Loom
Frame and How to Use Your Table Loom As a 4 Harness
Loom!!!
Some people have asked for
instructions on how to build a frame for their table
looms. Most importantly one that can be taken apart or
folded for travel. So, I decided I should share what I did
when my darling husband bought me an Ashford table loom
for my birthday.
First, measure your
assembled loom. Mine was 35" across by 24".
Now, go to your scrap
heap and cut a 35" piece of 2x4, label it bottom cross
beam and set aside.
Cut 2 pieces of 1x2 or
whatever that measure 24". Label these 'left inside
bottom' and 'right inside bottom' (please forgive me, mine
ended up on the outside), and set aside.
Cut 2 upper side
supports from a 2x2 or 1x3 that measure 16" and label them
'upper left support' and 'upper right support'.
Cut 2 rear legs from a
2x2 or 1x3 that measure 33" and label them 'right rear
leg' and 'left rear leg'.
Cut 2 front legs from
2x2 or 1x3 that measures 25" and label them 'right front
leg' and left front leg'.
Cut 1 piece of 1x2 or
2x2 that measures 35" and label it 'rear support'.
Go to the hardware store
and purchase some 1/4" bolts measuring 3" and some
measuring 5" or 6". The length will depend on the size of
wood you're using. Also get some wing nuts for your bolts.
The wing nuts allow you to remove the frame from the loom
and to take it apart into a manageable size for transport.
I wanted very badly to
weave a twill fabric for practice because someday I want
to weave blankets and maybe a wee bit of tweed. I had
already bought the second heddle kit for my loom, but was
sent the wrong heddle and had waited too long to send it
back. Besides that, I discovered that right now 7.5dpi and
12.5dpi are very much to my liking.
I do not want to spend
any kind of extra money right now, so I started
researching what I wanted to do online after I read
"Learning to Weave" by Debbie Redding. This is a very nice
and very thorough book. After finding the marlamallet site
I decided that this is something I can now truly do.
Now that you've perused
the ideas stated here. Let's get started!!!
Pound 2 nails into a
piece of wood about 5 inches apart. I know the site says
7, but 5 will do. I tied 4 different colors because I do
not like using a shed stick.
You are going to use
your heddle as a reed. When you sley it, do not use the
little holes in it as this will make raising your other
sheds very difficult. I've done that already, so consider
yourself warned.
Now your warp is tied
on. Slide a shed stick under every 1 of 4 warp threads.
Basically you're lifting the 1st thread onto the stick and
skipping three, the lifting the next 1 onto the stick.
When you've got them on the stick, tip it up sideways and
follow the instructions for looping the heddle around the
warp thread and onto the harness. The above picture is the
first harness finished and the number 2 warp threads
raised up to have the pink heddles looped around them.
The following picture
shows all of the heddles looped and on their respective
harnesses.
Now, what you do next is
start with a plain weave by raising blue/red followed by
pink/yellow. I did this for about 1/2 inch. I then started
following my weaving chart for a 2/2 twill with what looks
to me like a zigzag effect. I raised 1/2 (blue/pink), then
2/3 (pink/yellow), then 3/4 (yellow/red), then 1/4
(blue/red), 3/4 (yellow/red), then 2/3 (pink/yellow), then
1/2 (blue/pink) making sure to cycle from the 2nd line of
my chart for every repeat: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 1/4, 3/4, 2/3,
1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 1/4, 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 1/4, 3/4,
2/3, 1/2
Here's what it looks
like so far:
I guess this is what
happens when someone tells me I can't do something without
spending a lot of money for 'the right tools for the job'.
Practice, practice, practice. That's all I can say. These
things were being done with primitive tools when it was
invented and the modern tools were a long time coming. So,
I say all you can do is try. If you fail, try again until
you get what you're looking for.
