In the previous post I mentioned problems encountered with the first weave on the tabletop loom. Now for the pictures and explanation of the latest changes. I share this not only to track my own projects, but for other newbies…

Just as the business end of a spinning wheel is not the wheel but one of it’s smallest parts, the flyer on the mother of all (don’t ya love these names?).. the most important part of the loom is the reed that sits in the beater. How straight and parallel each of these dents (spaces between the reed) are, is a huge factor in how even the weave is.

While the oatley plastic reeds did not work out so good… they ARE fun for kids to build structures using twist ties or pipe cleaners with… so all is not lost.

Here’s a picture of what I mean about the importance of the reeds. Notice the ‘opening’ of the weave? That is where the reeds bowed a little creating a little more open dent in those spaces.

Here is a picture showing the sleyed reeds which reveals where the dent spacing was off on these lines:

So, if you are going to build a loom – plan to either make a reed using the stiffest, thinnest, straightest reeds you can find or better yet – save money on the loom frame by building it out of scrap wood and put your money into the best reed you can afford – carbon or stainless steel.

Purchased reeds I find range from 3 1/2″ – 4 1/2″ in height and the widths are measured at the inside dent spacing – so add an inch or two to the overall length for what will fit inside of your beater. The grooves for the beater frame on my barn loom are 5/8″ wide. I wasn’t able to find that information anywhere else – so just FYI.

The photograph of the cloth on the table is after it had been machine washed and dried and carried around in Slobo’s camera bag as a lens cover for a week. Where the weave is more open (at the arrows) is a 1/4″ weft stripe of aunt lydia’s #10 crochet cotton. The remaining warp is the remains of a putty colored bamboo / nylon blend knitting yarn I had lying around (about 3 times the diameter of the crochet cotton).

A couple of his clients said they would like to buy some dishtowels made like that – so if they liked that… who knows what the future holds… maybe lots of warp in a new reed?

I leave you with glimpses of the last changes (hopefully) that are needed to the table top loom. I have been making those today and will have pictures soon:

The shed created is too small….

so, I need to move the beater closer to the heddles:

I’ve lengthened the sides to 31 1/2 long x 6″ tall using some old pine dresser drawer fronts I already had, to give more room to create the shed.

I’ve also taken off the top and bottom of the beater frame and am using 2″ wide pieces in order to get the beater a little closer to the castle. The old 6″ wide piece at the top prevented it from getting closer.

Once I have a good loom, whose only hurdle is my skill level, I’ll post the drawn plan so others can build one too.