More silk ties, and being linked to by Interweave Press

Huh. A bit of meta blog stuff here for a moment... I use http://sitemeter.com/ to keep track of statistics for this blog, mostly because I'm kind of curious about such things. I know that not everyone who pokes their nose in here leaves comments, so I like to look at the foot prints instead. Well, recently there was a sudden surge of folks looking at an old post I made about the Medieval box loom that I picked up at last year's Estrella War.
( http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/02/medieval-box-loom.html ). Turns out it was linked to in Interweave Press's July 13 issue of 'Weaving Today'. ( http://e1.interweave.com/dm?id=236E95069D8B4FD0A721392A3AF9E7B4C30092B14F2F2183 . )

So cool! I'm kind of bemused over here. No, strike that. I'm very bemused over here. I subscribe to their 'Handwoven' magazine, and get 'Weaving Today' sent to my email. I just hadn't had time to read this particular issue closely, and click through on all the links. Seems other folks did!

In other news, I'm back in the studio painting some more ties. I did some more of the cool squiggle pattern ones...

And then also tried some stripes.

Yes, they're all actually the same 3" width. They look different because I was taking the picture at a weird angle, trying to get around the ironing board. That is set up so I can iron and heat set these babies once they dry for awhile, but it is kind of in the way in the mean time.

I personally like the squiggles better, but the stripes are cool enough that I may do some more of those as well, just to add variety to the options.

What do you think?

Medieval Box Loom

http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=3414


The above link will take you to the Louvre's site, and a picture of a tapestry from the 1500's that shows a lady weaving on a loom very similar to the one I picked up earlier this month. Today, I finally had an evening free enough to warp it up and give it a try...


I measured out 4 yards on my horizontal warping mill. As I came to each color change in the pattern, I simply cut the old color, and tied the new one on to the old thread.






I tied several choke ties to keep everything in place, then chained the warp off the mill.







I had ordered this Beka rigid heddle from Paradise Fibers. However, my usual sley hook didn't fit through the holes. I fixed that by making a mini sley hook out of wire. I put a coil at one end so I would have something to hold on to, and a little hook at the other. Then I pounded it with a hammer to harden the wire, and make it stiff enough to use. Worked like a charm!



Next, I sleyed the reed. I used a couple of binder clips to hold it upright while the job got done. Yay for improvisation!







I tied one end of the warp onto the back apron rod, then used the reed to space out the warp evenly. I wound on with my left hand, using my right to keep tension on the threads. I wound strips of paper onto the back beam along with the warp, to keep the threads from sinking down into each other. That helps with maintaining an even tension.






Then I tied the warp onto the front apron rod...









...and wove a header. I experimented with 4 or 5 different weft threads before I decided on a nice green.











Here's a shot of the band in process. The side threads are actually greener than shows up on my monitor, and the yellow stripes down the middle are brighter. I call this pattern, "Road Trip", as it was inspired by looking out at the road stretching before me on long distance meanderings.



And here is a picture of the loom, all up and running. Isn't it cute? It will be a great take-along project!



EDIT: I got the loom from http://dragonslairmerchants.com/ for $75.