Tension but texture with variable-sized heddles

Have had so much fun experimenting with variable-sized heddles (segments put together in the frame and used as one heddle in my rigid heddle loom).

This has allowed me to use a lot of different sized yarns, but keep the finer yarns closely set, while still leaving enough room for the bulky yarns.

But here's the problem.  The bulky yarns use up more space on both the front and the back beam, which will inevitably lead to problems - the thickest yarns become tighter and tighter. One way to reduce this would be to add weights to the finer yarns and let them hang off the back of the loom; this works great on a conventional loom (my Dorothy table loom, for example), but my RH loom is portable, so weights get awkward really fast.

I use cardboard slats to keep my warp even as I wind it, so as I weave and advance the warp, these fall out (usually on my feet...)  I then put these on the back beam, under the threads that are finer, to bring them to the same tension as the bulkier warps.  As I weave, I find that I have to keep adding these slats, and sometimes even have to press against them towards the end of the piece, because there is quite a bit of difference between the tensions. But whatever works.

On this latest scarf, I've been using a wooden weaving sword, which has helped with tension, but also has helped me clear the shed because I forgot how sticky eyelash yarn is when you use it as warp. Only 4 ends of eyelash, but I have to clear Every. Single, Pick.  Remember:  use eyelash yarn for weft. Use eyelash yarn for weft.

I've also found it helpful to "beat" with a comb, rather than with the heddle.  There is such variety in warp sizes, that when I beat with the heddle, sometimes the pick gets pulled out as I push the heddle back to it's resting position.  The comb has allowed me to keep the lines of weft even.  Sometimes, when I tighten the warp, especially towards the end of the scarf, the last few picks I have just woven get out of shape. I can carefully  re-align them with the comb.

Oh, and I found that all the little heddle segments didn't like standing up straight, so I added a wider segment at each side for stability.  This may not be a problem with the Majacraft loom, but if you've done a DIY number, you may want to try this.

Yes, this is more work, but the results are worth it.