In the latest issue of TWIST (Spring 09) Eva Sandermann Olsen has an article describing the plans and operation of her band loom. She mentions using "lingos" to stretch the warp for tablet weaving. I am assuming that a lingos is some kind of weight and from the picture, it looks like these weights are long and relatively thin.
I'm embarking on a rather long calligraphy tablet weaving which will work best with the threads of each card weighted individually. I know some people recommend fishing weights but I cannot find 3 ounce weights in our local stores and the shipping on 40 such weights is rather hefty. So I tried the system I have used for years in my on-loom weaving, film canister filled with enough junk (nuts, washers, screws, pennies) to weigh 3 ounces. However, 40 canisters made a huge jumble at the back of the loom arrangement, making it very difficult for the threads to untwist, even though each group of 4 threads was tied to a fishing swivel. My solution was to go to the hardware store with my scale. The salesman was quite tolerant as I set up the scale and he kept handing me Hex Bolts of different sizes until we found one that weighed 3 ounces. He was a bit curious about my project, and mercifully the store had a supply of over 40. The bolts cost $.80 a piece I have just set up the warp, with these Hex Bolts hanging off the warp. One delightful side effect is that the assortment is rather like a wind chime. We will see if, by the end of the warp I still like the sound of the bolts hitting each other. My question is, what is a lingos? And where have others found fishing weights at a reasonable price? Nancy Smothergill
