I’ve never used metallic threads, so I don’t really have any experience to offer you, but I wonder how the metallic threads will hold up in the long run. Would it help both weave pattern, look, and longevity of the woven piece if you used two different threads, one metallic and one not?

Then I tied up treadles 1 through 4 like this: 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-1. I could do some wonderful twill variations with those treadlings, depending on how I threaded my heddles. I wove lots more pieces using various twills: straight twill, point twill, diamond twill, and lots more.

Once I felt confident in those weaves, I decided I wanted to try some lace weaves. Most things that I read said that you really couldn’t do lace weaves on a counterbalance loom, because lace weaves require lifting 1 harness at a time, and counterbalance looms are made to lift 2 harnesses at a time, keeping everything in an equal balance. Well, I’m a stubborn sort, and wasn’t going to give up that easily. I did a bunch of research. I learned that LeClerc makes something called a shed regulator for their counterbalance looms. I looked at pictures of them online to figure out how they worked. I was not willing to even consider making structural changes to my lovely handmade loom that using a LeClerc shed regulator would mean, so if I wanted to do it, I had to find another way. In my case, that meant moving all four of my harnesses closer to the top of the loom. How? I shortened the Texsolv tieups that connect my two roller bars to the top roller bar. Shorter tieups move everything up. Moving everything up allows me to get an acceptable shed when I raise just one harness at a time (or when I raise 3 at a time). The shed is not as big as when I do a balanced (2 against 2) treadling, but I can get a shuttle through it without difficulty.

How did I get to that point and realization? Practice, experience, and a willingness to try things that might fail miserably. I had to be really comfortable that I understood fully how my loom worked, so that I could pretty easily move things around, and very confident in my ability to do a variety of twill weave structures before I could even think about it. In my experience, weaving, like many things, is an ongoing learning process. Every new technique I learn builds on the skills I already have. Many of the things I am able to do now, I couldn’t have considered till I’d done plenty of simpler things (lots of plain weave and twill weave). And trust me, I have DECADES of process and technique to learn. One threading of the heddles at a time, one throw of the shuttle at a time, one warp at a time.

Good luck, and let me know if I can be of further help.