Loom review
I've been toying with the idea of getting another loom for a while now - something that can handle wider pieces than the inkle loom. They have a couple of brands of peg looms in Spotlight, but they are more designed for knitting, and I am not sure if they would be suited for the kinds of things I want to do.
Anyway, I recently spotted a wooden frame loom in a Spotlight catalogue, and I had just acquired a 20% off voucher, which clearly seemed to be a sign from the universe. So I got this thing:
The design is a little bit unusual. The bar in the middle sitting on top of the frame is a combination heddle and shaft. It is curved on the bottom, and the idea is that you rock it one way and then the other to create the shed (it has alternating deep and shallow grooves for the yarn to pass through).
I thought this was kind of a neat idea, but it works only moderately. The shed (the gap between the warp threads that allows the shuttle to pass through) is not very deep, and much more distinct on one side than the other.
I think this is mainly because this loom is designed for making pieces the size of the loom. I, of course, have to take the more difficult option of trying to make something longer. This requires winding the excess warp around the end bar, which makes it difficult to get a really tight tension in the warp. And this loom seems like it would function better with tighter tension. It also means I wound a lot of thread onto the shuttles to avoid the chance of having running out half way through (changing weft threads is not especially difficult, but I would prefer to avoid it if possible). This made them really fat, and more difficult to pass through the narrow shed.
Still, with the assistance of this ruler, which is quite handy for both helping to open the shed and beating the weft, I am beginning to get the hang of it.
The blue thread I am working with is an 8ply 50% cotton 50% acrylic yarn, and as you can see from the above picture, even doubled it is going to make quite a loose weave. One thing with this loom design is that you are a bit limited by the (widish) gap between the grooves in the heddle. It definitely seems like it is designed for use with thicker yarns. I have some much fatter silk blend yarn that might work very nicely. Alternatively, I am tempted to try for a small tapestry.
On the whole this is probably not a bad loom for starting out with, but if you have ambitious weaving plans, or like to work with fine yarn then you should look for something more sophisticated.
Anyway, I recently spotted a wooden frame loom in a Spotlight catalogue, and I had just acquired a 20% off voucher, which clearly seemed to be a sign from the universe. So I got this thing:
The design is a little bit unusual. The bar in the middle sitting on top of the frame is a combination heddle and shaft. It is curved on the bottom, and the idea is that you rock it one way and then the other to create the shed (it has alternating deep and shallow grooves for the yarn to pass through).
I thought this was kind of a neat idea, but it works only moderately. The shed (the gap between the warp threads that allows the shuttle to pass through) is not very deep, and much more distinct on one side than the other.
I think this is mainly because this loom is designed for making pieces the size of the loom. I, of course, have to take the more difficult option of trying to make something longer. This requires winding the excess warp around the end bar, which makes it difficult to get a really tight tension in the warp. And this loom seems like it would function better with tighter tension. It also means I wound a lot of thread onto the shuttles to avoid the chance of having running out half way through (changing weft threads is not especially difficult, but I would prefer to avoid it if possible). This made them really fat, and more difficult to pass through the narrow shed.
Still, with the assistance of this ruler, which is quite handy for both helping to open the shed and beating the weft, I am beginning to get the hang of it.
The blue thread I am working with is an 8ply 50% cotton 50% acrylic yarn, and as you can see from the above picture, even doubled it is going to make quite a loose weave. One thing with this loom design is that you are a bit limited by the (widish) gap between the grooves in the heddle. It definitely seems like it is designed for use with thicker yarns. I have some much fatter silk blend yarn that might work very nicely. Alternatively, I am tempted to try for a small tapestry.
On the whole this is probably not a bad loom for starting out with, but if you have ambitious weaving plans, or like to work with fine yarn then you should look for something more sophisticated.