Monday, January 18, 2010

Sprang - chopsticks and pencils


I've been using chopsticks to keep my spacing in the sprang and it is just not working for me. The web is so tight that I can't stretch the 3 inch wide band more than 4-1/2 inch wide as shown above.



So on the recommendations of the people on the yahoo Sprang_List I tried using pencils and leaving them in to keep the spacing. This looks better.


See how the web is now spreading out almost 11 inches wide!


A couple of tips: Top of the frame I used a doubled up string to tie up the upper dowel. I wrapped it twice around and tied with a shoe lace knot. Wrapping it twice around makes it easier to cinch up and tie up since the double wraps makes a mechanical advantage similar to a pulley. I can quickly tighten or loosen as needed.


The other tip is to look at the back of the sprang. Here we can easily see the two blue strings I missed on my last row. In weaving these are called "floats", but I did not want this to happen. More later.

Have a good day!

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