Vävstuga Tie-Up kit for 4-shaft counterbalance

Making Vävstuga Tie-Up cords

(This movie is silent.)

This is the jig I use to cut treadle cords for the Vävstuga Tie-Up System. It's simply a piece of wood with a nail driven through it. This movie starts with a hole of the Texsolv cord threaded onto the nail. I line the cord up with my pre-measured mark at the other end of the board and cut the cord with scissors. Always cut the cord between two holes rather than through the middle of a hole. You see me thread the new end onto the nail in order to cut a second cord. When I make several of these at once I can fit 20 cords onto the nail before doing the next step.

Then you see me making three marks at the end of the cord with a wide black Sharpie marker. You will have time to put the three marks on the other side of the cord as well because you won't need to make it fit into 30 seconds of movie time. It's also a good idea to mark the hole that the nail is going through. This can just be a light marking made on the outside of the cords while they're still in place on the nail.

I take the cords off of the nail and melt each cord in a flame at that end. I take more care melting the end of the cord with the three markings because this end should have a nice round point on it so that it will easily slide into your lamms and treadles.

The last step you see here involves threading a bead onto the Texsolv cord, then threading the nice pointy end of the cord into the marked hole that was originally on the nail. Pull the end of the cord all the way through to snug up the bead.

Use black beads on the long cords as they will correspond with the black squares in your tie-up. Use white beads on the short cords as they will correspond with the white squares in your tie-up.