A while ago I talked some about warp packing and why it is generally A Good Thing.
There are, however, some exceptions.
Yesterday I beamed the last of the samples for A Good Yarn: Rayon. Rather than wind a whole bunch of spools in order to beam the warp sectionally, I wound an ‘ordinary’ warp on the warping board (11 meters) and beamed it onto the AVL’s sectional beam.
First I took all the tie cords for the sections to be filled and taped them out of the way on the axle of the beam. Then I attached two tie cords (yellow) to hold a steel rod. Although I tried very hard to make the strings exactly the same length, they are slightly different. I found that this tiny difference in length really didn’t make any difference so the rod remains slightly out of true. :/
Then the loops of the warp were put onto the steel rod. Notice that the cords are not at the ends of the rod but right next to the warp. The tension of the warp and the tie cords are equal and no bending will result.
The warp is then routed under the tension box rail (not all AVL’s have this – my loom is very old and came with it. I find it useful for beaming with a warping valet) and up over the rod attached to the ceiling. The warp is 12.5 inches wide and I use one half-full bottle of water for a weight. (About half a gallon.)
The lease sticks are positioned between the tension box rail and the valet rod in the ceiling. The reed is between the rail and the beam and helps to keep the warp filling the appropriate sections.
The sectional rakes keep the threads in their place. The warp is beamed with sufficient tension that no warp packing is required. If the rakes were not there, the lower warp threads could roll to the side and the upper layers cut down into the lower layers.
The cross is transferred to the other side of the reed, the reed removed and the lease sticks hung just behind the heddles with the warp now ready for threading.
Currently reading Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon