while tying a new warp onto a previous dummy warp I discovered I have a number of new warp threads that are much longer than others, almost twice as long. I am not sure why that is. Also I tried sure to keep my cross by putting sley sticks on the front of the loom as I was tying on. I’m warping back to front. Thanks for any help. Diane
I've never tied on to a dummy warp, myself, so am just guessing. But I suspect that the ends that are hanging much lower had knots that failed or the yarn broke at some point along its length, so the tension on the warp while you were beaming on pulled them out.
From what I can see you have a couple of options. If you don't have leftover yarn for repairs, then very carefully unbeam it. First "level" all the warp ends by pulling the long ones from the warp beam side, until their ends were level with the rest of the ends. Maybe mark those longer threads by putting brightly coloured scrap yarn ties on them, and moving the ties up as you go. Then re-tie and re-chain the warp in a few chains, watching carefully as you do to keep pulling the longer ends ahead of the chains. By the time you get to the warp end loops at the back you should know whether it was a knot failure or a breakage for all those long threads. You can correct the problem zones, then re-beam.
Alternatively you could tie on at the front as normal. Mark the longer threads with different coloured lengths of yarn about a yard or two long, than can be moved to the back and weighted to pull those ends into tension. Weave with the longer yarns tensioned off the back beam. As you progress in your weaving, move the coloured lengths on each longer thread as needed, keeping even tension on them. Eventually you will come to the point where either the yarn broke or the knot failed. At that point, use your excess warp yarn to make a repair, like Jane does when a warp thread breaks.
Neither of my ideas seems particularly easy or ideal. If anybody else has experience with this type of scenario, please add your comment!
Since I had already tied on my new warps (2) to the dummy warp, your second recommendation makes the most sense and one which I had considered. I have tied bright color threads to the longer threads and will tension them off the back beam. There are 6 longer threads, all but one hangs loose and they all go thru the heddles and reed. Thanks for your suggestion. I’ll let you know how it works.