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Hi all,
Ok, here is my latest idea for a Very Small Loom for TW'ing (the
requirement is to be able to weave on the plane). I like this idea much
better than my earlier ideas, but I think many of you have truly great
ideas. Thanks to the list and Peter Collingwood's book, I see now how to
have any length of warp. After looking at Plate 26 as Peter suggested, I
modified my frame in the following way. As I said before, I use the
stretcher frames because I believe they will provide the greatest
strength for the least amount of weight and they are readily available,
at least in Denver. So I have a frame about 8" or 9" wide, by about 17"
long. I bore four 1/2" holes, two in the top and two in the bottom of
the frame, maybe 4" apart. I then glue in 4, 3" x 1/2" dowels in the
holes so that about a 1" protrudes on the top, and about 2" on the
bottom. Then, brace the corners of the frame with nice looking, 2" brass
corner braces for added strength. The loom is done.
To show the set up, I've drawn a side view diagram (some people may not
be able to see this very well in their browsers, it is a fixed width
font):
Top
_|_____________________________|_
|O O|
| |
cloth beam warp beam
Bottom
The two beams are 1/2" dowels, with a length greater than the distance
between the glued dowels. The O's represent the two beams - cloth and
warp, nestled underneath and behind the glued dowels described above.
The warp and cloth should be wound so that it comes off the bottom of
the rods and then going around the ends of the frame and over the top. I
think that if stout rubber bands are wound on the beams with the cloth
and warp, off to the side, the rubber bands can be looped over the
dowels coming through the frame. These will reduce the tendency for the
beams to unwind, but the tension in the warp will be maintained by the
dowels glued through the frame. The 1" or so of dowel above the frame
protects the cards in the loom from being crushed in the back pack.
Everything, of course, must be well sanded, with rounded corners and
finished with something like tongue oil or boiled linseed oil to make it
smooth. It would even be possible to fix a comb (I use hair combs as
Elizabeth Jensen uses in her Small Looms book) to the top of the frame
as Plate 26 uses to guide the warp, but I'm not sure this is absolutely
necessary.
I will try to find time to make this setup and warp it over the weekend.
I'll let you know.
Craig in Denver.
Send private reply to "Craig W. Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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