| ================= Loose Selvedges/Warp ================= > I have good tension when I start the first rug, > but by the time I am half way through it, the side warp > tend to soften almost like it has stretched... This is a common problem on rug looms, especially with sectional warping. It is best solved by adding tension to the warp thread when you warp the loom. Some of the older rag rug looms do not have tension boxes for winding the warp onto the warp beam. If you look at tension boxes used for sectional warping, they have a number of dowels for the warp to travel on before winding onto the warp beam. These add tension to the thread so that they will wind on more tightly. Some weavers even add more dowels to their boxes to add more tension, or cover the dowels with something to add more tension. This added tightness of the warp on the beam, will prevent the selvage warp threads from becoming loose as you weave and handle the selvage warp threads. Joanne Hall --------------------------------------- If your tension is getting slack on only one side of the loom, I would suspect that the loom is out of square. You need to make sure the loom is square and that the bolts are all tight with each new warp. I weave some of my rugs on a two harness Union loom, and I warp that loom sectionally using only the thread guide which came with the loom and don't have tension problems unless I am careless and let the warp build up unevenly with in a section. I have two Union looms, and one of them has spaces slightly less than two full inches between the pegs. It is harder to get a nice flat section with this loom. Also one of the Unions has bolts in the sectional beam which aren't counter sunk. Because of the age of the wood I have been afraid to counter sink them. The sections with the bolts always took special care and often resulted in some looser threads. I recently came up with a work- around which has solved this particular problem. I placed two dowels on the outside of the pegs on the section with the offending bolts, and used good old duct tape to strap them down. This means that all of the sections are increased the same across the warp, and solved the problem of the bolts, because the warp threads are now lifted above the bolts. Wish I had thought of it a long time ago. Other than that, Unions give great tension, very even, and because of the odd brake system, the warp beam never torques. Dana ------------------------------------------ More ideas for dealing with loose selvedges/warp can be found at: http://www.oocities.org/wdloom Weavers Delight WebSite ------------------------------------------ > How do I keep the threads in the selvedges from getting loose when I get toward the end of my project? I put them on weighted bobbins at the beginning of the project, then at the end of the project they're still at the right tension. You have to release some selvedge warp when the bobbins reaches the top of the back beam, but hey, you need to get up once in a while anyway. Another way is to hook a weight onto each selvedge warp or warps and run the weight around and under the warp beam to just hang there. Bill Koepp ----------- Another tip for loose selvedges - get large (2-3") washers and attach to a BIG ordinary paper clip. Hang the paper clip over the side selvedges at the back of the loom at the bottom of the warp beam. This way you don't ever have to move them they just slide on the threads as you unwind warp in the weaving process. This works great and has saved me a couple of times over the years. Sondra Maine ---------- |
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| I have good tension when I start the first rug, but.... |
| How do I keep the threads in the selvedges from getting loose when I get toward the end of my project? |