Paddle

Think About Using a Paddle – Free PDF

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 Free Chapter Cover ClipSince I sent out over 60 copies of my Book #1: Winding a Warp & using a Paddle for my Holiday Gifts, I thought I would point readers to the wealth of information that I wrote about using a paddle. This post (Weaving Tip) includes the complete Chapter 10 which has important information for using any type of paddle. Following that in the book are separate chapters for the two types of paddle. There are descriptions of different types of paddles, too.

If you didn’t get a free book over the holidays, here is your chance to get your own copy 50% off the regular price. This offer will go until February 1. I’ve taught many weavers how to use paddles and everyone feels so empowered afterwards. I hope you will want to try it. I tell you the limitations as well as the reasons why you would want to use one. [if viewing this post in an email and the links below do not work just click here]
©2005 • 3rd printing, revised edition; 138 pages; 195 illustrations. Lie-flat wire-0 binding  •  $39.95  >  January Special 50% Off = $20.00
CLICK HERE to download for free introductory chapter: “Using a Paddle” or click the PayPal button below to order the book.




 

Weaving Keynote Speech

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2012 CNCH Weaving Convention
2012 CNCH Weaving Convention

I spent the month of March preparing my keynote speech for the northern California weaving conference, CNCH. It will be May 17-20 at the Oakland Convention Center. It was a lot of work but fun figuring out what I could say in 1/2 hour. Believe me, there was a lot I had to relegate to the cutting room floor. It was hard to give up so many ideas. Maybe we can make a video and put it on line!

April will be devoted to preparing for my two classes and a retrospective of my work. I’ve already made the list for the exhibit for the labels, but now I need to be sure every piece is prepared and ironed, etc. I’m honored to have this recognition.

The two classes are about collapse weaving and supplementary warp–two of my favorite things. (I’ve signed up for CNCH 2013 to teach them again–also about using the paddle.

Using a Paddle with a Warping Reel

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I received a comment asking about how to use a paddle with a vertical warping reel. In my Book #1, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle I do discuss this. Here is a clip from the paddle chapter.

paddle and reel
paddle and reel

WHERE TO PLACE THE PADDLE
You want the paddle to be easy to reach, so when you get to the lease pegs, you can easily make the lease and put it onto the pegs.
Other than being clamped to something
approximately at the center of the warping
board as in Figure 118, below, the paddle can be clamped to the bottom of the warping board itself if the height of the board is convenient for you.
Clamping a paddle at a height close to the
pegs on a reel is shown in Figure 119a.

paddle and chair
paddle and chair

Clamping it to the back of a chair works well, too. See Figure 119b.

Also, see below where to place the paddle at a warping board.

Paddle and warping board
Paddle and warping board

Warping Paddles

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Slot and Hole Paddle

For many weavers, “paddle” is a mysterious word. Perhaps they’ve tried and never quite figured out how to make it work. It may have seemed awkward, confusing—but always seductive. How liberating to be able to warp multiple ends at once! But keeping one thread organized and moving freely onto the warping board or reel can be a challenge—how much

All Holes Paddle

more dexterity it must take to manage four or six or a dozen! But that is exactly the advantage of using a paddle. The paddle lets you measure many threads with every pass up and down the board or reel. Becoming proficient with the paddle need not take any special dexterity—in fact, its use has developed precisely because it acts as an extension of your own hand. See the Weaving Tip: Why Use a Paddle?

See Chapter 1: Using a Paddle, in my Book #1, Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle.

Heck Block for Warping Reels

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Jennifer asks for a quick way to warp multiple threads at a time. The most available method for weavers today is to use a paddle. I have a chapter on using various types in my Book #1, “Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle.”

Jim Ahrens’ warping mill which I use in my studio has a heck block–a marvelous (and old) mechanism that he made. I am warping 10 ends at once while  making a thread-by-thread cross (lease).

This is from Page 16 of my Book #1 ,” Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle.” I don’t know if anyone makes them now, AVL did for awhile. You might look them up in old weaving books from Europe.
The heck block

Heck Block (click to enlarge)

The heck is a mechanical way to spread your warp at precisely spaced intervals along the frame of a warping reel. It moves up and down on a vertical support that stands next to the reel, or if the reel is horizontal, it moves back and forth on a support alongside the reel. The central
support of the reel extends beyond the reel and turns with it: a cord wound around this support is attached by a pulley to the heck.
As you turn the reel to measure out your warp, the cord unwinds, and the heck block moves along the length of the reel. As you turn the reel for the return trip, the cord winds back round the pipe, drawing the heck back along its support. Multiple warp ends, which are threaded
into a leasing and tensioning device on the heck block, are carried with the heck
and so are laid down on the reel automatically.