{"id":646,"date":"2021-10-07T00:52:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T00:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/?p=646"},"modified":"2021-10-07T00:52:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T00:52:20","slug":"wednesday-widget-the-wayward-warp-and-the-worthwhile-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wednesday-widget-the-wayward-warp-and-the-worthwhile-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Widget: The Wayward Warp and The Worthwhile Weight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Image
The start of a project on my 24″ Ashford rigid heddle loom.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It happens. I have to learn to live with it. Or so I tell myself, because in my mind, a warp is a perfectly straight and smooth affair, a balm to the chaos of one\u2019s inner self and a counterpoint to the pandemonium of the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the warp is as fractious as a spirited toddler. It requires constant tending and careful manipulation, and especially continual learning and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to weave a long piece of cloth, both as an experiment and to avoid the back-twisting exercises of warping my rigid heddle loom. The lesson I learned is that I need to pay attention to the knots in the yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A final length of over 4 yards for an off-loom width of 16 inches<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t this time, and the warp broke. And then my repair broke. And then that one thread ended up stretched out and causing all sorts of problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized that\u2019s where warp weights would come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the images and examples of warp weights show them used to hold supplemental warp threads. But that\u2019s not what I needed. I needed something to pull on my cobbled-together warp thread so it would regain its beautiful tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Carr Park Artisans warp weight<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And I didn\u2019t have time to wait for a shipment to arrive, because I really, really didn\u2019t want to interrupt my weaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when invention happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I really needed was something to hold on to the warp thread without damaging it (something smooth), and something to pull down on the thread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hook, weights, and something to hold it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, I had all of it on hand from previous craft projects and general craftroom supplies: a couple of S-hooks, some washers, and some rubber bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Not so pretty, but quick, efficient, cheap, and everything was on hand.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It worked wonderfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warp weights I\u2019ve seen in my searches are very pretty. I still want them. I want a whole collection, just because. But I can wait to spend the money on them when I can cobble together an efficient system in a few minutes for about $1 and continue weaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got my first loom (a beautiful Schacht inkle loom), I decided I wanted to have suitable accessories \u2013 handcrafted if possible, preferably made of wood, things that would extend the tactile experience of hand-weaving and creating handmade cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized very quickly that it would take time to acquire the complete outfit I had dreamed up. Then I realized it wasn\u2019t necessarily wise \u2013 the money could be better spent on fiber than on pretty accessories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happens. I have to learn to live with it. Or so I tell myself, because in my mind, a warp is a perfectly straight and smooth affair, a balm to the chaos of one\u2019s inner self and a counterpoint to the pandemonium of the outside world. In reality, the warp is as fractious as… Read More »Wednesday Widget: The Wayward Warp and The Worthwhile Weight<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,28,29],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-crafts","category-weaving","category-wednesday-widget","tag-weaving"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":659,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ottercreations.org\/MH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}