I did a bit of research on the web and then I built an Archie Brennan style pipe loom. Very straightforward process. The lengthiest procedure was removing the labels from the pipes. The next thing will be to put on a warp and some leashes ..read more

Soumak Tapestry - Abstract Tree This tapestry is based on a watercolour by Carolina Martinez. I wove it using a variety of soumak knots, varying them to try to get some texture and movement. It was very satisfying to weave and was looking quite reasonable on the loom. When I cut it off various distortions appeared and I had to block like crazy to get it back towards the rectangular. I have been pondering as to the reason for this and I have the following possible causes. -Knots tied at different tensions -No plain weave between the rows of soumak -Uneven distribution of line soumak (us ..read more

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 These pictures various stages of a little bit of fun that I been having with soumak. I referred to various You Tube videos and the magnificent "P. Collingwood- The Techniques of Rug Weaving". There was a bit of warp pulling with the curved piece ..read more

 Supplementary Warp Tapestry I wove this between October 2019 and March of the following year. It started as a straight forward sampler loosely following the first one in Nancy Harvey's book "Tapestry Weaving - A Comprehensive guide. As I went I put in some supplementary warps and wove them in various fashions to have areas of doubleweave. The supplementary warps were woven on the surface of the ground cloth and tucked behind when no longer needed. In the picture above the bottom three have been woven as loops, two at an angle and the middle one straight. The top row has two stuffed p ..read more

Here in Australia the cloths available in the supermarkets are flimsy things that diintegrate after a few uses. I am now set up for life with these cloths that I wove using a mixture of 4 ply cottons. I used a straight threading on 12 shafts and the weave structures are a mixture of basket weaves and huck. Started the project in April last year but it wasn't until January this year that I finished them off. Two of them are now in regular use. T ..read more

After many happy years together I am sadly selling my main loom.  Overview The loom is a hybrid consisting of; Frame, beater assembly, front and back warp, cloth and knee beams. GLIMAKRA STANDARD (120cm weaving width) Shedding mechanism and harnesses; TOIKA EW24 CONTROL UNIT  (Dobby) with 24 SHAFTS The photo below shows the loom. It is a Glimakra Standard with a Toika Control unit which can be seen on the top of the loom. The control unit manages each of the 24 shafts via weaving software which is installed on the laptop. The whole mechanism is activated by the pedal which can be ..read more

I have been looking at my looms for over a year now; I think  that the time has come to give it away. Now this Sprang looks quite interesting with a nice small footprint ..read more

I bought a Rotary Temple from Fireside Looms some years ago and fitted it to a Leclerc Artisat. I subsequently sold the loom and the temple has been carefully packed away for about ten years. I have an AVL WDL which I haven't used for about 6 years - I recently took it out of its packaging, gave it a good clean and got it ready to weave again. So that I could move it about I built a wooden dolly which the loom sits on very nicely. Once the loom was on the dolly it occurred to me that the dolly might make a firm base for a framework to hold the rotary temple.  I  adopted a "suck it ..read more

Ms & Os Sample These samples were based on a draft for a turned Ms & Os scarf using 10/2 cotton and 8/2 Rayon. I used 11.8/2 nm wool and a plain weave sett of 14 epi. Next time; Tighter sett Wider plain weave panel adjacent to the selvedges and tension separately Carefull thought about the colours Long twisted fringes Photoshop how this structure would look as a shawl Weave structure Turned Ms & Os Equipment 16" Ashford 8 Shaft table loom; 12 dent reed; Leclerc boat shuttle Yarns Warp & weft: Bendigo 2 ply (11.8/2 nm) Yarn Sources Bendigo Woollen Mills PTY Ltd. 4 Lan ..read more