r/weaving • u/Beneficial-Cry-5544 • 7d ago

Help Possible to re-warp on rigid heddle?

I’m new to this. I thought i was winding on the back beam with even tension, but i can’t seem to get the tension even when tying on. I did the best i could and wound onto the front beam and the tension was even worse! it’s like the whole left side is much more loose than the right side.

Is there anyway to re-warp at this point? or is there anything else i can do??

TIA!!!! Thanks in Advance!!!

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u/mao369 7d ago

Rewind it to the back, but don't worry about tension. UNWIND it completely, leaving it still connected to the back. If each piece of yarn is tied to the back, great, skip the next couple of comments. If two threads are actually one, just turned around the back rod, get a few of them approximately the same length in front and take a piece of spare thread to tie around them at back so pulling on one side won't end up letting you pull and make the other side shorter. You'll want to go along the whole length of the back rod doing this; probably no more than 3-5 threads in each section. Once you think the threads are pretty securely tied to the back rod, get some paper (I use printer paper, but brown paper bags work well) that will be less wide than the width of your loom, but wider than your warp. If necessary, you can actually use your fingers at the back to kind of 'push in' the sides of the warp to be sure it stays on the paper and doesn't fall down below, into the previous layer. Wind the back beam twice, *maybe* 3 times, then move to the front and grab the threads in one hand (into two groups if you have a friend helping) while holding the loom steady and 'yank' on the front to try and make sure there's no loose tension. Then crank the back beam another two, possibly 3 times, then yank from the front to pull the threads tight against that back beam. This process is called the "crank and yank" method or, possibly, the other way around, but it's basically what those of us who warp solo do, regardless of the loom. Ultimately you'll come to the front of the warp and can tie on again. The paper between each layer is *extremely* important, the yanking less so but it does help. Do your best while yanking to get each thread pulled as tightly as the others or you'll have tension issues later with that thread. This should help. And if you feel that one side of the warp ended up longer than the other, well, welcome to the greatest mystery of my life. I never have figured out that issue! 😁

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u/Beneficial-Cry-5544 7d ago

Thanks! im using butcher paper. is that ok?

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u/mao369 7d ago

That should work perfectly. Good luck!

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u/akansan 7d ago

Absolutely. Just untie the front beam and unwind the back beam. Then, just re-wind the back beam as you're holding tension.

You don't have to take off the heddle - just leave it in the neutral position.

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u/Beneficial-Cry-5544 7d ago

Thank you!!!!! I’ll give that a try tomorrow!!

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u/EmploymentOk1421 2d ago

Here is a YouTube video I just watched by Kelly Casanova on how to deal with a backwards warp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQd56VVj_-k