A Warped Adventure

Last time I confirmed that the loom was actually a loom, not an LSO (Loom Shaped Object).  Really, I have two standing issues with it. First, the tensioning system is idiosyncratic, to say the least.  That's going to have to wait on some more parts before I can do anything about it, and it works well enough for now. Second, the shed borders on too small for the shuttle I've been using, a standard Leclerc closed-bottom shuttle.  This is the higher priority, since it's slowing me down and making it less pleasant to use the loom.  There are two obvious solutions here:  Make the shed bigger, or make the shuttle smaller, with bonus points for doing both. Getting a smaller shuttle is relatively simple, so I ordered a Glimakra #6:  it's the same length as my Leclerc shuttle, but about 1/4" smaller in height.  It's definitely an improvement, but it doesn't hold as much yarn, which means more time winding bobbins.  I like the way it feels, and I'll probabl...

 Now that I knew the loom was a loom, not an extravagant paperweight, it was time to get serious about setting it up.  There were still some questions (do I want larger heddles?  How will the shed look if the shafts are all the way at the back?  Am I going to need to replace the warping beam?), but they're not going to be answered except by setting everything up and giving it a try. So I cut off what I'd woven, wound it back to the warping beam, removed the cords from the treadles and lamms, took down the beater, and generally undid everything I'd spent a week doing.  Sadly, it didn't occur to me to take pictures, but it's not very interesting with just a frame sitting there.  Then I started replacing cord with texsolv, and now I understand why it's so popular.  So, more or less in order: 1) Re-hang the shafts.  Since there are no pins for the jacks, I use blocks of 1x2 to hold them in place.  Against all advice, I hung them as far back as po...

In the last chapter, I'd gotten the loom built, but had some doubts as to whether it was really a loom.  At that point, I decided to just go for it:  the goal was to see if it could be made to work, not to see if it ever worked before. As you may or may not know, countermarche looms are... complicated.  This one is a horizontal countermarche, meaning there's a cord that goes up through the middle of the warp to the jacks, and there are two jacks for every shaft.  I'd gotten as far as the previous owner ever had already.  She got it built, but never tied it up or put a warp on it. In the spirit of just moving ahead as quickly as I could, I put some 10 1/2" heddles on two shafts, used loops of poly cord to hold them up, and tied everything together.  In the end the shafts went up and down when I pushed the treadles, so I guess I did it right! (Eventually, after some trial and error.)  In all honesty it wasn't that bad:  two shafts and two treadles l...

 Not too long after buying the rigid heddle, I found myself wanting to do something more complicated, which meant a floor or table loom.  For me, a table loom felt like a bad compromise:  I had floor space, I didn't have table space, and using foot treadles is supposed to be faster than levers. So I started keeping an eye on Facebook marketplace, and eventually found a Leclerc Artisat for a pretty good price.  It looked like it was going to need a lot of cleanup, but should be usable.  As it turned out, that was pretty accurate.  It needed all new heddles, and some new cord, but with that (and a lot of oil soap), I had a running floor loom! The first few things I put on it were samples:  wool warp and weft, and (relatively) cheap. After I got the hang of it, it was time for something real!  So I found a draft I liked, in "Free Hand Weaving Projects for Beginners", from Handwoven.  Shouldn't be a problem, right?  One warp, 7 dishtowels, a...