My favorite teneriffe loom(s) is(are) plastic canvas shapes. I use them all the time for teaching the technique for Stitching Festival Shows (formerly called Creative Arts & Textiles Show--CATS). You can get them in various sizes, shapes, and different manufacturers have different numbers of spokes for more variety. I mainly use circles. All you do is snip the horizontal plastic mesh between the radial spokes and then just slip the warping thread around the radial spoke. YOu don't have to put the thread on a needle to warp the loom. The horizontal plastic around the spokes keeps the thread from getting caught on the spokes with each movement. I did a simple heart motif class for an EGA group...it was a quick project and they learned all the basics of Teneriffe Lace and had a finished product to take home. I particularly like the Darice Company's plastic canvas. I use the 3" and 4" circles alot. They have spoke numbers of 40, 48 and 60 that when doubled (2 threads per spoke) give me 80, 96 and 120 threads per design respectively. These numbers allow me alot of design possibilites...especially the 60/120 loom--I can do designs with repeats in muliples of 3, 5, 6, 8... Another place I buy plastic canvas from another manufacturer is at WalMart. You don't have to use only the outside edge of the plastic canvas...you can cut the plastic canvas down to the radius you want. You can see one of my designs at www.stitchingfestival.com Look under my name in the teachers page and then look up Teneriffe class. I had to cut the plastic canvas to a smaller size to get the outer motifs the right size to go around the center motif. (Figuring out the right size for the outer motifs was the hardest part of the project!) Use of the plastic canvas as a loom looks 'cheesy' but it really works up quick, easy and cheap!
Before I got onto using plastic canvas shapes, I used to make my own looms. I would draw out the number of spokes I wanted on a circle. Photocopy the pattern onto cardstock and laminate it between clear contact film. Then I would prick where the spokes were on the outer edge and sew a double outline stitch to the edge. To lay the warp thread, I would use a needle on the thread and with the needle pass the thread under the outline thread on one side of the spoke and then around and under the thread on the other side of the spoke. It was fraught with several potential problems that I don't have with use of plastic canvas. But is was cheap and I can custom tailor the loom to whatever size, shape and number of threads that I want. Karen Bovard (The ShuttleSmith) [EMAIL PROTECTED] Omaha, NE - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
