It is my homemade version of a loom that I saw online.
It is a tapesty loom but also does normal 2 harness weaving or 4 as I have found out through trial. Such a simple design but functional.
I am so happy with this loom. It works beautifully if anything its a little on the large side but no big deal really, its so easy to assemble and disassemble. As a bonus it has its own warping board on it.
Here it is with my latest pebble weave project.
Update on my Andean Pebble Weave adventure and challenge
Okay here I go into my crafty deep analysis as to the" why's and how it happened" . I don't want to make the same shitty mistake again.
Photo shows warps seperated into singles and pairs. I emailed Laverne Waddington from the Backstrap weaving site and asked her for help. I know how hard it is when someone sends you a photo and says what am I doing wrong. She was very helpful .
I redid what I had already done in the first place and was happy to find that I had separated the right way the first time. Phew ! at least I did that one right.
Next stage is continuous string heddles on small dowel lengths.
I don't mind making them at all. Its actually very relaxing.
Top heddle is pebble shed 2. Bottom heddles are pebble shed 1.
My border warps have been placed on seperate heddles and there is a very good reason for me doing this.
Firstly I didn't make a three shed border. That apparently is what is best with andean pebble weave.
I wanted a 2 shed border, but pebble weave is three shed weaving, so what I did ( I worked out finally that was my main problem the first time round) was by putting the border warps in seperate heddles and as the pebble sheds share the border warps from cross stick D it worked finally, I just created the 2 sheds not three. Next time will be three.
Now here is the latest but not so bad as my first effort. I will get that part right in the next weave I do.
1.Slack warps on borders
2.Floating warps still but soon worked out sticky warps and Mainly me not clearing the shed properly.
3.I Have Learnt my Lesson.
I am using a 4 ply sullivans crochet cotton. It is not mercerized. I will use up what I have first and thats absolutely heaps of the stuff and then I will start to use dmc no 10 crochet cotton in future, I think.
Here are my notes I made to myself.
What I have Learnt.
- I was working with 2 sheds not three as in the thicker border.
- I wound ? revolutions of single navy not ? revolutions of doubled thread as it would produce a 3 shed (thicker) border
- I only needed to heddle the border warps once from cross stick C as for plain weaving as this was all I warped for.
Here is a diagram I drew in paint to explain it, so I don't forget it.
and finally
Make sure to clear the sheds properly before inserting the weft..
I help if anyone else is reading this and they had or have confused themselves with the why's and hows my mistakes may help them.
Next is the actually pickup design from Lavern's book. Its the 22 revolution one on page 72.
The Big Question Why.
I have a deep love for all things craft and handmade as you will see all over this blog and I love a challenge , I never give up trying even when someone says its just too hard for you or that's not possible . I believe that all mistakes are lessons well learned and making mistakes along the way better your understanding of the process. As a child. if someone said " No you cant" my very first response would be Why and today at 49 years of age I am still that same little girl that says why. I
I believe that if you write something then you should follow it up with the "why" you do it that way and the "how". Some are very good at explaining this and some are not quite as good at being able to express this and they leave a little too much out about the process, like its a little secret that they couldn't possible share at this point because you are not ready in their eyes.
It really annoys me when someone assumes that I am not capable of something yet.
So with a real determination and my chin up I will plod along and make many mistakes and will remember and learn from them knowing that I am capable and ready and it doesn't matter how many mistakes because I have a great memory and will learn from them. I never think something is too hard for me do. I just jump in and give it a try without fear of making mistakes.
Here are a few examples of me teaching myself with errors and all and I love it.
Inkle woven birka design from Anne Dixons book made by me. I made the inkle loom myself with a small amount of help from my hubby and then without doing the basic designs first, I jumped straight into the pickup designs area , loved the design and wove it. She has really good instructions. It was so relaxing to do.
I want to make a small toolbag for my magnetic knitting chart board and shuttles out of this . I will post a pic when its done.
Next is my backstrap pebble weaving. Ummmmmm the small band below is the starting of this adventure of which I will not give up on. Its those bloody string heddles . But firstly here is the first tiny , tiny band I have woven. I think I did alright on this one.
Next is my newest disaster in Andean Pebble Weave but I am not giving up.
I wanted a wider piece in a pretty pattern and so I went about making wider plain borders with a 22 revolution pebble weave center. I wound the border warps singly and then proceeded with the paired warps for the pattern area and then back to single white and blue plain borders.
And this is the result below
A big bloody mess with potential. I am using a rigid heddle loom frame that once again I made myself by hand and its working really well for holding tension.
Okay back to the problem Warp floats that shouldn't be there. I have remade the string heddles at least 3 times for the pebble sheds and still the problem remains.
Here are more photo's concerning my dilema.
String heddles made, I think I did a good job of making these on the sticks.
Next photo's are of the 2 pebble sheds.
I selected the warps for the pattern area using the huancayo way . Laverne states in her lovely book that this is the most efficient way of selecting the pebble shed warps. I was just unsure as to once they were selected whether they were to go as pairs into the heddles or as singles or as I had selected them meaning a single, pair, single, single etc. I really still do not know the answer to that one or why this is a more efficient way of selecting the warps.
I love the 4 stake warping method though, I think its very clever and saves having to sort your 2 colours out.
Anyway I will plod along and sort out this huge bloody mess and just keep trying like I always do and try and work it out myself. I will read the forums on backstrap weaving and hope that someone may ask a similiar question, but I am pretty sure that my brain is just not firing with this one. I have also been to the library and am doing some added research on this at the moment as to try to figure out the why's before the hows. We have such a very limited supply of books on this subject in Australia .
Anyway if you want to see photo's of my inkle loom, tablet weaving loom and rigid heddle looms they will be under the wood working page link.
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