Tension

Another seminar done, so now I’m thinking about the next. The title is The Goldilocks Zone and part of it will be discussing the various ‘spectrums’ when it comes to working with thread. One of the most puzzling, to some new weavers, is the issue of tension.

Mostly humans expect ‘tension’ to be a negative force. But when it comes to thread, it can actually be beneficial.

There are times when I like to take a close look at the threads that make up cloth. This is the ‘finished’ state for a cloth woven with 2/16 cotton warp and weft.

In the close up you can see individual threads, but they have moved closer to each other, reed marks have evened out and are not visible. What you *can* see is the movement of the threads through the cloth, creating areas that are more warp and others that are more weft. In such a close up the overall design cannot be seen. There are what seem to be random areas where the warp and weft are not ‘balanced’. The rational of the yarn placement makes sense when you can see the whole design.

The device I’m using is called (by some) a linen tester. This particular one has markings for 1/4″, 1/2″ and 1″. There is a magnifying glass that allows you to peer at the threads and do things like check how many epi and ppi per inch, or fraction of an inch. It can be useful to contrast a loom state sample with a finished sample and check for take up of warp and weft, or dimensional loss, or ‘shrinkage’.

Sometimes it is useful to know about those factors.

Tension is a function that plays out at various stages of weaving – from winding warps, winding bobbins, beaming a warp into the loom, during weaving. At each of those stages, the appropriate degree of tension needs to be used. Or at least close as the weaver can manage.

There are various opinions, everything from ‘you don’t need any tension’ to ‘you need to use high tension’ and everything in between. As usual…it depends…

I’m taking a light duty day today (2 hours in the dentist’s chair will do that to me) so I’m thinking about next Sunday. Thinking about tension. Thinking about tension beyond the craft of weaving. Trying to remove some of the tension from my life, as much as I can.

May the only tension you have in your life, in your weaving, is whatever is most beneficial to you.