A Latvian Design

Day 72: I don't recall where I found this design, but I copied it down in my own weaver's shorthand on a sticky note, and taped it inside the front cover of an inkle-weaving book. I've made several iterations of it in different colours (this is my favourite combination) and using a variety of techniques including inkle and backstrap. Despite looking rather complex, it is a very easy pickup pattern. The threading is 2 red, 2 green, 2 yellow, 2 blue, 2 yellow, 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 green, 2 yellow, 2 blue, 2 yellow, 2 green, 2 red (a total of 23 threads), and is threaded in the normal fashion (hole/slot/hole/slot, etc.). The two single green threads near the center are manipulated every third pass, either pushing them down out of the way when they're in the upper layer of the shed (leaving the red to appear as a dash), or lifting them up from underneath when they appear in the lower layer of the shed. The band is functionally identical front and back. I was uncertain how pickup weaving would behave on the tape loom given that one changes hands with each pick, but actually, it's the same as weaving it with a backstrap loom, and not at all difficult or awkward.

Making Tape

Day 62: It has taken an inordinate amount of trial and error and a healthy helping of my father's tractor-starting vocabulary to work around the design flaws in this particular model of tape loom. Primarily, I was struggling with warp tension because the brake can only be engaged in one position. One hand must be free to release and re-engage it while another hand holds the wound warp tight to the roller so it doesn't unwind. A third non-existent hand seemed to be necessary to hold tension on the warp, and a fourth appeared to be needed to turn the crank. Since I am not an octopus, this was challenging. To make matters even more difficult, the warp beam is round and smooth. It has no gripping capability whatsoever. Once tied on, the knotted warp simply wouldn't wind, so I taped the loose ends to the roller. I found that if I "pre-curled" the separator papers, I could wind on by turning the roller with my fingers, bypassing the need for the brake entirely. It's still not the easiest thing to warp with even tension, but as you can see, I managed to make a nice little 1/4" tape (11 threads of 8/2 cotton) from some of my thrums. Before there was scotch tape, packaging tape, masking tape, etc., this is what "tape" meant. And like today's sticky tapes, it was used to hold things together. The average household used a lot of tape, and this was how it was made.

Footnote: I just discovered that those bag clips don't snap down very firmly. I was able to put on a new warp using the clip as a tensioner, freeing up both hands for the winding-on process!

Tape Loom

Day 315: With September Morn falling smack on Labor Day this year, it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to celebrate it in the usual fashion, so I did the next best thing: I bought myself a small present. I've been intrigued by tape looms for some time, but was having trouble justifying yet another way to weave bands. Unassailable logic prevailed in the form of "how can I call myself a weaver if I haven't at least tried the method?" This cute modern version of an 18th Century tape loom arrived yesterday. Like many things which are constructed with the bare minimum of functionality in mind, it has its foibles. Winding on the warp was tricky, to say the least. The warp beam only locks into place at one spot, and I found myself wishing I was an octopus with one hand to remove the stopper peg, one to keep tension on the warp, one to keep the warp from unwinding, and two more so I could knot the next colour to the one being discontinued. I'm sure I'll work out a better system after a few more tries! I found it easiest to use a backstrap to hold the woven end, but this meant that I was weaving in much the same way I'd weave on an inkle loom with one hand pushing down or lifting up the warp, as opposed to the proper way to use a tape loom, which is to lift or pull down on the finished tape. Again, an extra set of hands would have been helpful. I doubt I'll do much serious weaving on it, but at least I've learned something new.