altivo

As promised, here are photos of the sectional beaming process. I've posted this once before, I think, but this time the warp is finer and has more threads, probably as many as I even want to handle at once. The thread count is only 24 per inch, which is moderate for fine weaving, but sufficient for table linens and casual garments. To view the entire process of getting the warp onto the warp beam of the loom, start with this link, and click the "newer" button to view all seven photos more or less in sequence.

Next is the job of threading each of the 354 individual threads through a heddle eye. The heddles are the white vertical "cords" in frames at the center of the loom. Once that is done, they will be organized into four groups each of which can be lifted separately to create a pattern in the finished cloth as it is woven. This is an overshot design, so two shuttles are used in weaving. One has the same thread as the warp, and the other has a contrasting color. Very complex geometric designs are possible in this way.

This weaving I am doing is part of a group project, a "friendship coverlet." Ten of us have each chosen two designs and will weave ten blocks of each design. We will then swap the finished blocks, so that each of us ends up with twenty different blocks to assemble into a coverlet or bedspread. My designs are called "Chariot Wheel" and "Catalpa Blossom" and I (or more likely

argos) will have photos of them as they develop.