I went back and read my previous warping posts, and it took me more than 6 hours to set up the loom. My guess is that I can cut that by perhaps a third next time (provided I don’t make a mistake back at the beginning of warping and have to take it back).

It took me a very long time to do the first few rows. I can’t string an entire row of beads at a time — I don’t know exactly the number of colors I need to match the image behind the loom. The first row was all red, that was easy. Then it’s counting the spaces, bracketing by the warp threads, in each color, putting on maybe 15 beads at at time. This piece is 74 beads wide. So, I string the beads, put the needle between the warps for at least the distance of the beads I’ve strung, then exit out the front of the warps. Then I coax one bead between each set of warps. This can be awkward — and then some will just daintily fall into place. Then I look at the picture again, grab another bunch of beads, put the needle back in between the warps where I came out, and continue.

I wonder how others do this, if they try to string the entire width of the piece at one time?

After completing a row, I change the warp to the opposite it was, lock in the beads, and start on the next row.

The beads I’m using for this piece are size 10, all French or Italian. My warp and weft are both dark green, and the look of the piece almost looks like miniature tile or mosaic to me, with the thread between the beads looking almost like mortar.