A Difficult Warp to Weave

Fast forward to a fully warped loom, threaded and sleyed and weaving underway.  I started weaving with the expectation that this was going to be a difficult warp to weave.  The first 12" didn't do anything to make me think otherwise, but after that I stopped breaking so many warp threads and everything settled down into a somewhat reasonable weaving rhythm.  Because I was concerned that my selvedge threads might break from drawing in too much, I used the clamp temple system.  These clamps hold the selvedges out, just the same as a temple would and have to be moved along as you weave just as frequently as a temple. They are, however, simpler and faster to reposition (in my opinion)  along the woven cloth.  I bought these several years ago and they are for fastening tarps, etc.  The company seems to be out of business now, and I haven't found any more like them, so these are precious, indeed.  However, if I don't lose them, they will probably last my lifetime.   The part you can't see in this photo is that the clamp has a cord with a weight attached which is hung over the side of the loom.  The clamp works well for delicate fabric because it doesn't have the needle like teeth of a temple and I have never had a problem with it marring the cloth.

Here is a shot of the warp without any mended warps in view.  Believe me, this was not the norm.  Usually there were a couple of T-headed pins in view.

Since I didn't have much of a plan about where I was headed,  I started by collecting some of the same yarns I had used in my warp.  I wound a pirn  (bobbin) full of each color and wove until the pirn ran out, then started a new color.  Sometimes I started up with a new color just after or before the end of a block, leaving small color stripes.  I was a bit nervous about this in the beginning, but then forgot about control issues and just let things happen.

Next post -- more cloth, more colors and a few trials and tribulations.