Weekend before last, I did go pick up my new-to-me Leclerc 45” Tissart loom. This is my first loom with treadles and a reed, etc. This also means that I am without many other things like a warping board, a rattle, and lease sticks. So this weekend, I did a little woodworking. I’m proud to say I did all this for under $45.
First step was to cut all the boards to length. That involved cutting the molding for the spacers as I wind the warp, the boards for the warping board, and the dowel rods for the warping board.
I, of course, had supervision for all of this. Isn’t he a good boy? Shadow didn’t like the noise, but he likes the smell of sawdust!
Once cut, I did lay out all the spacers for winding the warp so that I could spray them with lacquer. Unlike most of you, the warp will likely be on the loom a long time and I wanted to make sure that 
the wood was sealed to prevent any discoloration of the warp. Two coats on each side and those are finished! I now have 14 in all.
Between coats, I started on the warping board. I’ve decided I really didn’t need to have more than a 10 yard capacity –
remember I’m a weekend tapestry weaver! I decided the warping board would be a square and the passage from one side to the other would be about a yard. With the dowel pins in the middle of the side board, that meant the length of the sides needed to be 39”. Shadow agreed.
From there, I marked off the positions of the dowel pins. (Yes that’s actually James’ hand. He decided I needed a line straight up the middle of the board – so I let him do it!)
Of course, with the marks in place, the dowel pin holes could then be drilled. The dowel rod was just over 3/4”, so that told us which bit to use.
A little wood glue was put on the ends of the dowel pins and they were pressed into the holes in the board. Shadow was quite fascinated by the “sticks” and wanted very much to “help” with them!
With the dowel pins in place, the sides of the square can be assembled into the warping board.
The vertical pieces sat on top of the horizontal pieces. The end of the vertical was lined up with the side of the horizontal and the two were squared up with a speed square.
A 
little wood glue had been spread in between the two pieces and they were joined with a finish nailer. Three nails would be sufficient, but I put in 5 like Purina logo! (I don’t know why – it just felt right!) And here’s the warping board resting from all it’s work!
With that complete, I started on the rattle. I marked off 2 dents/inch on the centerline of a 48” long board. With that I began tapping in the finish nails. Sounds simple enough, but after about 2 feet, the board started splitting on both sides!
James fortunately had a piece of alder that he was willing to give me. With a new set of marks we headed back to the drill press to put in the 91 holes for the rattle! The nails were then tapped into their respective holes. That’s 91 nails – quite a line up!
It was a productive day and now I’m ready to think about warping. Especially since I have the Shadow seal of approval!
10 comments:
What a long day you had, but a successful one. It's good that Shadow is a weaver as well, that's a great help. You'll have many happy hours with that loom. K.
Great prep work, Jennifer. Now... on to the warping!
Tommye
Oh Good Job! Looks great and what a bargain doing it yourself and with a little "will work for treats" help.
Can hardly wait to see that beautiful new loom warped up and ready to go.
Thanks for the encouragement! We'll see where we go from there!
What a great job, you are a real carpenter!
I'm impressed!!! I like that you think as a weekend tapestry weaver, 10 yards is enough. 10 yards is huge!!! (esp. for tapestry!)
One weaver I know weaves 25 yard warps. She just puts two warping boards side by side....so when you move beyond weekend weaving, you can just build a second one!
I am in raddle limbo. I used to warp front to back, so I didn't need one. Then I switched and borrowed a raddle from a friend. I keep putting off the decision of whether to make one or buy one.
But your price of under $45 really can't be beat!!!
Maybe I should make a raddle instead of thinking about buying one. It would probably save me time!
Sue
Sue - you know I really figured that 10 yards of warp would last me the rest of my life!!! The rattle took me about 45 minutes to an hour to make - including drilling all the holes. You might even be able to include shopping in that number. And it should cost you less than $10 for a piece of wood and a box of finish nails.
oh, I am so impressed! I sometimes think that although I seem to be able to make anything of cloth, when it comes to hard goods like wood all I can do is envy other people's skills. Clever you!
Thanks Laura - I know what you mean. If I am unfamiliar with something I am facinated - like those who work in glass - particularly warm or hot. I can't imagine. While I did most of the work - I did have guidance from my husband!
Hmmmm...the $10 raddle. I might have to do that - esp. since I'm about to shell out big bucks for some stainless steel reeds.
There's an award for you on my blog, since I'm such a fan of yours!
Sue
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