A couple people have asked me, “What can you do with a 40-shaft loom that you can’t do with a 24-shaft loom?” So I spent part of this morning doodling up an example.
Here is a sea turtle (public domain drawing, done by Jack Javech for NOAA (a branch of the U.S. government)):
And here it is, adapted to 24 shafts:
As you can see, the turtle is recognizably a turtle, but looks a bit…odd. And blocky.
By way of contrast, here’s the 40-shaft version:
The image is much crisper and clearer on 40 shafts than 24.
I will probably weave this up on the new 40 shaft loom, as it’s a very nice image.
I have been thinking about the first warp on the new loom. I expect it will mostly be a “commissioning” warp – that’s satellite terminology for the first couple days post-launch, when you’re checking out all the systems, making sure everything works, and prepping it for everyday function. In short, I expect this warp to mostly be about debugging the loom assembly. So I don’t want to do anything critical or particularly fussy on it.
On the other hand, this is a golden opportunity to satisfy several of my study group sample exchange requirements. I belong to five Complex Weavers study groups, three of which are primarily sample exchanges (Fine Threads, Beyond Plain Weave Garment, and Twenty Four More or Less). In addition, I have promised a bunch of samples to the Conference of Northern California Handweavers’ Helen Pope Special Sample Service. (The Sample Service gathers donated samples and sells them at CNCH conferences, both to raise money for CNCH and to allow attendees to get samples of interesting fabrics at a very reasonable cost.) I’m thinking I will use this warp to accomplish that. So now I just need to choose a warp and a threading that will allow me to satisfy all four requirements.
Finallysince the last few kitten shots have been relatively static, here is a video of Tigress in action (this time ferociously hunting a moving sock):
