WARPING PADDLE

I use my paddle as a stationary paddle. Some people prefer to carry the paddle as the wind on the warp. When I have tried to do that, I get into a complete muddle at the cross.

Here is my warping paddle close up and in use. Because of the angle, you can't see that it consists of alternating holes and slots, just like a rigid heddle.

HOLES AND SLOTS

Four threads are coming up from four cones. Each one goes through a hole or a slot. The ends in the slot can be moved either to the right or to the left. The threads in the holes are always stationary because they cannot move. And that is the secret of the warping paddle.

As the four warp ends emerge from the top of the paddle, I grab them with my hand and wind them up to the top of the warping board. I stop short of the crossing pegs.

TWO FINGERS IN THE CROSS

Holding on to the four ends at the top of the board with my left hand, I reach down under the paddle with my right hand. I uses my right hand to grab the warp ends coming from underneath the paddle. I move those warp ends to my right. But only two warp ends move: those in the slots. The other two are stationary because they are in the holes.

FIRST HALF OF CROSS

There is now a space between the stationary warp ends and the moved warp ends. This space is not only underneath the paddle, it also appears above the paddle. I insert a finger of my left hand into the space between the yarns that appears above the paddle.

SECOND HALF OF CROSS

Next I move my right hand (still holding the four warp ends) underneath the paddle from my right to my left. This creates another space. The warps that are threaded through the slots now move the left. The space is visible between the top of the paddle and the warp ends threaded over one finger of my left hand. I put a second left-hand finger through this second space.

Now my two fingers are holding the cross. I put one section of the cross on one peg; I put the other section on the second peg.

RETURN TRIP

I then take those four ends and go round the end peg. I make the cross with the paddle again, getting the cross on my two fingers. I put each section of the cross on a peg and then run the four ends back down to the beginning.

TWO HELPFUL BOOKS

Peggy Osterkamp, Winding a Warp and Using a Paddle, pp. 67-84. She explains and illustrates how to use both a slot-and-hold paddle (both stationary and carry-around) and an all-holes paddle. If you've got this you don't need another book.......

but if you can't help yourself..........

Leslie Voiers, Workshop Notes for Winding Multi-Colored Warps with a Warping Paddle Using the Warping Board Frame or the Upright Warping Reel. Though Osterkamp has written (written very well) all you need to know about using the paddle, Voiers has included lots of tips that can be very useful. However, she does limit herself to carry-around paddles (both stationary and all-holes).

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