COMMISSION 1 / 6The Bolt
WEFT 17.8 / 18.0 m
REPAIRS
LOAD PATH
CAPACITY0 kg
LOAD0 kg
WARP 0 WEFT 0 LONGEST FLOAT 0
SPEC: PLAIN 1/1
PULL IT
LIFT PLAN
Plain 1/1
every thread takes its turn.
PICK1 / 20BASE
warp overweft overthe load
Mill No. 4 — day book
Warpline
Cloth is a structure. Warp runs one way, weft the other, and every crossing you choose decides how the load gets shared. Weave a panel that passes the bench, inside the thread you are given, to a draft the buyer will accept.
A / D walk the picks · W / S shift a pick against the treadle · C / J change the structure · E flips the hand · K turns the cloth over · Space runs the test · Esc pauses · H explains · M mutes
The loom is left open
Paused
Nothing moves until you say so.
How a loom behaves
Cloth is a structure
Floats carry nothing
Where a thread skips over its neighbours, it is a float. It looks smooth, costs less weft, and has nothing to hold on to. Load lands between two bindings and the panel lets go.
Plain weave is strong both ways
A one-over-one-under cloth binds every single crossing, so it never has a long float. It is also the hungriest structure on the loom: the most bindings, the most crimp, the most weft.
Twill shifts the strength
Three over, one under makes a cloth that is nearly all warp. It carries hard along the warp and has almost nothing left to carry anything else.
Satin is beautiful and brittle
Bindings scattered across seven or eight ends scatter the crossings and hide the floats. Buy it for a banner, never for a load.
Where it lands matters
The bench hangs the weight off the beam. Put a binding under it and the load is shared. Put it in the middle of a float and one thread takes it all.
The book is closed