tying on the warp for a new color
etsy, weaving

Chef Towels off and on the loom

“I feel good when I’m weaving,” says Rachael when I remind her that the Etsy stuff is supposed to be fun not an all-out push to get stuff done.

Whipping things off the loom…

The chef towels are a popular item on the Etsy store so Rachael put them back on the loom to make some more and use up colors.

The video here is a quick clip of the blue chef towels coming off the loom, because it’s kind of fun!

Unusual things occupy your childhood memories when you grow up in a weaver’s home… a repeating theme turns out to be your mother hauling yards and yards and yards of fabric off a loom (and not letting you help because you’re like 4 years old and this fabric is for a client and thus not to be messed up).

Changing warp colors, the easy way

tying on the warp for a new color

The process of changing over the color without having to re-warp the entire loom is pretty simple but still rather awesome. When I got to her studio yesterday, Rachael had finished 15 blue chef towels and was already tying on a new color. She had already tied the new green warp to the ends of the blue warp and had moved on to tying on the white ends.

from the back of the loom

This is a shot from the back of the loom and the end of warp. The warp is tied onto the rod you see in the bottom of the picture, then threaded through the heddles on the harnesses and finally through the reed on the beater. The masking tape you see across the threads helps keep it tamed. When all the new warp threads are tied on, she’ll wind the length of the new warp onto the back beam of the loom so she can start weaving again.

From the front again, she ties knots really quickly, which is unsurprising. Just under and behind the white warp threads, you can see the blue chef towels that have already been woven, hanging out on the front beam. These are the towels that got taken off the loom in the video above! 

the warp being tied on

Here you can see some of the length of the warp coming off the loom. Rachael is putting on enough warp for another 12+ green chef towels. It’s carefully prepared so that it keeps from tangling both before and during the warping process.

the rest of the warp, pooling on the floor

Here’s some more of that warp. Once all the ends are tied, Rachel will go to the back of the loom and carefully wind the warp onto the back beam. The entire length has to pass through the reed and heddles to get onto the back beam to be ready to weave. 

The green part of the warp is ready too, hanging out in its own bucket with the waiting green shuttles. 

information

Getting things up and running!

double chariot wheel overshot placement in beige
Double Chariot Wheel Overshot Placement

Finally!

R. Hixon E. as a brand of high-quality handwovens and other artisan items has been around for decades.

I, Carla Emmons, have been trying to convince my mother, Rachael H. Emmons, to get her handwoven items online and for sale since, approximately, the advent of the world wide web as a viable commerce platform.

Now that we are in the same state and both have a bit of spare time to actually work on things, learn things and generally be fussy with technology, we’re starting to populate Etsy with items currently available.

(Also, I reserve the right to use as many exclamation points as I see fit!) 

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Gratuitous Etsy Link!

After some extensive taking of inventory and a whirlwind session of photography, we’ve finally put up the first few items on Etsy. There are many, many more items to come because the initial inventory (which went considerably faster than anticipated, quite frankly) included over 800 items.

And Rachael hasn’t actually stopped weaving, so… there will be more.