Tuesday, June 29, 2010

This feature is [one of] my favorites!

I finished my 'braided cuff', using my 'weighted warp method', as I shared in earlier posts below and will share photographs shortly, but first I'd like to mention how much I enjoyed one of the Mirrix features!

In the photo on the left, I show one side of my 16 inch Mirrix Loom. There is a threaded portion that fits inside of the upper copper portion and rests on a very large 'wing nut'. The 'wing nut' allows you to tighten the tension on your warps by turning both wing nuts, (on each side), at the same time! I am a 'tension bead loomer' so this option is valuable.

I'll bet this feature would be perfect to 'tension loom' different sized beads, not a design known for bead looming! In other words, loomed beads cannot be loomed with various size beads or the looming will show too much of your warps and the stability of the looming is compromised. This feature 'may' allow a design to include smaller beads and larger beads, just by adjusting the tension of the warps, either right or left, depending on what is needed.

This idea came to mind, while looming my first piece on this Mirrix. I haven't had a chance to work with this thought, yet, but will keep it in mind for my future looming projects. There is so much more to think about, but this could be another way to get the ball rolling for "taking looming to another level"!

I love this feature and used the wing nuts to loosen my warps for an edging technique I included in this same braided cuff. Now I want to work with arranging the tension of the warps more, at my discretion, and see where design ideas can take me!

No comments: