Planning for a trip north

[watervole]

 I'm hoping to go to an English Civil War event at Wressle Castle in Yorkshire on 25, 26 August.

Problems:

1.  Costume.  I've just  been offered a set of women's clothes in my size by a former re-enactor.  About 20 years old, so more likely to be cotton than linen (modern day re-enactors like to be more accurate, and I'm on board with that), but it will do for now, (let's see if I enjoy this before buying a lot of linen fabric to make my own). 

I may also be able to borrow some stuff off the Norfolke Trayned Bands, who have their own stash of kit.  No sure if they'll have any shoes, but fingers crossed.  Period shoes look very comfortable

2.  Weaving. I've pretty much settled on a small tape loom.  Now I need to buy or make one....

I like the look of this one here. Fairly simple and practical.  Though, I'd probably have to do without the wonderful folding element (hover over the image to see how it folds up for transport)

3.  Transport.  There is a reasonable chance I can get a lift most of the way, but South coast to Yorkshire is a fair trek and I'm nervous of long car journeys after one triggered a nasty attack of bursitis.    If I go by rail, I may be able to see my sister Carolyn enroute, but Bank Holiday crush... And if I go by rail, I'll have to get a friend to take my tent etc.  I'm not carrying tent, sleeping bag, air bed, etc. across London!

Still working on this part of it...

 

 

 

 

Comments

[annofowlshire]

It sounds fun! Plenty of time to make travel arrangements work out :D

[grayestofghosts]

I can’t see the tape loom but looking at the pictures on Google, I guess I didn’t know they made those. I’m most familiar with full size inkle looms —- getting the tension right on a tape loom that small looks difficult.

[watervole]

Take look here - https://yarninmypocket.typepad.com/yarn_in_my_pocket/2007/11/tape-loom-pure-.html for another tape loom.

The two parts that rotate both have little metal pins (hard to see in photo, but I've seen other examples) that lock the wheels in place, so I don't think tension would be too hard to control.

I think they'd only be suitable for small projects. There's certain a limit to how much you can wind on those rods.

[grayestofghosts]

Hmm...

But yes, inkle looms are a surprisingly modern invention. I've heard that the method of sticking dowels onto the frame like they do in such a way is a pretty modern and fiddly thing to do that looks deceptively easy, to the point that a lot of woodworkers look at an inkle, think "hmm, I can make that easy!" and then the thing they make breaks under tension real quick.

I guess I'm just thinking of being able to direct warp on an inkle loom vs having to use a warp board, and how much difficulty I had with my rigid heddle with indirect warping. It just looks like a pain in the butt to me given how lightweight it looks.

These look a lot like some of the bead looms I've seen. If you get tired of weaving tape you could try beads :p

[word_geek]

That sounds like a lot of fun, I hope it all works out

[watervole]

My husband made my inkle loom by drilling holes for the dowels. Though the pegs still give a little if my tension is too tight. but it's not really a problem.

Like you, I normally use continuous warping. Though there's many a thing I've woven in the past, usually when there were a lot of different coloured warp threads involved, where I've done the warp in other ways. Must admit that I've never used a warp board, I just wrap stuff around the back of a couple of chairs to measure it.

Yeah, rigid heddles are a pain to set up compared to string heddles. No wonder string heddles have taken over.
A rigid heddle isn't too bad for a small project, but string heddles make it easier to manipulate the warp threads as well, as you've more free fingers.

But tablets are definitely my favourite.

No way! I tried a tiny bit of bead work once. Life is too short...

[vera_j]

I hop e you will be able to go!!!