ENTERING THE WARP IN HARNESS AND REED

Hand Loom Weaving Plain & Ornamental (1910) - Luther Hooper


Nowadays we refer to this process as threading the heddles and sleying the reed but on a traditional loom"entering" is exactly what happens; you have to get inside it. I love the warning.

 These pictures here from Luther Hooper show and Old English Loom and the same loom prepared for entering.





Now here is the similar thing on my loom. I took off the breast beam, the knee beam and the cloth beam. The stool was too high but I found that a plank stretched between the two sides of the loom frame was at just the right height.

So as to get the lease sticks at the right height I clamped and clipped them to the back beam.

From experience I know that in order to be able to thread the heddles happily you must be able to sit and work with a straight back and see the lease sticks and the heddle eyes without any contortions. On some of my looms I have not been able to achieve this, but the setup here was perfect. Threading was a doddle!

I borrowed some boxes of pasta to hold the reed at the correct height for sleying. I started off with it too low but my back protested so I raised the reed and and everything was fine.