How to Use a Warping Reel: A Short Demonstration

A vertical warping reel -- rather than a traditional warping board or a horizontal warping reel -- is your best choice when you want to wind a long warp efficiently and quickly.

[@gracey3059]

Yes, thank you Denise for your short yet good directions on the warping reel. It will be helpful, if i can get mine put together.

[@jwstanley2645]

'Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought it was all in fun, until pop goes the weasel. Sometimes the old nursery rhymes actually teach the old-time crafts, which is related to this device once being called a "weasel." The 'pop' of the weasel was the moment when the weaver reversed the direction of the reel. Sing as you go to make the time pass more smoothly (perhaps more fun). If you have some little girls (or boys) watching, you can easily teach a five-year-old how to advance beyond the top-spinner to the weasel warp reel. For me, weaving is more than threads, warp, weft and weave, but a spiritual communion with centuries of ancestry. Thank you so much for the video.

[@pointydogg]

You are actually thinking of a spinner's reel, which is also used to wind and measure yarn or thread, but is not the same thing as a warping mill. Reel, Clock Reel, Clockhen, Spinner's Reel, Yarn Winder, Skein Winder and Weasel are all names for variations on the same device, which is used to produce a measured skein of a set length. This is unlike a warping mill which can produce a measured warp that varies in length from one project to the next. The 'pop' is an actual (surprisingly loud) sound that marks each revolution and it's made as a wooden lever or arm comes back to the top and passes a nail. This is an audible way to count revolutions. A spinner would multiply the number of revolutions by the known length of one to determine how much yarn was in the finished skein. Clock reels have a dial face and gears that operate an arm which shows the number of revolutions as well as having an audible revolution counter. Most have 6 arms arranged much like a wheel. It's dizzying and difficult to watch the arms while winding on yarn to keep count of the revolutions, hence the development of a simple audible click to aid counting.

[@vanLoon61]

Thank you for this! It looks so easy…

[@gracey3059]

It's a true and fun story about the nursery rhyme/song, but not quite acurrate. The winding wheel was the weasel, not the warping reel. it is a piece of equipment that stands on it's own, has one handle, the Spinner, not the weaver's equipment. I have an antique one, it is also called a 'clock reel' it measures the yards. After a certain measurement (probably a hank) it pops. the box of the clock reel has a little gear inside that moves a piece of wood that eventually clicks when one has the right number of yards. Because it is inside a wooden box, it really makes a popping sound. It was at one time aprx, early 19th century a way of getting the right number of yards from each of the homes of the spinners who were spinning for a certain company.

[@lisaconnor4948]

I love your video, just put together a Ashford Warping Mill.

[@DianeRabinowitzArtist]

Great to see! Thanks Denise!!

[@annemariedennis2003]

do you still tie it together and take it off and chain it the same way you would on a regular board?

[@staceyanthony3623]

What is the next step after this? I need the next video! Lol

[@karencox8841]

Thanks so much! I just got a horizontal warping mill and am attempting to wind a warp. I have always used a warping board. Your video is helpful, but I am wondering can I still use multiple threads? I usually wind 4 threads at a time or is it better to just wind one thread at a time?

[@josiesbest]

Thank you for this video. Would you tell me what the brand or name of that warping mill is so I can try to purchase one. I have bad back issues and this looks like the answer for me. again thank you so much.Mary

[@DeniseKovnat]

Mary, this is a LeClerc vertical warping mill. It is about a yard high, just right for placing on a table.

[@sandrabenward3483]

Ok I am fairly new to weaving. So now I have warped all I need to warp on the reel, How do you take it off? AND how does it get onto my loom (rigid heddle)

[@DeniseKovnat]

Here's a good KZbin video on the details of winding a warp -- creating a cross and making choke ties. For warping onto your rigid heddle loom, there are KZbin tutorials on this as well.

[@geraldinepowell5676]

I found it really difficult to see. You should have shown the start and slowed down the cross area.