Customer Reviews

Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps (Peggy Osterkamp's New Guide To Weaving)

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Like most weavers, I learned to wind a warp and then make a traditional "warp chain", which can tangle. This book shows how to create a compact, tangle-free warp. The instructions are very clear and well illustrated, and the wire binding allows the book to lie open while you're working -- an important feature.

The is the second part of Peggy Osterkamp's two book series on warping the loom back to front. The book goes from the wound warp to starting to weave. Every step of the process is described in a clear and effective way. There are also copious and excellent illustrations. Osterkamp's system relies heavily on Swedish warping methods.

This is not, in my opinion, a book for beginners. I would send beginning weavers to Deb Chandler's "Learning to Weave." Peggy Osterkamp's books are intended for the intermediate to advanced weaver, who is seeking to learn how to warp back to front or wishes to improve on techniques already learned. I think this book is a classic and should be in the library of every serious weaver.

I found two faults with this book. First, Osterkamp's attempt to cover every possible eventuality that one might encounter when warping back to front leads her to copious cross references. The reader is sent to other pages in the book frequently and this is confusing and rather irritating. I am not sure how this could have been avoided, but it's irritating.

Second, this is a singularly humorless book. I refuse to accept that technical manuals (for this is what this book is) must be grim and flat. The style of writing here is so serious that one might forget how much fun weaving can be. If you read the aforementioned book by Deb Chandler, you'll see what I mean. It's full of humanity and humor. Where Chandler is a teacher in her tone, Osterkamp is a documenter. This is a pity, all the more so since most readers are bound to be part time practitioners for whom weaving is a labor of love.

Ten years ago the teacher of my introduction to weaving class recommended this book, but it seemed like too much to spend on a book that only covers warping. Now after years of irregular warp tension and other problems I have finally invested in it. It is full of revelations about how I could have prevented those errors and gives me the confidence to try more difficult yarns such as linen and handspun for warps. On the other hand it was a good thing to have some weaving experience before reading a whole book about warping - there are so many steps that I might never have gotten started if I had read this first. Now I can pick and choose the techniques that will improve the warping methods I have been using all these years.

The techniques described are for jack looms with four or more shafts. The book doesn't cover warping rigid heddle or coutermarch looms.

As a Beginner/Early Intermediate weaver, I mistakenly purchased this book, thinking it would guide me through the process of warping my loom back to front. As the author observed, I, like many others, only learned front to back warping in the classes I took to get started weaving. After spending considerable time with this book--going from page to page as directed, reading the added information boxes, and wishing for more diagrams and illustrations--I gave up and turned to the internet where I quickly found cheaper and clearer instructions that readily served my needs.

The book needs considerable editing to enable the developing weaver to more easily follow the process which in the book is repeatedly interrupted by informational asides of only marginal importance. Additionally, for those oriented toward visual learning, this book's wordy, colorless presentation poses challenges.

Lastly, I strongly agree with TamarDC's observation on the lack of humor in the book. It is oddly, coldly technical. I was drawn to weaving by the lure of getting my hands in a process that has thousands of years of human history. Connecting to the humanity and humor of this craft is what makes it a joyous activity. It's a disappointment that the author missed this critical point while writing her book.