Rug Warp January 5, 2010

Rug Warp, originally uploaded by picturethepromises.

I recently "warped the beam" on my Union 36 rug loom. The loom had belonged to my grandmother and a few years ago I got it after it had been stored for several years. In the last couple years I have learned how to warp the beam, thread the heddles and the reed. I have had to make a few minor repairs and replace a few parts. All in all things have gone well. I have learned how to weave rugs that my mom said "Grandma would have been proud"! Most of this by trial and error. By making a mistake, having to redo something and trying again.

I do remember Grandma making rugs but she died in 1977. I was in my first year of Bible College. When I was younger, I would go to her house and she would let me sew the strips together on her old treadle sewing machine. There is a right way and a wrong way you know.... She tried to teach me to wind the sewn strips into balls. Hers were tight and nice and round or shaped like a football. Mine still are soft and somewhere between round and a football. She always said you have to weave them tight. I remember mom looking at homemade rugs and saying "Nope, they're not tight, they won't last." So, my goal was to get them good and tight. And they are. Again by trial and error. But Grandma would be proud!

That's how I'm learning photography as well, by trial and error. I try something and it may work, if not, try again. When all else fails i guess I could read a book!

Blessings