Max's First Warp

Day 139: First of all, let me explain that I'm working in really tight quarters here. In fact, I was standing INSIDE my old loom to take this photo of Max, who sits at 90 degrees to it with about 12" of space between the two. When the cord for the warp apron finally arrived yesterday and I had mounted it, I discovered why Bergman owners talk about "lowering the jack box." That is the apparatus which holds the harnesses and their myriad heddles. The way Bergman looms are constructed, the jack box has to be lifted off its pegs and dropped to rest on the frame of the loom at normal working height. This clears the pathway for the threads to be wound onto the warp roller which, you may notice is ABOVE the warp as it makes its rounds rather than below. It wasn't long before I figured out how much easier this makes several steps of the warping process. Go Bergman! Once the warp has been beamed onto the roller, the jack box is returned to its working position on the top of the loom (as shown in the photo), and threading the heddles may begin. Another marvelous feature of these looms is that they are foldable even when a project is in progress. Mine folds down to a mere 19" back-to-front. This also means that things which would normally get in your way or be awkward to work around can be removed and set aside. On my old loom, I always felt like I was breaking ribs as I stretched over the breast beam to retrieve threads from the lease sticks. Not with the Bergman! I simply remove the breast beam, put my little stool inside the loom frame and sit there merrily threading. When I'm done, I'll reinstall the breast beam and beater bar, thread the reed, bring the cloth apron (as opposed to the warp apron) up and around the breast beam, and tie the warp ends to its rod. After a few (I hope) adjustments to the tie-up, I should be ready to weave a twill colour gamp for Max's official baptism.