copyright 2007 KLS If you want to print these pages or use them in a guild, class, etc., please write the author at jdispi@optonline.net stating intent asking permission Step One in Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom The heddle with the appropriate number of EPI (ends per inch) has been inserted onto the loom. A dowel has been secured to a sturdy surface the exact length the warp is needed to be from the heddle (plus twelve inches extra for fringe and loom loss). In this photograph the warping process has just begun.
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Step Two in Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Using a narrow metal warping hook, the wool yarn is threaded through each slot in the rigid heddle until the entire width of the heddle is filled with yarn.
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Step Three in Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Here you can see the wool yarn is being pulled through the slot in the rigid heddle with the narrow metal warping hook.
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Step Four in Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Here you see all the wool yarns have been threaded through all the slots in the rigid heddle loom. A piece of yarn was tied to the middle of the yarn area that was around the dowel which had been secured to the end of the table. Then the entire warp was lifted up and off the dowel, as you can see it here in this photograph.
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Step Five in Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Remember the little tied on piece of yarn from step four? It was at the place where the wool yarn went around the dowel? Well, you cut that through all the yarns. Now, since you have two yarns going through each heddle, you take the left piece of yarn, pull it out of the slot through the back end of the heddle and rethread it through the hole in the heddle. You had two yarns going through each slot, becaue the balls of yarn were behind the loom and as you would grab a yarn and thread it through the slot, you really had two yarns going through. Get it? Think about if for a minute and it will come to you.
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Step Six How to Warp a Rigid Heddle Loom Once all the warp threads have been pulled through the holes with one in each slot, take a group of four and tie them to the warp beam. The warp beam is a strong piece of wood, the width of the loom, located at the front (weaver's front) of the loom. Once the entire warp has been tied to the beam, go back, starting from the middle, and retie them to make sure they are all tight.
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Step Seven Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Before you actually start to weave (which means that you take another yarn, called the weft, and go back and forth through the warp yarns) you have to make sure the warp yarns are absolutely parrellel. I used several wood pick up sticks to accomplish this. Some people use really thick yarn or cord. What ever you use, you will remove it once you have started your weaving, so the main purpose is to get the warp threads parrallel. I'm sure you'll think of something unique to use.
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Step Eight Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Now you start to weave. Take your shuttle (which you can see at the top of the last photograph) and wind it with your weft yarn. Put the heddle in the up position and pull one weft yarn through on the shuttle. Push it down with the heddle. Now put the heddle in the down position and push another shuttle of weft yarn through. Here you see the first two yarns. Also, on the right of the photo, you see a yarn pulled through and out of the warp yarns. That is the loose end of the first weft yarn. When the weft yarn above it is pushed down hard, it will be locked in place and that will secure the weft.
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Step Nine Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom The weaving is progressing nicely. The heddle is in the down position in this photograph. You can tell because the yarn is coming out of the slots, not the holes. I use a fork beater to push the weft tightly together when I am weaving shoulder bags. For a bag the weave must be tight and sturdy.
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Step Ten Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Pick up sticks are used with all simple looms like the rigid heddle loom to create patterns. If you have seen Incan textiles, they are woven on a backstrap loom, similar to the rigid heddle, and all those birds, flowers, etc. you see in the pattern are made by using a pick up stick. In this photograph you see a pickup stick inserted and laying flat, at rest, at the back of the warp yarns on the rigid heddle loom. You thread a pattern on the warp threads by putting the heddle in the down position. All the available threads are now coming from the slots of the heddle. You pick up the warp threads you want for your pattern at this time and slide the pick up stick to the rear of the loom until you need to use it.
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Step Eleven Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom Now the pickup stick is ready for use. It has been turned on it's side while the heddle is in the down position. Turning it on it's side makes the warp threads you want to use stand up tall and it pushes the warp threads you don't want to use down to the level of the yarns coming out of the heddle holes. Now you can push your shuttle back and forth (as many times as you want) to create the design. If you push the shuttle back and forth more than once, make sure you secure it by going under a warp thread on each end as you pass. I often go back and forth up to ten times to create a nice visual raised relief pattern.
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Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom .. The Way The Warp Looks Using a Pickup Stick This photograph shows the effect on the weft from using the pickup stick. The pattern has been made noticable by using a different color weft. The top dark weft shows the use of the pickup stick and making the weft yarn shuttle go back and forth a number of times. The bottom dark color weave in the photograph shows the dark yarn being used in the same way as the light. This is called plain weave. You can see that the pickup stick makes the different color more interesting. Over 250 people per day, around the world, are looking at this particular page of my site. If you find it helpful, please drop me a line via e-mail at jdispi@optonline.net Thank you and I hope I have helped you in your own weaving endeavor.
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