Weaverly

A Hybrid Loom for Tablet Weaving

I've been searching the web for inexpensive teaching looms for tablet weaving. There are plenty of good ideas out there. I've tried several of them; after some experimenting and tweaking, I've come up with a hybrid version that suits me perfectly. First of all, it's easy to build and it works. Second, the materials are readily available at big box home stores. And third, it's cheap. I put it together for less than $7. worth of PVC pipe and connectors; add another few dollars for the S-hook, the C-clamp, and the two bulldog clips (a lot of folks already have these), and this adds up to a very affordable student loom.

Here's an overall view of the loom in use:

Here's the view from the operator end, showing the bulldog clips fastened around the work in progress, and the C-clamp keeping the loom from tipping over when the weight is hung from the back:

And here's the rear of the loom, with a 1/2 gallon milk carton adding just enough weight to tension the warp:

Here's the materials list for the PVC. I'm sure you can figure out the assembly from the photos.Two pieces 20" long, six pieces 6" long, six pieces 2" long, eight L-connectors, four T-connectors. I didn't find it necessary to use glue, but that would be an option.

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Thanks to all who shared their stories of money stashed in books, yarn balls, and (gasp) hubcaps. I've gotten  some amazing emails this week! Kinda made me go back and look through some of my older weaving books to make sure there were no treasures hidden there. Nope, no currency, but I did find an old advertisement for Quilx. 

Back up a few years, to the late 1980's, when I got my first Apple computer. Remember when computers came with Basic built in? The common wisdom was that you had to learn how to program in Basic if you were to use the full capabilities of your home computer. I learned Basic, and started writing some cute graphics routines. One in particular was a group of square modules that could be rotated randomly in any of four directions and assembled into a matrix to form quilt-like patterns. I called it Quilx and marketed it as a quilt design program via ads placed in quilting magazines. I actually sold several dozen copies.

I don't know if anyone ever made a whole quilt using Quilx; I rather doubt it. But I continued to use the concept of randomly rotated modules in my weaving design, and actually wove several pieces with randomly rotated quarter circles in overshot. An article for Weaver's ensued; the article is included in the compendium The Best of Weaver's: Overshot is Hot!.

Here's a table mat from the group of samples I wove for the article. This sample never made it into print, so I present it here for your entertainment. Quilx lives!

Maybe this weekend I'll go through the rest of my weaving books. Who knows what I'll find?

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Yesterday I took a picture of this bloom in a weedy lot around the corner. It was barely more than a bud, slightly unfurled.

Today at roughly the same time of day I photographed the exact same bloom, now entirely open (Oh how quickly our little ones grow up). Why do I bother documenting these things? Who knows. It just seemed important to me at the time...

Meanwhile, in the studio...eleven covers are coated with acrylic and cut to size. They will become eleven books, and by a fortuitous coincidence, I have eleven page blocks already torn to size. 

Now let me tell you a strange story. I sold a lot of stuff at the fiber sale, but came home with several cartons of unsold knitting books, which are still in the trunk of my car, waiting for the next trip to Goodwill. I stopped at Publix for groceries, and the man who helped me load my groceries in the car saw the books and asked if I belonged to a book club. No, I said, I've just come back from a garage sale. Ah, he said, my mother was a great reader, and when she died she left a large book collection behind. What did you do with them, I asked. We gave them to Goodwill, he replied, but at the last minute we decided to just flip through the books, and I'm glad we did, beause in every book we found several hundred dollar bills tucked between the pages. 

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Yesterday's fiber sale was a great success as far as I was concerned. I sold more stash than I bought. Period. Here's what the room looked like as people were setting up:

There were looms, spinning wheels, yarn, "fat quarters," and all sorts of other fiber-related treasures. But the strangest thing of all was this:

I knew it looked familiar! A solid oak 8-shaft jack loom which had belonged to me over 35 years ago. I reluctantly sold it after an accident forced me to switch to a lighter treadling style, and it has served several other weavers well in the intervening years. Now it is looking for yet another home. I gave it a fond pat as I passed on by.

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This weekend I'll be running up to Black Mountain for the Anything Fiber Sale and Swap; my goal is to find new homes for a lot of the excess "treasures" in my studio, and not bring home anyone else's treasures. It's going to be a wild and crazy event, so if you are anywhere near Black Mountain and are looking for good fiber-related bargains, put this on your list!

I've been bringing things upstairs from my studio all week and putting them in a staging area near the side door, ready to load the car. How can one person collect so much stuff in 35 years? It's a mystery.

Yarn, shuttles, books, magazines, patterns (and more patterns!), and did I say yarn? I'm trying to make space in my studio for a big clean-up before Open Studios. 

 

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