THINGS TO KNOW WHEN DIRECT WARPING

 There are some things that should be more clearly stated about direct warping that go beyond the back process and often are left out all together.  One of the first things to understand is that when direct warping - whether you are using a single vertical peg, or a horizontal rod as I have described in the article on this site, "Another Way to Direct Warp", multiple pegs, or hybrid warping using a warping board to direct warp - is that all you are doing when you bring the yarn from the loom to the warping peg (etc.) is measuring the yarn to weave the length you want your weave to be on the loom.  That length of warp on the loom is not the length of warp you want your final off the loom length to be. It is longer to account for shrinkage, waste, fringe, tie on, etc. This length is calculated as part of your project calculations with a weaving calculator.  To get that length that the calculator gives you for your warp you need to measure the distance from the warping peg to the position of the apron rod in the back of your loom at which you will warp to.  With a single peg - measure from the center of your loom - to the peg. 

When you warp to a single peg your warp is creating a V shape with the point of the V at the peg and the top of the V at each end of the warp on your heddle. Geometry tells us that the distance from the point of the V to the center point between the two legs of the V at the top of the V is shorter than the the length of each arm of the V. (This can be confusing at first - so take a moment to read that last sentence again and let it sink in.) What does this mean? It means that the warp at the center of the loom is shorter than the warp at the ends - and this distance right and left of the center of your heddle gets longer. You want all of the warp yarn to be AT LEAST the length of the  center of the heddle to the peg. This means you will have longer warp on the sides - but that is necessary when warping with a single peg - or your warp will be too short for your project.  Are you wasting some yarn? Yes. Is there a way around that? Not if you warp to a single peg. With a horizontal rod to warp to you should have equal lengths of warp from heddle to rod. With a warping board for hybrid warp, you will still have the V. With multiple pegs, you will have less of a V though you will create multiple Vs warping to multiple pegs and yarn length will still vary but not as much.. 

 When new weavers direct warp - and some experienced weavers as well who have not figured out this next thing - they often find the warp peg come flying off the table it is attached to and the peg and the yarn come at them at the loom resulting in warp tangled on the floor. Sometimes the warp can be salvaged and sometimes it can't. This happens to many - it happened to me on my second project ever and it happened twice during that warp. The first time I could salvage the yarn. The second time I could not.  Why does this happen? There is too much tension on the warp between the loom and the peg. 

There is no need to have tension on the warp when you are warping to the peg! As we just established above you are measuring the yarn when you warp to the peg. If there is tension on the warp, the warp acts like a spring - if you pull a spring too much it wants to spring back! The peg will only take so much before the warp wants to pull it in the direction from which it is being pulled - and it is going to go flying.  To prevent this there are two things you can do - one is to clamp the peg on the far side of the table and never the side closest to the loom. Closest to the loom if the peg is pulled it has nowhere to go but at you. On the other side of the table when it is pulled it will first pull itself into the edge of the table it is clamped to. But sometimes even that will not stop it and it still comes flying off with the warp. Or the pulling causes the warp to travel up the peg and come off the top.

One other thing that happens when there is too much tension on the warp from the loom to the peg is that you are stretching the yarn. Again, think of the yarn as a spring. As it is pulled it gets longer - much longer than the spring is when it is not being stretched from pulling. And since you are measuring the yarn to the peg, what is happening with the yarn under tension is that when you take the warp off the peg to wind it on the back beam as soon as it is off the top of the peg, the warp yarn RELAXES! And it gets SHORTER! Oops! What you thought was 90" long was stretched to 90" long and it really is 85 inches long or shorter! Your warp is too short for the length of the project you intended to weave, and you won't know it until you get near the end of your warp on the loom while weaving and you are no where near the length you thought you would have.

There is no reason for the tension. It is OK for your warp to sag from the loom to the peg AS LONG AS it sags consistently from one end of the heddle to the other.  This is not a problem. It may be a little longer than you need BUT LONGER IS BETTER THAN SHORTER when it comes to warp! 

But the books say to wind the warp onto the back beam under tension! Yes, it does but you have not been winding on yet - you are just measuring your yarn from the loom to the peg while you warp. When you have warped all of the slots and take the warp off the peg to wind it onto the back beam THAT IS WHEN YOU PUT THE WARP UNDER TENSION. 

When you are more experienced these things start to click and make sense. It really is simple but you don't usually see this in a book or even in the videos showing direct warp to a rigid heddle loom. 

What else can go wrong?  Lets go back a little - before you have warped the loom but are about to start. Look at your loom. The heddle is generally located not at the center of the loom but more toward the back of the loom frame. The space from the heddle to the back of the loom is shorter than the heddle to the front of the loom. SHORT END IS THE BACK OF THE LOOM. LONG END IS THE FRONT OF THE LOOM. THE BACK OF THE LOOM IS THE WARP END. THE FRONT OF THE LOOM IS THE WEAVING AND FINISHED CLOTH END. Before you warp make sure your loom is facing the correct way. AND when direct warping you put the FRONT of the loom toward the warp peg. You bring the warp from the ball of yarn around the back APRON ROD (the apron rod is the dowel or flat "stick" that you attach the warp to) through the slot in the heddle and over to the direct peg - put ir over the peg and come back to do this again for the width of your warp in the heddle.  So now you know what is the back of the loom and what is the front of the loom. You do not want to weave from the back of the loom - the space between the heddle and the beam is just too short.  Weaving is done on the front of the loom - the long part of the loom.  

ALWAYS WARP SO THAT THE YARN IS CENTERED ON THE HEDDLE. (When you get a new heddle the first thing you should do is take a marking pen and make a mark on the heddle frame at the center of the heddle - either that will correspond to a slot or a hole.)  Do not warp with the yarn on one side of the heddle and the rest of the heddle is empty. As you weave you are weaving with the warp under strong tension between the beams. If you are not centered you are pulling he beams on the side the warp is on and the empty side is going to try to flex - which can break the beam. When planning out where your warp will go on the heddle - with the heddle off the loom and in front of you on a table, start at the middle slot and count out to the right and then to the left to find the starting warp slot and the ending warp slot with the center slot in the middle. This means when you count to one side, count the center slot BUT when you count then to the other side do not count the center slot it is already counted - start in that direction with the slot next to the center slot. A simple tip is to take a piece of yarn and tie it around the top of the frame of the loom through the starting slot and another through the ending slot. On the loom when warping start at one marked slot and stop at the other marked slot. If you often use the same widths to weave on that heddle - keep the marking yarns tied on  - use a different color pair of yarns for different weaving widths and make a note of which is which width. (Sounds like it is part of a song in the Wizard of Oz! 😀 )  And before I start singing - we will move on. 😉

Also before you start weaving, you may notice that the heddle (on some looms) is different on one side from the other side. On some rigid heddle looms the heddle is bumped out on one side. On other rigid heddle looms the heddle is flat on both sides. So which is the front of the heddle and which is the back?  With a heddle that is flat on both sides it does not matter. But guess what? On a heddle with the bump out on one side and flat on the other it also does not matter.  Kromski looms and Ashford looms have heddles made with the bump out on one side of the plastic of the heddle - it is in the area of the hole. One thing that this does is strengthen the plastic around the hole. Yarn passing through the hole constantly is not going to wear through that thicker plastic that forms the bump. But is there a front and back and a right side and a wrong side to use to beat with? Not really. Some will say the name of the company that made the heddle is on the front of the heddle. Hmm? Kromski puts the name on the heddle on the same side as the bump out. Ashford puts the name of the heddle on the flat side of the heddle. Which one is right? It is really a matter of personal preference. My own preference is to beat with the heddle with the bump out. I find that it pushes the weft row more directly than the flat side BUT am I right? Some like using the flat side.  Are they wrong? Some looms only have a heddle that is flat on both sides. Is that a problem? NO! There are as many using the bumped out side to beat with as there are those using the flat side when their heddles have two different sides. (An interesting side note - Kromski's 10 dent heddle is flat on both sides. When I asked them about this they had no answer as to why the 10 dent is flat and the 5, 8, and 12 dent heddles are bumped out on one side.) So decide for yourself if you have a bumped out heddle on one side. Try a project one way and another project the other way - and see which you prefer or conclude that there is no preference. 

OK - here is something that comes up in discussions often. You will see in books and in videos on direct warping that it is said that when you put the yarn around the apron rod to put it in the slot you MUST alternate the yarn going over and under the apron rod - first over, then under. When I first started weaving I was making myself crazy making sure that I got this right - checking with each warp slot that I passed the loop of yarn through. GUESS WHAT? The yarn goes this way whether you think about it or not. It can only go this way - over and under alternating - it does it itself. If it is not, you did something wrong in bringing the yarn from the ball to go around the apron rod and through the slot. It really cannot go any other way if you are warping correctly. 

 When you wind the warp onto the back beam, you are winding the apron rod on with the warp tied on  to it and with the warp UNDER TENSION (how you put the tension on is another article in itself), you must put a warp separator under every layer of warp that you wind on. Warp separator can be as simple as sheets of brown package wrapping paper. A warp separator must be thick and it must not compress so that the one layer of warp sinks into the war layer below. Thin paper - even thin cloth  is not a good warp separator as it will push in with each warp under tension and push into the row below and maybe even rip the paper. The purpose of the separator is to keep each layer of warp apart and not mixing into the layer below.  Some use flat strips of wood put in between the warp as it is wound on. Some use the rubber no slip shelf liner - the one with the bumps on the surface of rubber. Many use the package wrapping paper which is sold in office stores or even Walmart in the stationary aisle. That paper lasts for a long time and many weaves.

There is such a thing as double warp. I am not going to go into how that is done but know that it is two warp threads in each slot and each hole. The yarn that this is done with MUST be thin enough to fit doubled in a slot and in a hole. Don't force it in - it will just rub and break as you are weaving. A beginning weaver should not be doing double warp until they have a lot of experience with single regular warp.

What can go wrong while warping? 

 If you find that there is not enough warp yarn on the ball after you have been warping and then passing  the loop through the slot in the heddle does not make it to the peg, stop and bring that loop back to the loom. Pass it back through to the back of the heddle and tie it onto the apron rod. Get another ball of warp yarn and tie the end on the apron rod and keep warping, Make sure you are starting in the now empty slot that you found the warp was too short to make it to the peg. It is always good to have another ball of yarn on hand - for warp and for weft.

Before you take your warp off the warping peg, go across every slot and make sure you have not missed any slots that needed a warp loop going to the peg. It is far easier now to fix this than later.

When tying on the warp to the warp apron rod - at the start of your warp or at the end - or in between - make sure your knots are strong and cannot come loose. A loose knot here will cause problems when you get toward the end of the weave. Double - even triple knots are good! 

When you have tied your warp to the front beam, every bundle of warp that is tied on must be equal in tension to all of the others. Go along the bundles and the warp behind the heddle with two fingers and tap gently. Every bundle must feel the same tension. If not you will have problems when you weave. It can take multiple adjustments back and forth across the warp bundles to get them even. Time spent here with this will save problems later.

 

Once you have finished warping go and read my article on weaving a header. That is the next thing you have to do before you start weaving with your project yarn! 

 

Yes, the Kromski Heddle Does Stay in the Up Position on the Loom

I often see comments about how someone's Kromski heddle on their Kromski loom will not stay in the up position on their loom. I have answered this many times and it is time I wrote an article about it.

The Kromski heddle and heddle blocks are designed to hold the loom solid in the up position IF the tension on the warp is fairly tight. Not break the beam tight but it is best described as drum tight. That is a term I have used when teaching miniature punchneedle embroidery which also needs to have the cloth in the hoop "drum tight". On the hoop it is easy to explain - tap on the top of the cloth in the hoop and it sounds like a little drum. With the loom, the warp is not going to make any sound if you tap on it, but if you push gently down on it about an inch down there should be resistance. Here is a photo with my fingers pushing down on the warp when the heddle is in the up position -

You see just three fingers lightly pushing down. On just the warp threads it pushes only slightly further (a photo did not show this well). Getting the tension here is not hard. Wind the warp to put some tension on it. Put the heddle heddle up. If it does not stay up by itself or it falls, increase the tension on the warp to the point that the heddle is solid on the top of the blocks. Like this -

See how the warp holds the heddle in place. And see that there are on need for rubber bands wrapped around the top of the heddle block and there is certainly no need for cutting into the notch on the top of the heddle block! Wow! Somethings that I have heard people do rather than get the heddle to stand as it was intended to.

Once it is staying up there, if you feel there is too much tension, then open a pawl (front or back) and move the ratchet one or two notches less. Put the pawl back on the ratchet to lock it and put the heddle back up - if it stays fine. If not, the tension has to go back to where it was - one notch at a time if you lowered it more than one notch.

One thing to know about putting the heddle in both the top and bottom positions is that you pivot the heddle into place. See how the bottom of the heddle frame sits in the notch in the photo above. Put it there first on an angle with the top of the heddle toward you and push the top of the frame up to put the loom straight on the block. It will move against the back of the notch and stay there.

For putting the heddle in the bottom position it is the same thing - with this same tension, put the TOP corner of the heddle frame on the top notch - both sides at the same time - always - and have the bottom of the heddle frame coming toward you. Have your thumbs push the top of the frame toward the back of the loom so that the bottom of the heddle swings into place to the bottom of the heddle block - and it will make a sound "SNAP" - you might even say "Pop" as in Pop Goes the Heddle. 😄 It makes a very definite connection - and stays there!  I love the sound the heddle makes when it snaps into place on the bottom position.

Here is the heddle in the bottom position -

So - it really does work. Don't crank up your tension to the point that it will do damage - but the tension has to be correct for the Kromski heddle to stay solidly in place - up or down! And each time you advance the warp you are releasing the tension to wind the cloth on the front beam and when done you need to return the tension to where it was.

When you finish weaving for the day - or will be away from the loom for several hours, take the tension off the warp - just enough for the warp and cloth to go slightly slack - not too much! This will reduce any stretch on the warp and also any stress on the loom while you are not weaving. 

Getting the Loom Ready To Weave

Most looms require some assembly. My loom was assembled at the shop that I purchased it from, but generally you are going to have to assemble the loom yourself. I did have to assemble the stand that I purchased with my loom. This article is specific to Kromski looms but there are downloads and videos online to assemble Ashford and Schacht looms as well.

Assembling the loom and/or the stand is not difficult and requires no more than a screwdriver and sometimes a hex key. The hex key which was required for my stand came with it.

No matter which loom you have purchased you will need to make a bit of room in the area that you are going to assemble it so that you are not cramped and have room to move. There will be detailed instructions that come with your loom and it is important that you read the instructions all the way through first and then follow them step by step, paying attention to the direction that parts face and that moving parts are not tightened to the point that they don't move.

One thing that I found right away with the instructions for the Kromski loom assembly is that they were not very clear and I was glad that it had been assembled for me. It is not hard - but the instruction in the box could have been better. Then I discovered that there are much better instructions available and these were readily available online. The video is great to be able to see exactly how things go together. If you are going to assemble a Kromski loom or a Kromski stand there here are a few documents to download and print out - and a video that you will want to watch.

KROMSKI LOOM AND STAND ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS WITH COLOR PHOTOS

KROMSKI  STAND ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS - these are the instructions that come in the box with the stand.

KROMSKI LOOM ASSEMBLY VIDEO

You can watch this video right here - 

 

VIDEO THANKS TO KROMSKI NORTH AMERICA AND  NEW VOYAGER TRADING

There is something to note about the assembly instructions linked here and the assembly video. When you look at the instructions that NOW come with the Kromski loom, the cord that is attached to the warp and cloth beams and dowels is put on the loom much differently. It is no longer cut into individual strands with candle burnt ends to form individual loops. It is attached so that it is one continuous cord on each beam that forms openings that the dowel will slip through. The former method is more like what is used on other rigid heddle looms, but Kromski has decided that this new method is much better. You decide how you would like to attach the cords after reading this article. There are some that like the new method and some that like the older method. Both work. After weaving several projects I was not happy with the continuous cord. This is perhaps just my opinion. I found that it was difficult to insert the dowel and have it remain at a consistent distance from the beam while warping or tying on the warp on the cloth side. I was thinking that cords of a consistent length would be much better - which is what was done by Kromski in the past. I, however, was not certain that I wanted to cut the cord that came with my loom up to form these loops and saw that having to melt the ends and get them to stay together - and consistent in  length could be a struggle. I learned that some looms use a special cord for this called TexSolv. TexSolv cord is the same material as the cord that comes with the loom but it is made into small loops along the length. By taking one end of the cord and passing it through a loop you make a moving loop that will hold onto the dowel and by doing the same with the other end of the Texsolv after passing it through one of the holes in the warp or cloth beam you attach the cord to that as well - and as long as you have the same number of the little loops that make up the Texsolv cord you will have exactly equal length cords. TexSolv is not sold everywhere. It is primarily sold in stores that sell weaving supplies. There are various types and it is not cheap. I decided to purchase a small spool from a weaving retailer's website at almost $35 for the 22 yard spool. It can also be purchased by the length from some retailers. You want just the cord and not Texsolv heddles which are used on a different type of loom. This is just the way that I went and I have been happy with it. Here is an article that will show you and tell you all about Texsolv. From the linked article you will also learn that the dowels on your loom are called "apron rods".

Older Kromski looms had nylon ratchets and pawls as other looms use. You will see those in the instructions and video linked here. The new Kromski has metal ratchets and pawls. They assemble the same way - but do rely on the instructions that came with your loom in the box to attach the metal ratchets and pawls. These are much stronger than the nylon. Kromski renamed the loom the Harp Forte instead of just Harp when they began including the metal ratchets and pawls. For not very much money an older Kromski can be converted to metal with a conversion kit that includes all that you will need. THIS video is a good video on how to install the conversion kit if you have an OLDER Kromski. 

The stand is assembled in a way so that it is easy to take apart. If you are going to pack up your loom in its carry bag to take to a class or a demonstration or a weaving guild meeting, you will be disassembling and reassembling the stand a lot. It is made to go together and be taken apart just for this reason. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS. DO TIGHTEN SO THAT THEY HOLD THE STAND STEADY.  Tighten by hand and not with a power screwdriver or drill. Follow the instructions that come with the stand - linked above, if you don't have them - and the stand will go together quickly and easily.

Some Ashford looms do not come to you with the wood finished. The wood is raw when you get the loom. You could leave it this way but it is generally a good idea to finish raw wood to preserve it. Ashford sells a wax to finish their looms. You can stain the wood before using the wax. There is also a locally available product in the US that many weavers like to use to finish their looms. This product is called Howard's Feed N' Wax and can be found in the paint/wood finish sections of both Home Depot and Lowes. This is a wipe on, let sit, wipe off finish that dries fairly quickly. This does smell like oranges while the finish is first put on, but this smell goes away in a couple of hours to days. This finish is good for raw or finished wood and it buffs to a nice shine. All Kromski looms and Schacht looms come finished out of the box.

Once the loom and the stand are assembled you are going to put the loom on the stand. Have someone help when doing this. Let them hold the loom as you attach the screws that hold the loom to the stand. There are many adjustments that you can make as to the angle the loom sits on the stand. This is personal preference. I decided that I wanted the front of the loom to come up against me at about stomach level as I sit in front of the loom. This puts the loom at a downward angle but allows my body to stop the loom from moving when I beat the weft with the heddle. I find this to be a comfortable position. If you like you can adjust the loom on the stand to sit completely flat and parallel to the floor.

If the loom is to be used on a table and not a stand you can clamp the loom down to the table so that it will not move. If the table is too tall for you to weave comfortably like this, man put the back of the loom on the table and hang the front of the loom down to them to their lap.

The loom will weave the same no matter what angle it is sitting at. The heddle stays in place with the tension of the warp.

Now that the loom is assembled and on the stand it is almost ready to weave with. It will help when you are going to warp the loom to know where the center of the heddle is. To do this count the number of slots from one end to the other. You should come out with an odd number. You need to mark the center slot. Divide the number of slots by 2 and subtract `1 - count from the end to the answer to that division and you should arrive at the center slot. From that slot there should be an even number of slots on each side to the end. Take a pencil and mark the frame of the heddle on the back of the heddle under the middle slot. I use pencil first just to make sure we have the right spot. Consider that middle slot as SLOT 0. Double check now by counting out from Slot 0 to the right end of the loom - do not count Slot 0. Then do the same counting out from Slot 0 to the left end of the loom and do not count Slot 0. If both counts are the same, take a permanent line marker (like a Sharpie) and make a small line about a quarter of an inch long down where the pencil mark is. It is also helpful to mark inches out from Slot 0. Again use a pencil first. This is easy to do. Start counting slots to the right - not counting Slot 0. If you have an 8 dent heddle every four slots is an inch. Mark each of every fourth slot with the pencil. Do the same going to the left of Slot 0 and mark every fourth slot with the pencil. Put a ruler down and you should see that you are right. Once you are certain, put a marker dot on each pencil mark. Why have you done this? You always want to warp in the center of the loom. You do not want to put on, for example, a ten inch warp starting on an end and warping in ten inches. You want the center of the ten inches in the middle of the loom. With these marks this is now easy to determine. Why mark on the back of the heddle? You will be warping from the back to the front. The Kromski heddle has a back and a front. Some other companies heddles do not. You can tell the front of a Kromski heddle first by looking at the plastic that forms the slots and holes and the front is pushed out and the back is flat. The name "Kromski" is also on the front. If there is no difference from front to back on your loom's heddle it does not matter which side you mark - but always put the side you have marked to the rear so that you have your measurement markings visible when you warp from back to front. (Warp beam on the back. Cloth beam on the front.)

Now you are ready to weave!

 Now the fun begins!

INTRODUCTION

Welcome! I am going to share on this site my journey in learning how to weave on a rigid heddle loom. I have been weaving on this loom for a year now. I have a Kromski 32" Rigid Heddle loom with stand. Kromski is the name of the manufacturer and this loom is made in Poland.  Over this past year I have taught myself how to weave on this loom and I still have a long way to go to learn all of the techniques and variations of weaving on this loom. All rigid heddle looms are basically the same - and weaving on one is really no different than weaving on any other rigid heddle (or RH) loom no matter the manufacturer. As you read this site you will have the benefit of learning what I have learned. You will hear about what to do - and what not to do - as well as resolving some of the minor problems that can arise for someone new to weaving starting out with a rigid heddle loom. What I am not going to do on this site is teach you step by step how to weave. There are some excellent books to teach you this and will do so much better than I. There are also some excellent videos that do this - some free and some you have to purchase or have a paid subscription to see. There are many free ones that help a great deal. As we go along I will share the books and videos that I find are most helpful. There are things that the books will only mention and there are things that the books don't go into at all. These are many and these are the things that over this past year I have had to find the answers to and get help with - and these things I will share with you. Think of this site as a supplemental resource.

I should share first just what a rigid heddle loom is. All looms have a heddle of one type or another. The heddle is what holds the yarn or thread that runs vertically on the loom from back to front. These threads pass through slots and holes in the heddle. The heddle makes it possible for the threads (or yarn) to open and close - each set - those in slots and those in holes - going up or down. Opening the threads creates an open which you will pass a shuttle through to bring more yarn (or thread) from one side to the other horizontally across the loom. This is the process of weaving. Alternating which set of threads goes up or down and passing that shuttle through back and forth each time "weaves" all of the yarn (or threads) together. This is the process of creating cloth from yarn or thread. All cloth is made this way - whether on a hand operated loom or a machine loom. The rigid heddle loom uses a one piece solid heddle. This heddle has both slots and holes - generally made of a plastic or composite. Traditional looms often use strings to create these slots and holes. Others use wires to do this. Traditional weaving looms have multiple "shafts" or sets of heddles that can go up and down independently from each other controlled by pedals or handles. The basic rigid heddle loom has one heddle. (Some rigid heddle manufacturers include or offer as an option, a way to use a second or even a third rigid heddle on the loom which make more complex weaving patterns possible and also allow the loom to weave wider than the length of the loom or a tube.)

So a rigid heddle loom is a loom with from one to three solidly constructed heddles. There are several manufacturers around the world that make and sell rigid heddle looms. The three most popular are Kromski, Schacht, and Ashford (listed in no particular order). All three companies have websites that will show you the various looms each makes in various sizes.

Introductions can be boring! My buying my loom is a story in itself and in two weeks you will read about that. I will have a new article every two weeks on Mondays at about 5:00 pm Eastern time.  I have a whole year of things to share so much of this will be written well in advance of its publication date and after that new experiences will keep this site going.

If you give this site a chance to get started you will see that it will be fun. I write to entertain as well as inform and I have written a great deal in my life - some of which has brought more than a few smiles.

I am looking forward to sharing all with you and I hope that you will come back every two weeks to travel this journey with me.

Oh yes, allow me to introduce you to my loom -