So I'm reading James Maffie's "Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion". Backstrap weaving is the central metaphor (the whole cosmos is seen as a weaving in progress, as with many other cultures). I could not understand the author's description of setting the warp threads, so I found your video. Now I get it, thanks! From the book: "Before being transferred to, stretched out upon, and mounted upon the loom, the warp threads are first stretched out on a warping frame or board. Warping frames may be either vertical or horizontal. The purpose of this is to keep the threads from becoming entangled, to establish the length of the weaving, to establish the breadth or width of the weaving, and to arrange the threads in the order and pattern the weaver desires that they occupy on the loom. Warping involves winding the selected thread around two or more stakes or pegs while at the same time crossing the thread over itself in the shape of a butterfly, figure eight, or X. Barbara Taber and Marilyn Anderson call this process “winding a butterfly.”15 The parallel with the Aztecs’ use of quincunx, floral, and butterfly motifs as chronotopograms of the Fifth Age is striking (see Figures 4.2, 4.3, 4.6, 4.7, and 4.10). This creates a cross or “lease” that fixes each warp thread in its proper position and makes it easier to distinguish even from odd threads during the weaving process. The figure eight or butterfly-shaped crossing-over of the warp threads is preserved after mounting on the loom by means of a shed rod. This creates the shed, which is the space through which the weft-thread-transporting shuttle stick (or bobbin) passes in the process of weaving over and under warp threads."

So helpful. Thank you!

At 6:01 you spoke about how your last string of warp was hanging because it wasn't part of the "X", so you put it on the dowel rod. Question: why wasn't it part of the "x"? And will it mess up the weave if there are threads not in the x formation? Novice weaver here, still trying to figure this all out. Thanks!