At the end of last year someone on the Weave Tech Group was asking about sectional warping and I said I didn't use a bobbin rack, but made small warps on my warping mill. I thought it might be a good idea to show everyone how I do it.
First of all I make small 2" warps on my warping mill which a tie with freezer bag ties to secure the cross and keep the loop open at the beginning.Bag ties are easy to attach and remove and are re-usable. I cut some of them into two before I start to make the warp as they can be too big.
I then have my loops ready at the back of the loom and attach one to the sectional warp beam and the other end to loop at the end of the warp near the cross. If your not sure how to do this post a comment and I will show you have it's done in another post.
Now I put this little devise into the cross and weight the warp at the front of the loom with a loop of loom cord, a butchers hook and a bottle of wash detergent!
Once the section of warp has been weighted I spread it over a small raddle, that came with my Louet Octado, which is secured to the back beam.
Move the cross to the front of the loom, near the cord and weight, and wind the warp onto the sectional beam until the cross is next to the raddle again. Continue winding the warp and moving the cross until the section is wound onto the beam.
On the left you will see the front cloth beam of my loom with all that is left of the warp where it is being weighted. Once the cord that is attached to the weight gets to this point, I remove the weight and cord then loop an elastic band round the warp end in it's place.
All I do now is wind this last section onto the sectional warp beam and loop the elastic band round the section separator next to the previously wound section.
I do hope this has been of help.
12 comments:
I don't have a sectional warp beam, but I'm very interested to know how they work and to read about your method of winding on. I do like the gadget for keeping your cross.
This has been mental salvation for someone tiptoeing into using a new loom with a sectional beam, and overwhelmed by the prospect of winding off mega-cones for a 5 yd warp! Thanks.
Hi Alison - I just found this on WeeaveTech today. It is just what I have been looking for! Where did you get the little gadget that you put into the cross? It looks like you remove the bag ties once this is inserted, is this correct?
Hi Katie
I got my little "cross keeper" with the loom which is a Louet Octado. They aren't advertised on the Louet website, but if you email them they will tell you how much they are and you can order that way.
A friend has got her partner to make one for her!
Yes, once it's inserted I remove the bag ties.
Lynn, hope you've got the hang of it now. I just love my sectional warp beam now!
Alison
Hi Alison
Thanks so much for this tour of your sectional warping method. I don't use my sectional warping much and the spool rack took up so much space I got rid of it! This method is much more direct and versitile. Thank you.
Katie, I forgot to say that while I am winding each bout of warp I use the "cross-keeper" and remove the bag ties. I then replace the bag ties so that I can use the "cross-keeper" in the next bout and so on. When I come to start to thread the heddles I put the "cross-keeper" back in to the cross and remove the bag ties and keep them in a box for the next project!
Kaz, I didn't have room for the bobbin rack and tension box and didn't want to spend time winding bobbins, so it was the perfect solution for me.
Alison
I just found this blog post and need to be the one to admit that I dont know how to attach the loops to the sectional beam and the warp end. I have a loom with a sectional beam, but no tension box so need to find a way to warp sectionally without the tension box. Thanks so much.
Gail
Hi Gail
I have a little metal bar that goes across my warp beam, from one side to the other, it's attached by sliding small sections of Texolv cord onto it which are then screwed into the beam.
If you measure from your beam to about 6inches from the back of your heddles, double this to make the loop. Put one end of the loop round the bar and open the end of the loop and push the other end through, so that it is now attached to the bar.
Take the other end of the loop and pass this through the end of your warp, near the cross. Now open the loop and pass the whole chained warp through it and your warp bout will be attached to the loop!
I will take photo's and post this for you, but it will be next week now, sorry.
Alison - I am a new weaver and recently bought a sectional loom as it was a good deal and an investment in what I hope to be a great learning experience. I have been learning on a table loom for the past six months and at the moment feel very daunted by the purchase I made, hopefully not fool-hardy. Anyway, your post gave me a bit of confidence that there might be a way I can actually figure out how to use the sectional beam on my own and make use of my new purchase. I do not have a spool rack. I am having trouble following your directions, which I am sure is my newness to all this. Is there any way you can give me some step by step directions for this or is there anything written about this, short of buying a spool rack and then struggling with how to use that?
First of all my loom is a Louet Octado, what make is your loom?
You could contact Louet via email, or via their website (http://www.louet.com/ in North America and http://www.louet.nl/indexgb.htm for Europe), for their instruction leaflet... Warping the Individual Sections with the Louet Warping Tool. It's only 4 pages long, basically what I show on this blog, but with a better choice of warp, so easier to see.
Contact me directly if you have any problems getting it.
I'm sure you'll really enjoy your weaving now you have your floor loom. Good luck.
Alison
Alison - what is the little device that you use to separate your cross while winding on to the sectional beam? I'd love to know - I own two Louet looms and am currently in the process of converting to sectional - I don't really want to use a tension box if I don't have to.
Thanks in advance.
Esther Budd
Woven Rainbows Inc.
Hi Esther
The little device to hold the cross during sectional warping came with the loom and sectional beam. I don't know what it's called officially, sorry.
Why don't you email Louet and ask them FI you can get one, they are very helpful. You could email the picture of it from the blog so they know what you mean.
Alison
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