AVL Sticky Beam: Watch this before you buy a loom!

This video explains what the sticky beam on an AVL Loom is and how to use it.  This is a video in a series about my AVL A-Series Compu-Dobby 24-shaft Floor Loom.

If you are interested in getting this loom, these videos show all the features that are offered and how they work.

Automatic Systems AVL Compu-Dobby Floor Loom

These are some of the features on the AVL A-Series Floor Loom. 

If you are thinking about getting a Computer-Dobby Floor Loom this video will show you the Automatic Systems on my A-series loom.

This video is one in a series about the AVL looms.

The Spinning Box January 2021

 I just started a monthly subscription to The Spinning Box   It is my first time subscribing to something like this. You can watch the video I made about it by clicking Here

Because of the COVID-19 virus I have been staying home as much as possible.  I usually go on vacation twice a year, go out to dinner at restaurants, maybe see a movie, go to the mall and other stores.  Last year I did none of this.  By staying home I was able to save a lot more money and the gas that I would have needed to go to these places.

This year looks like it will be the same so, I decided to treat myself with a few online courses and this monthly spinning box.

The January theme was “Out of this World”.  Before opening the box I tried to think what would be in the box.  I thought maybe some dark blue wool with white or silver Angelina.  Maybe colors to represent the planets like, ocean blues and white for the Earth, reds and oranges for Mars & Venus, browns and beige for Saturn & Jupiter.

It was really exciting to get this mystery box.  I am not often surprised with gifts anymore.  People either get exactly what I wanted or give me a gift card.  So, this was like Christmas and Birthdays when I was a child.

The box is packaged nicely.  When I opened it the first thing I saw was outer space tissue paper.  After opening this there was a beautiful mix of colors in Merino and Bamboo, most of what I described above.  Below that was Polwarth and Silk blend in a beautiful creamy white color.  A small package of Mint infused rayon and o

ne ounce of Raw Boarder Leicester wool.  It was soft for a long wool and I could tell it would be white once scoured.  There were a few other goodies that followed the theme.  Over all I am very pleased with everything in the box.

I love to scour and process raw wool so, the first thing I did was wash it with Unicorn Power Scour.  It only took one 20 minute soak in the scour and it was bright white.  I put it on a rack to dry.  The next day I combed it to get the vegetable matter (VM) out of it and prepare it for spinning.  I recently got half a pound of Leicester Longwool.  After I scour that I will be able to use the two fibers together.

This is the year I want to improve my hand spinning with both drop spindles and my spinning wheel.  In addition to subscribing to The Spinning Box I am taking an online course to learn to spin.  Mary Egbert, from Camaj Fiber Arts also owns The Spinning Box.  Mary is teaching the course.  In the first month I learned a lot more about how spinning wheels work and the difference between the whorls.

February courses will be starting to spin.  This course is billed monthly and will last all year.  There is a private Face Book page to share with and have conversations with other spinners in the class.  Mary has guests during the month.  January, we saw how a wood turner makes spinning tools and also learned how to spin with a drop spindle.  Both guests were very interesting.  I am looking forward to February’s content.

Building a PVC Warping Mill

  

                      I made a video about how to build a PVC Warping Mill on You Tube.

                    

                   Video: Building PVC Warping Mill

                       

                        Printable instructions are below.

      

Happy New Year 2021

 I am wishing everyone a very good new year.

As I look back at 2020 the one word that comes to mind is “bizarre”. 

During most years I go on vacation twice, go out to breakfast or dinner many times and shop in many different stores. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic I did nothing last year.  I stayed at home except to shop for groceries, go to the pharmacy, and a few doctors’ appointments.  Actually, this was not too bad.  

There were several things that were good about the lock-downs.  Since so many “in person” events were cancelled, people began connecting through the internet by using YouTube and Zoom.  This gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about weaving.

Rebecca Mezoff started doing YouTube everyday.  Showing how to weave tapestry and answering questions.  She has cut that back to weekly, depending on her schedule.  Tien Chiu and Janet Dawson hosted two “weave alongs” and taught “how to weave” and “color & design”. They were great courses.

There were several other virtual meetings that I was able to attend which would have never happened if there was not a pandemic.  So, although 2020 was a scary year, many good things also happened.

I want to thank everyone and all organizations that made content available to us for free.  I am hoping that things like this continue after the world gets back to normal.  There are many people who don’t have access to “in person” guilds and events so virtual meetings are a valuable asset.

I am looking forward to 2021 and hoping that COVID-19 will get under control so people will be able to live without fear, go back to work and enjoy life as we use to.  Personally, I am excited to do more weaving, spinning and fiber arts.

Hoping the new year brings you Health, Happiness, and Prosperity.

 

Purple, Orange, Yellow

I've been wanting to weave something from the Echo and Iris book for a while now and just haven't found what I want to weave.  Recently I took the online course offered by Marge Coe called The Corris Effect for 8 shafts.

I like Marge Coe's courses, they are very interesting and I have learned quite a lot about Fiberworks by just watching how she uses the software for things like Deflected Double Weave and The Corris Effect. Link to Marge Coe's Course

Corris Effect and Echo are very similar.  They both use multiple colors in the warp.  Corris uses 3 colors and Echo generally uses 4.  I am threading my loom with Purple, Orange and Yellow right now.

Using what I learned from Corris Effect, I chose a draft from Handweaving.net created by Bonnie Inouye.  #60949  It is a 16 shaft design that I wanted to use to weave a shawl.  The draft creates a large diamond shaped design which I thought would look great from the back when wearing the shawl.  It has been in my "to weave" list and I thought it would work for the Corris Effect.

After playing with the draft and colors I designed the draft seen below.

 This is a picture of both sides.  By using one color weft I am able to get what looks like a two shuttle weave with 2 weft colors.

I am weaving with 20/2 cotton Sett at 36 EPI.  Today I finished threading the heddles and will start the reed tomorrow.

This is the original design of the draft.

Deflected Double Weave

It is time to work on another double weave project for my study group.

I've been watching Madelyn Van Der Hoogt's video on Deflected DW  and also took the first DDW online course from Marg Coe at http://www.e-weaving.com.   I like Deflected DW because it creates bold graphic designs not seen in other weave structures.

It is easy to take another draft, use it as a profile draft and change it to DDW.  In the first course, Marg Coe shows step by step how to do this in Fiberworks.

Star of Bethlehem is the draft I chose to change into DDW.  This sample will be a shawl.  It is 22 inches wide on the loom.  For this I am using 10/2 Cotton in a pink color called Azalea and Wedgewood Blue,  both from WEBS.

Deflected Double Weave is a fabric that is woven as a single layer cloth.  There are sections of plain weave with floats that go over other plain weave.  If you removed one of the colors of the cloth you would still be left with a piece of cloth.

There are 4 ends of pink and 4 ends of blue alternating across the warp.  6 or 8 end segments can be used but, you need to consider how long the floats will be.  The thickness of the yarn, type of fiber and usage of the cloth would determine the proper length of the float.  For my first project I am using 4/4.

The sett for DDW is slightly more open than the suggested tabby for the yarn chosen.  I have chosen 30 EPI.  Since this is still double weave the sett is twice what you would use for a single weave.

This is a two shuttle weave; as you need to change colors every 4 picks.  I used a plain weave selvedge to eliminate the need for a floating selvedge or other edge techniques and will determine if I will carry the unused thread up the side or cut it each time I change colors.  I planned on carrying the color up the side of the cloth and have blue on one edge and pink on the other so the carry thread will not be noticeable.

Denting and Cramming

As I mentioned before, I am participating in Jane Stafford's online guild. JST Guild  This is the 3rd year that she is making videos and projects to weave.  Even as an experienced weaver, I am learning a lot and getting inspired to try new things.

This year Jane is talking about various denting techniques, cramming or using a very high sett and denting or spreading the sett out.  By using these techniques she is creating some interesting fabrics.

While weaving, the fabric looks like it will not be usable due to the very open sett; however, by selective use of crammed denting, the fabric is held together.

Here is a picture of it off the loom with a black background.  You can see the shifting of the threads where it went over the beam.  These will adjust themselves in the finishing wash.


After wet finishing, the cloth changes quite a bit and becomes stable.  Because this is wool, I can control how much fulling happens when I wash it.

After I wove the first scarf I changed the weft to a thick silk and linen.  I wove 2" segments with the silk/linen and 2" segments with the thin wool.












For the third scarf I cut the first two off and changed the denting.  I re-sleyed using the skip denting technique.  Threading 12 ends then skipping 6 dents.










I used the same wool to weave the weft and the same spacing which leaves large holes in the fabric.

 The scarves are light weight, airy and beautiful.  I used a wool purchased from WEBS a few years ago.  It was a mill end and I don't remember the exact info on it.  All I know is that it is very thin.  I estimated a tabby sett to be about 30 EPI.

Finished Double Weave: Iridescence

This was a fun weave.  I was able to weave 2 scarves and a short piece from this warp.  The weaving was easy.  The only problem I had was a few shafts that would raise when they were not suppose to.

I tried to tighten the springs on those shafts but, I still got some lifting.  I needed to push them down while weaving.  When I took the scarves off there were a few floats to repair on the back that was caused by the shafts lifting, before I noticed the problem.

The color mixing on this weave has a lot of iridescence.  Some of the blocks that I thought were creating ugly color mixes actually make some of the best iridescences.  Instead of mixing the colors to create another color, each of the colors remain separate depending on your view.  As an example:  the lemon yellow and red would mix to make a brownish color, but with the iridescences it shows either yellow or red as the fabric moves.

The Ming blue crossed with red-purple looks great and is my favorite.  Now I want to weave a large cloth with just the iridescent colors.

To learn more about iridescence in weaving, I read Bobbie Irwin's book.  This is the only book I have found to teach how to get iridescence into your weaving.  She describes what iridescence is and what colors will produce it.  Great book!
 Click on the blue link to go to Amazon to learn more about it.

 Weaving Iridescence: Color Play for the Handweaver

Double Weave Window Panes

I am currently working on a Double Weave project.

I have done several DW projects in the past.  One was a piano keyboard and several Double Wide items.  Studying Double Weave is on my list this year and this is my first project.

Window panes is one of my favorite drafts.  I love how the colored window panes are surrounded by the black frames.  It is also a good draft to understand how the various layers in DW exchange places to create the design.

To make things more interesting, I created a gradient using two similar colors within the windows.  Doing this requires using 3 shuttles, one for the black, and one for each color.  Shuffling the shuttles gets a little difficult and slows the weaving down.  I am enjoying the pace of this weave although I would not want to do it all the time.

To change the design it is easy to weave the windows square or elongated and changing the colors is fun.

I am weaving 2 scarves with this warp on my AVL Loom.  The warp and weft are both Tencel and I chose a sett of 15 EPI on each layer, or 30EPI.  Using a 10 dent reed I threaded 3 ends per dent.  I will need to get the scarves off the loom and wet finish them to determine if the sett is open enough to create a nice drape in the scarves.  Since the fabric is doubled I want the sett to be open enough that it is not too thick and stiff.

To learn Double Weave I have Jennifer Moore's Video and Book.  A new and revised edition of her book has just become available.  Here is a link to it in Amazon:  Jennifer Moore Double Weave

I have not seen the new book but the original is a great source to learn DW.  If you put a warp on your loom and follow along you easily learn many ways to use DW.

Complex Weaver's Study Groups

Last year I joined Complex Weavers Guild.  Complex Weaver Link.  I joined this guild when I first started weaving and enjoyed the journal that they print and send several times a year.

My first impression was that it was beyond my weaving ability.  So I did not rejoin until 2018.  Actually my first impression was wrong, the problem was that I did not join any of the study groups and did not take advantage of the library.

Library:  Last year I read many books that I would never have had access to.  It is easy to get the books.  All I needed to do was look at their library on line and email the author and title of the books I wanted to their Librarian.  She quickly pulls the books, calculates the postage and emails the options.  Once you decide how to send the package she mails it to you.  The books are on loan for 1 month and if you need longer just email the librarian and as long as no one is waiting for the books another month extension is given.  Payment for the shipping is sent either by check when the books are returned or by PayPal.

The best thing is the sample books created by some of the study groups.  They are a collection of samples woven by the members, including the draft and notes.  Some of the weavings are spectacular.  There is nothing like seeing and feeling the fabrics.  It is a great way to see fibers used that you have never woven with.

Study Groups:  I started with one study group last year.  Designing Fabric, this group does not exchange woven samples.  It chooses a study theme for the year and each member submits an article once during the year.  We just upload the article to the internet and have the opportunity to discuss it with the other members.

For 2019 I joined 2 other groups, 24 More or Less and Double Weave.  I tried to get into the Sixteens group, but they were at their maximum enrollment.

24 More or Less is a group for weaving with at least 17 shafts or more.  All one needs to do is weave a draft using 17 shafts or more, any structure is allowed.  The samples are typically about 6"x6" to 8"x8" and you need to weave 31 samples. ( one for each member and one for the library).  These were due to be sent to the leader of the group by Feb. 15th.  That was easy to do.  Now I can start planning for next year.

Double Weave is, as the name states, a study of double weaving.  This group selects a type of double weave to study each year.  This year is Deflected Double Weave.  4 times a year project notes and a WIF file are due, two of these projects need to deal with Deflected DW and the other two can be projects from their lists.  Only one of the projects needs to be a Deflected DW woven project.

They have lists of projects, each with a different subject.  There are lots of previous projects to see and study and reference material to read.

This is a great way to force myself to concentrate on a type of weaving.  Although weaving each project is not required, I find it the best way to learn so I will be doing a lot of DW this year.

More Groups:  There are many more groups in Complex Weavers and it is tempting to join more but, I don't want to always have a deadline to meet.  The spacing of due dates for these 3 groups works for me and the Double Weave will keep me busy.

Complex Weavers is a great guild if you participate.  Every two years they have a conference with a fashion show, weaving competitions, and lots of seminars and learning opportunities.  Their next conference is 2020
in Knoxville, Tn.

Happy New Year 2019!

These are pictures of what's on my looms January 1, 2019.


I am threading the AVL with a double weave project.  You can see that I have taken the sandpaper breast beam and tension roller off the loom.  Also removed, is the reed and the top that holds the reed in the beater.  I then use a black stool to sit in the loom to reach the heddles easier.  Another thing that makes threading easier is using the computer and Dobby to lift the shafts as I thread.  My mistakes in threading have gotten so much better by doing this.

Warp:

The warp is Fuchsia/Mauve, Ming Blue/ Teal, Green, Yellow and White separated by Black.

About half done, I should be weaving in a few days.

On the Harrisville Design Loom:

My Rainbow scarfs are on the HD 8 shaft loom.  I am inspired to finish this warp because I need the 10 dent reed to use on the AVL.  I have one more scarf to weave off on this warp.

I am enjoying weaving the bright colors of this warp.  I have several drafts that I am using on this warp by just changing the treadling.  I'll get a picture of all of them when they are off the loom.

It's a good start to the new year.  I hemmed this scarf, threaded a few minutes and am now watching the Mummers Parade.

I hope you are enjoying your New Year day as well.

Another New Year

2018 is waning and 2019 is on the horizon.

I like to take the last few days of the year to clean and organize so I can get a fresh start in the new year.  It is also a time to look back at my accomplishments or failures and to reassess my goals for the new year.

2018 was, overall, a good year for me.  Although some negative things forced changes, the changes were for the better.  One example is,  our heating and air-conditioning system was getting old and was due to be replaced.  When we had our annual cleaning and inspection the service man found that there were a few issues and suggested we should replace them.  We knew it was only a matter of time and the time was now.  In addition to replacing the heat pump and AC units we decided to change from an electric supplemental to propane.  And, while we were putting in the propane, we might as well get the generator we had been discussing.

Another big change was purchasing a new wheelchair accessible van.  My husband uses a wheelchair and it has been getting more difficult to transfer into our car, so the van was needed.  It has been so much safer and easier with the van.

Now, on the weaving side, I got an AVL A-series 40" 24 shaft Compu Dobby loom.  This was something I never seriously thought about until earlier this year.  The cost was more than I would ever expect to spend on something for myself.  I was so happy when my husband said to get it.  I love my new loom.  I am learning more and more about weaving and that makes me happy.

With so many major items this year I am hoping 2019 won't require much in the way of maintenance.

As far as my goals for 2019,  I am hoping to exercise more, drink more water, spend more time weaving and working outside in my yard and gardens.  I would like to spend more time enjoying the present and not worry about the future.

I think my goals are attainable so I should have a fantastic New Year.