonderful to be able to just set up your loom and start weaving! When you come to making your own warp, just let me know if you'd like some help. I'm still not a fan of these looms as they offer very limited weaving capability and are very overpriced, but each to his own! I'm sure you will produce some lovely cloth that pleases you and that's what matters. xx

Julie said...

Debbie, thank you for leaving me your thoughts. I very nearly bought a knitters loom as I already have a SampleIt loom that I am enjoying using. My hands and fingers are becoming increasingly painful with arthritis and the Saori loom attracted me for its reported ease of use. I will definitely be making my own warps as well as sometimes using the pre-wound warps. I probably made the issues with the first warping look worse than they were as my inexperience made me scared to take the steps that I thought I needed to take to sort it all out. I've watched videos and read books about the warping and I get the impression you can be quite tough on the warp when getting it under tension so I shall be looking to my husband to exert his strength for future warpings. I'm definitely not going to be doing formal weaving with set patterns, I love the freedom of following my own path. I'm hoping too to use some tapestry weaving techniques in my work so I will be following you with interest now that I know where you are :-) I'll drop by soon.

Emma said...

Wonderful, courageous & creative, you are a marvel! (it would be nice to have less painful hands to go along with all that, wouldn't it, but we mustn't be greedy ;) )

Anonymous said...

What a great wonder. God love you for putting it together. I've a friend who weaves and I would go crazy doing it. Like the work so far, great progress. A whole new way of thinking about your textiles. Bravo!!! xox