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There has been progress on the tabletop loom I built a couple of weeks ago as I prepared the first warp (mine and it’s). It consists of 6 yards of Aunt Lydia’s #10 cotton thread for hopefully 5 dishtowels with fringed ends.

The warp design comes from a set of dishtowels we bought last year from Foxfire’s shop, woven by The Village Weaver, Sharon Grist. They are a simple plain weave. The dent works out to 20 EPI. I love these towels and everything else that the Village Weaver has! Since there were no more available at the store, I decided this pattern was going to be my first weaving lesson.

I ended up making a few changes to the loom after the first warping revealed some functional issues:

1. The two-ended screw and glue for the knobs (table legs) did not work out. If you’ve ever had a curtain rod finial that stripped and spun, you can visualize the problem.

Here is the newest solution:

We ended up cutting the legs down to a 1 1/2″ thickness (to get around the pins) and used 3″ wood screws in predrilled holes directly into the beams. On each beam knob end now is a hasp with metal dowel running through it with a cotter pin to hold it on. This works out good. The pin placements ended up giving really good tension too, so I was happy about that.

2. I first warped from back to front, using the ‘ruler with nails’ raddle and rubber bands to keep the threads down. The problem is the threads overlap eachother when I took the warp off the warping board. I can’t imagine there’s a way to prevent it from happening. I did tie choke ties at each yard center and placed ties on each side of the cross and end peg, made the braid as it came off the warping board, and draped it directly to the beam – trying to be careful not to ‘overly touch’ it. In the future I will weave a folded string between the epi spacings and see if that helps to keep things flattened and in place.

The overlapping and tangling became a nightmare tho as I tried to warp from back to front with lease sticks tied to the back beam. The tension was so tight from the snarls and tangles behind the lease sticks, that I had to have Slobo gradually wind the warp threads all the way back onto the front beam while I used a hair comb and untagled the threads from the back beam as they closed in on the lease sticks. THAT was really tedious and aggravating – so there must be a better way to do that or I did something wrong. By time the warp was all picked up by the front beam, my original end peg loop had slack in alot of spaces on the back apron, which tells me the yarn must have stretched an awful lot in the tangling/detangling. I hope to find a weaver who will share some information about that.

Reed replacement:

The heddle threading and sleying of the reed went well tho after I replaced the reed….

3. The initial reeds that I made the beater reed from had the growth rings from the bamboo on them. Since then, having seen reed beaters up close at a museum, I see they are always straight. Chalk up lesson #1.

The solution was to build another reed. Yes, I could have bought one, but would need to wait at least 3-4 weeks and I’d really like to know what other options would work. Let’s face it, our ancestors didn’t have an internet store to turn to and I don’t have a local reed source.

With blissful thoughts that there must be something else around that would work and allow drilling of holes to be threaded onto rods, Slobo discovers Plastic Hanger Strapping in the plumbing dept.

While I think it would have been more accurate to use craft sticks (the non-rounded end ones from Walmart) and just tie them to two sticks at each end with some glue when done, for some strange reason I was determined to find a replacement that would work with the washers. lol

The strapping brand is Oatley and it’s gray plastic. One roll of 3/4″ x 100 feet was 9.00. It comes in plastic, steel, copper, and galvanized. The metals have sharper edges, so I opted for the plastic which has a small beveled edge. The plastic allows the threads to slide very nicely in the dent spaces (mined are doubled up in the dent).

Here you can see the difference between the reed made from actual reeds and the reed made from the plastic strapping. The reeds would have worked if they were all as even as the ones to the right. The plastic made a better solution.

It comes with predrilled holes, but they are too small to thread onto a rod and are not lined up exactly, so you must drill new holes. Because it is on a roll, it has to be flattened.

This is how to flatten them:

1. Cut 6″ strips (this will end up as a 5 1/2″ tall beater reed after threading. Kitchen scissors will do this easily.
2. Lay the strips out on a foil covered cookie sheet (abt 24-30 will fit per cookie sheet). Put another cookie sheet on top of the strips and place the heaviest pots you have (Slobo used three cast iron pots).
3. Bake at 250′ F oven for 12-14 minutes.
4. The key to flattening out perfectly straight is to quickly cool the strips in a freezer. Remove them from the cookie sheets and place in freezer for about 15-20 minutes until cooled completely thru.

The oven is not hot enough to melt the strips, but will be hot enough to soften the plastic so that it will lie flat. If you don’t cool them quickly, they will still bow tho as they contract. So freezing is key.

Once they have cooled, you can take them out and drill the hole for the threaded rod to pass through at the top and bottom of each one. I made a little jig to hold stacks of 12 that had been taped together tightly using masking tape. See, when you drill plastic, little burrs will from around the holes and ‘lift’ each strip up pushing the next one. The best way to deal with this is to tape them together tightly at each end and in the middle, then the burrs will only be on the first and last one (sometimes in the middle, but not many).

Finally, a razor blade will slice any burrs off easily when held level with the strip to cut.

The placement on the threaded rods went:

1. #10 bolt.
2. A 6″ joist tie plate (galvanize plate where joist hangars are sold) drilled at each end for the rod. Drilling this plate is really easy as the metal is fairly soft but doesn’t easily bend.
3. Washer then strip. The #10 washers gave a 10-12 dent spacing.
4. Finish with another 6″ joist tie plate.
5. Bolt on the end of the top and bottom rods.

Finally, after having little tools all over to keep track of, a tool tray was needed. I built it from 1/4″ thick poplar and used joist hangers again to attach it high enough on the castle to clear the handle.

Once I get the tensions evened out on the warp strings it should be ready to go. While I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, Slobo bought me a new ‘old’ primitive floor loom from a lady in Del Rio, TN that I cannot wait to post about! There was a similar loom at Red Clay State Park in TN that a lady was kind enough to let us photograph and see up close. I’m working on gathering pics and info for it now and will post soon…

Until then…. May your life be filled with many firsts.