Oops, I forgot to document hanging the cross inside the loom behind the heddles. Have to catch up on that one the next time. This video shows threading part way through the process after studying a really great video sent by Digital Weaving Norway.
The process is as follows:
- Find the starting heddle. In my case I am weaving 1200 threads instead of 1980 so I found the right heddle to begin. Unfortunately I started 6 threads to the left of where I should have which caused a few issues when weaving. More on that later.
- You thread one heddle per module working from the front to the back and using the same heddle in each module.
- After those, in my case, 3 heddles (one from each module) have been threaded, move to the next heddle in order on the first module then repeat on the remaining heddles.
- When you’ve threaded all of the heddles in that column, move left to the next column and repeat.
- I bundled 1 centimeter of threads (18) by tying the loop with a long cord to the front of the loom. I had never done that before but it really helps keep them organized and pulls the heddles out of the way to make more room for threading.
- Make your way left until all threads are threaded.
Here’s a snippet of the user manual for the TC2 to illustrate the threading order.
I was crazy slow as I struggled with the distractions of the jiggling heddles and the newness of it all. As I learned by watching the video and by experience the heddles are not fragile and pulling them forward to thread made it a lot easier. I also experimented with bungees and sticks, etc. to see if that made it easier but in the end I tried to emulate what I saw on the threading video as best as I could and that seems to be a great process for now. By the end I was getting much faster but not up to the 200 per hour I can do on my Megado. Hopefully that will come.
Lessons Learned
- Heddles are not fragile and can be moved in groups safely. Pull one from each module forward at a time to thread out in the open air where you can see what you are doing.
- As in all threading, being careful to thread in the right order and keep threads from crossing is very important. Take your time and double check as you go.
- Lighting is important.
- Body position is important. Don’t try to do too much at one time.
- Tying loops and bungee-ing off the left hand heddles to make space makes it easier.
- The thing I hate most is when my threads are too short and back through already threaded heddles. In this case I went overboard so have now learned that too long is just as big of a problem. Not such a big deal when threading as I thread a loop and not the end of the thread but became a big pain when denting. More on that later.