I am warping the Glimåkra tapestry loom for the first of the Valley Grove tapestries. Such a debacle.
I wound the warp for all four tapestries.
The empty loom looked so naked.
I beamed on the warp, partly by myself and then I finished in a blink when my husband helped. Here is a half-minute video of me winding by myself, looking quite somber and with a background of National Public Radio.
The next step was to thread the heddles. OMG, that is so tedious. I need to stand on the first step of a stool, and the eyes of the string heddles are so hard to open. But I am so happy to complete this step, because opening the shed of this tapestry loom with foot pedals is such an unending joy.
Next: bad news. I didn’t have enough heddles, only the ones that came on the harnesses when I bought the loom last year. Good news: I found a pack of techsolv heddles in my cabinet, and they were the right size. Bad news: I needed 84, and only had 56. Good news: once I receive the new heddles in the mail and get them on the loom, the eyes in the new heddles will be so much easier to thread. Good news and bad news: We are leaving for two weeks in Maine (so lovely!) and when I get back, I will REALLY be under the gun to get this going.
Thanks for encouraging your readers by detailing your woes and your commitment. Have a lovely vacation.
Dear Robbie, I feel for you. I also am warping my new (used) Shannock 8′ loom. I had forgotten how time consuming it was to warp a traditional loom. I am spoiled by putting a continuous warp on a pipe loom. I am not using the heddles, but I will put on traditional leash heddles. Don