More on Mutant Drawlooms and the Youngest Warped Warrior
It was a Chris day today. At eight, he’s savvy, but measured in his speech and polite. He likes dining out, good conversation, and has an eye for the young ladies.
They have an eye for him too. What’s not to like? He’s a sensitive, stylish guy with a cool bike.
I proudly name him as the youngest recognized Warped Warrior. Not only does he weave (and understands fairly complex structures), he rides. No dirt-biker, he. As his heritage is mostly European, he tends toward Grand Prix. That’s good, as his bike is GP style.
Cute as a button, no? Behind that ferocious scowl of concentration, I mean. Believe me, it’s hard to ride those slick racing tires on a rutted dirt lane.
A very short shop day today. The fellow from the electric company knocked on the door by a few days ago (the advantages of a local outfit) and said that they would be replacing a pole up the road which broke under the snow . No electricity from nine ’till noon. In the remaining two hours before collecting Chris, I sorted out the warp and back beams on NilMIra.
Sometimes, we get stuck in bad thinking. As I was fitting out the two warp beams on the loom, I had an obstinate idea that both should be sectional beams. I clamped things up, and found that there was no way the system would work in the space allowed. I had to reconsider my ideas. Another paradigm shift.
In fact, one can warp from one beam to another or even from one loom to another. I’ve done this in classes, where time prohibits everyone winding an individual warp. If one makes a fixture to keep two looms aligned to one another (which can be done in twenty minutes, from four “two by fours” and a few screws, a teacher can sectionally wind a long warp on a “mother” loom and donate it under near perfect tension to all the gathered chicks. I’ll explain this and photograph it the next time I use the technique. NilMira can have one sectional and one plain beam
This solved my warping conflicts on NilMira. I have a very old, round-turned beam that I’ll repair the glue joints on. I need to make some “beam-heads,” or “flanges” to complete the system. I’ll picture those also. It’s much simpler constructing them for a round beam than the usual hexagonal one.
Here’s NilMira with her two warp beams and two back beams. The rearmost beam stands 1/2″ (13 mm) above the front one. This keeps the ground warp and pattern warp from abrading one another.
This is how they look from the back of the loom:
More soon. I’ve roughed out the wood to make the draw protion of NilMira. I expect things are going to become very exciting soon. I need to raise about $200 to purchase the steel to make the draw frames. As we’re in the “Great Recession” cash is short. I wonder how our grandparents got by.
Cowboy up all, I guess.
Tim