Unidentified loom
Can anybody help? I am not a weaver, but I'd like to learn. What is this loom missing?? It was a gift, and I'd love to learn to weave, but it seems to be missing some parts. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they might be. :-) It has no identifying marks on it whatsoever.
loom1
loom3
loom1
loom3
posted by Kim at
6:31 PM
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3 Comments:
I'd like to learn weaving too, but looms are generally insanely expensive... See if you can get a weaving magazine that could help - Interweave puts out at least one, I know.
Yikes.. yup looks like you need some heddles.. that is what holds every other strand of the yarn(warp) and holds them up so you can slide the other yarn(weft)through it.. It looks like a table top loom to me..what are the dimensions.. and a straight through shot WOULD help!
There is a group called small looms on Yahoo that might be able to help you! They are very good at identifying mystery looms!
found you through the spinning ring as well.
You have a tabletop loom and the harnesses are intended to be raised and lowered with the levers at the top of the frame. (Looks like it can take 4 harnesses).
You could try to get replacement harnesses (a harness is a frame that holds heddles. a heddle is a string or wire doo-hickey (a long straight thing with an eye in the center) through which you thread a single yarn.)
By controlling which of the harnesses raise or fall from the center line (depending upon how your particular loom works. .. I'd bet the harnesses are designed to raise), you control all of the threads in the heddles on that harness across the width of your warp (the threads under tension through which you weave the weft or woof)
Alternately, you could get a simple rigid heddle (a thin plank of wood, metal, or plastic which has long slots alternating with simple drill holes) and use it for plain weave. (there is a lot that can be done with a plain weave loom.. from textural and color variations if you want easy weaving, through tapestry or pick-up patterns if you want something slower but more adventurous.)
A rigid heddle keeps every other thread in a fixed relative position to each other that can be raised or lowered to create a new shed (the space between the threads through which you can pass your shuttle full of weft yarn). The fixed yarns are pulled above the yarns in the slots if you lift the heddle, and sunk below the slotted yarns if you depress the heddle.
In addition to controlling the rise and sink of the threads, however, a rigid heddle also controlls how closely the threads can be set to each other.
If you can replace the harnesses, you will have more freedom in your sett (how closely together or far apart the warp threads rest). When your loom is working properly, the harnesses will control the rise of the shed, and give you more possible diversity of weave structure. The beater (which is the piece that pivots between the castle (the piece with the levers that should hold your harnesses) and the front beam) holds a reed (a metal contraption having lots of slots through which the threads can pass). The slots of the reed can be very differently spaced (8 dents per inch, 15 dents per inch, etc. with each slot counting as one dent) and can be threaded single, open, or multiple threads in a dent, and will control how tightly or widely spaced your warp threads stay.
Okay, I've said too much. It's much easier to show someone than to type it all out, especially when I'm referring to parts you don't have!
Is there a weaving supply store nearby that could help you figure it all out?
...of course, this post was written two years ago, so it's quite possible that you've already figured out what to do with your loom..
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