Information provided by Marcy Petrini
Right from the start-knowing which loom is most appropriate for a particular task will help the weaver plan purchases.
In the previous Right from the Start, I discussed what makes, in my opinion, a good first loom. In this article, I will offer advice on which circumstances are best served by the various kinds of looms. Opinions differ; mine is based on personal experience with a variety of looms, talking to weavers who own or have used various looms, and even taking seminars on the subject. As with a first loom, talking to many users and trying the loom before purchasing are "musts" for any weaver. This is a starting point.
A rectangular or square frame can be the simplest of looms.
| Frame loom from Harrisville. | |
In weaving, it can be the most, or the least limiting, depending on the weaver's point of view. Because there are no shafts and no way to form a shed, weaving proceeds by manually intersecting the weft with the warp. Thus, the simple "over, under" rule to form plain weave is the easiest cloth to produce; but a patient weaver can intersect weft and warp in any combination desired, and can produce a pattern that may otherwise require many shafts. Despite this flexibility, most weavers use frame looms to make only weft-faced weavings, especially with discontinuous wefts, like tapestry. This minimizes the warping, which may be rather cumbersome on this type of loom-weft-facing weaving proceeds slowly anyway, so the simplicity of the loom is not much of a detriment. The frame loom can be made easily by purchasing stretcher frame parts that fit together at the corners. For stability they should be either glued or stapled together. Many weavers have a simple type of loom to take on the road, much the same way that spinners have a drop spindle to take along.
The next level of loom complexity comes by adding a method to spacing the warp so that the sett is more stable, a tensioning mechanism, and perhaps a device to open a shed and keep it open to allow easy insertion of discontinuous wefts. This type of loom is sometimes also called a frame loom or tapestry loom or lap loom. They are generally easier to use than the stretcher frame but are still inexpensive.
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Tapestry loom from Ashford.
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Rigid heddle loom from Harrisville. |
A rigid heddle loom combines all of the features of tapestry looms but adds versatility. A single heddle serves both as the reed for warp spacing, and as a shaft, which is lifted manually to allow a shed to be opened using a very clever way of alternating small and large slots for threads. The advantage is that each warp thread has to be handled once, passing through the heddle hole or slot-it does not have to be threaded again. The versatility of the rigid heddle loom comes from being able to exchange rigid heddles; thus, the warp can be sett differently. A warp beam and a cloth beam allow for longer fabric to be woven than is generally possible on a frame loom. The options are to weave plain weave easily, plain weave derivatives like basket weave, and any of the finger-manipulated weaves, like leno. Rigid heddle looms are still portable; the narrower sizes allow weaving to be done on one's lap or propped against a table. Available stands make weaving easier on wider sizes.
Shaft looms provide the next level of complexity. While two-shaft looms do exist, usually they are left over from the days when weaving was done in rural areas, particularly for weaving rag rugs to stretch the family budget. A two-shaft loom provides the same options as a rigid heddle loom, but the shed is generally easier to form. However, each warp thread needs to be threaded through an individual heddle on each shaft so the shed can be formed, and then sleyed through the reed to control the sett. More often, shaft looms have at least 4 shafts.
Shaft looms can be table or floor models. In a table loom, hand-operated levers control the shafts-one lever per shaft. On floor looms, the weaver's feet operate the treadles, which control the shafts. Each treadle can be tied to each shaft in a direct tie-up, or intermediary lamms can allow for multiple shafts to be tied to a treadle. As discussed in the previous issue, table looms are not a good choice for beginners, but they are very useful in experimenting, especially with more than 4 shafts, when the weaver wants to try different combinations of shaft activation which would require re-tying the treadles often. Otherwise, both floor and table shaft looms provide the same options of changing reeds for different setts, and generally have bigger warp and cloth beams than rigid heddle looms, especially floor looms.
 Table loom with stand from Ashford. |
Jack loom from Norwood. |
Jack loom from Harrisville. |
Most, if not all, table looms function as jack looms-when the lever is activated, the shaft is raised, thus forming the shed. Floor looms, on the other hand, can be jack, counterbalance or countermarche. In a counterbalance loom, the shed is formed by threads being lowered, while in a countermarche loom, threads are both raised and lowered. The choice between jack and counterbalance looms is strictly personal. A countermarche loom has the advantage of producing a wider shed, but the disadvantage of a double tie-up system.
 Toika countermarche loom. |
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Shaft looms offer the advantage of weaving more complex patterns. The more shafts you have, you increase the number of possible sheds that can be formed, and you increase the possibilities for patterns. On four shafts, sheds can be formed as follows: two shafts up and two shafts down; three shafts up and one down; and one shaft up and three down. Thus, there are 14 possible combinations that can be repeated in an incredible number of sequences. Curiosity or a love of patterns finds some weavers wanting more possibilities. For an occasional more complex pattern, a pick-up stick can be used to form a design anywhere the weaver wants by literally picking up warp threads and manually changing the shed. But pick-up sticks make for slow weaving-those who like more complex patterns usually obtain them from a loom with more shafts.
A shaft loom can theoretically have an infinite number of shafts, but in actuality, there are physical limitations-the first one being the number of treadles that can fit under a loom. For the handweaver, dobbies, drawlooms and jacquards all offer solutions to the limitations, but, of course, all have disadvantages of their own.
Even an eight-shaft loom can have treadling limitations. Sheds can be formed by taking one shaft, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven shafts at a time. The number of possibilities is staggering. However, the number of treadles is limited by the width of the loom, and will not be enough to cover all possibilities even on the widest of looms, even by using two feet at a time. Any given weaving pattern may have enough treadles available, but network drafts, for example, are almost impossible to weave on an 8-shaft floor loom. As the number of shafts is increased to 12, 16, and above, the weaving becomes more and more limited by the available treadles. Dobbies solve this problem.
In a dobby loom, the dobby head moves a set of bars, one bar at a time, each of which forms a shed in the treadling sequence. There are as many bars as there are sheds. These bars are connected to form the dobby chain, which is circular. Once the chain has progressed through the treadling sequence, it will be positioned at the beginning, ready to repeat the sequence. Each bar has a set of holes, each of which corresponds to a shaft. When the hole is closed, or pegged, the corresponding shaft is lifted. Thus the peg plan is the treadling sequence for the particular weave. The advantage of the dobby is that all treadling possibilities are available by being included in the peg plan. This solves the limitation of not having enough treadles under the loom and also simplifies the weaving, since the next shed is fixed by the dobby chain, and the wrong treadle cannot be chosen. The disadvantage is that the weaver has to make up the dobby chain, which requires time and expertise. Furthermore, the dobby chain must include a bar for each shed, even if that same shed has already been used. For example, in weaving overshot, one of the tabbies would have to be pegged with every other bar, in order to be woven after every pattern shot. Also, dobby looms are expensive.
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Dobby loom from Louet. |
An alternative and easier solution to limited treadling is to substitute a computer for the dobby chain. In a computer-assisted dobby, the weaver enters the treadling sequence into the computer, which, in turns, controls the activation of the shafts. Experimentation is easier: if the weaver does not like the cloth produced by a particular treadling, a new treadling sequence can be entered into the software program, rather than pegging a new chain. Computer literacy is a must. Cost is still a limitation of the computer-assisted dobby.
 Compu-dobby™ loom from AVL Looms. |
 Computer-assisted dobby loom with interface from Louet. |
Even a large number of shafts can become quickly limited when weaving blocks of pattern. On a 16-shaft loom, only 3 blocks of a 5-shaft satin can be woven. This limitation is solved in a drawloom, or damask loom, by having two sets of shafts-the back set controls the block or unit of the pattern, with each group of threads being threaded together, and the front shafts control the actual pattern, or ground structure, of the block by having each thread on a long-eye heddle. Thus, there can be as many blocks as there are back shafts, and the pattern can be as complicated as the number of front shafts allows. For example, to weave ten blocks of damask, only ten back shafts are needed. If the structure is a 5-shaft satin, only 5 front shafts are necessary. The disadvantage of this type of loom is its complexity and the slowness of weaving. Cost is also a limiting factor of these looms.
The ultimate versatility is for the weaver to be able to control each thread individually. Any figure can be woven in this manner. Aided by a computer that translates the drawing to cloth by placing it on a grid and then assigning each thread to a grid position, this jacquard-type loom is now available to handweavers for home use. The disadvantage of this loom is that it comes in modules, each of which can accommodate a fixed number of threads in a given width. To double the width, two units are needed, substantially increasing the cost of an already expensive piece of equipment.
 TC-1™ loom from Digital Weaving Norway. |
Besides these options based on the complexity of pattern weaving, there are specialized looms for specific purposes-for example, rugs require sturdy looms to beat a sturdy fabric. Weavers tend to find a niche, choose projects that they prefer, realize the loom characteristics that allow for weaving the project easily, and discover the complexities they like to address. Only experience and experimentation can provide these answers.
Bibliography
Hoyt, Peggy and Nicholson, Suzanne (eds). Drawlooms American Style, A Monograph Based on Studies by the Complex Weaver Group, 1984 - 1998. Self published, available from Peggy Hoyt, 2022 Scarpelli Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362.
Huhmarkangas, Katja. "Weaving the Convergence 2000 Logo." Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot 121 (Winter 1999-2000), 18-20.
Van der Hoogt, Madelyn. The Drawloom. Seminar, Convergence 2000. Cincinnati, Ohio, June 24, 2000.
Wertenberger, Kathryn. 8,
12…20: An Introduction to Multishaft Weaving. Loveland,
CO: Interweave, 1988.
| The following list of loom manufacturers and merchants advertise in HGA's Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot magazine. This listing is not an endorsement; it is provided for your convenience. |
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Ashford Handicrafts Becky's VÄV Stuga Earth Guild Harrisville Designs Hillcreek Fiber Studio/Carol
Leigh's Jane's Fiber & Beads AVL Looms, Inc. |
Leclerc The Loom Shed Louet Sales Macomber Looms Norwood Looms Suzanne Roddy Handweaver |
Toika USA Weaving Southwest Weaving Works Webs Yarn Barn |
