I am not what you would consider a math wiz. I went out of my way in college to take a logic class to fulfill my math credits and even the "liberal arts-esque" statistics class I was forced to take in graduate school was enough to cause sleepless nights. I am infinitely more comfortable with words than numbers, and occasionally this causes problems in the world of weaving. Sometimes I get emails from customers asking me how much warp they should buy for a certain project or at what height they should set their loom and I'm forced to confront the numbers. For my own projects my method is simpler: Wildly overestimate just in case. I might just waste a lot of warp.
Now that I've built your trust (ha), I thought I'd answer a question we've had several people ask over the last few days: How do you know how high to set your loom for a particular project?
The answer to this depends on a few things: Which loom are you using? Are you using continuous warping or the No Warp-Ends Kit or Extra Warping Bar Kit or Easy Warp Method? How much warp waste do you need to finish off your ends? Are you using the shedding device? I am not going to go over all of these variables but will discuss figuring out how high to set your loom for continuous warping with and without the shedding device, which is where most people seem to have questions:
Note: These numbers are just guidelines.
Warp waste is the amount of warp you want left on the ends of your piece to aid in finishing. We recommend 4 inches on each side, so 8 inches total.
The top and bottom loom beams are 1 1/4" deep.
With the shedding device, leave 4 extra inches because you can't weave up as high as without the shedding device.
Continuous Warping Without The Shedding Device:
X = Loom Height
Length of piece + warp waste (8") + top and bottom beam depth (2 1/2") = Y (total warp length)
Y/2 - 1/2 top and bottom beam depth (1 1/4") = X
Continuous Warping WithThe Shedding Device:
X = Loom Height
Length of piece + warp waste (8") + shedding device space (4") + top and bottom beam depth (2 1/2") = Y (total warp length)
Y/2 - 1/2 of the top and bottom beam depth (1 1/4") = X
