Assembling the loom was probably the easy part. The next step was tying up the lamms. But first, I needed to straighten out the mess with the heddles and make sure the heddle bars were even.
I color coded the heddles years ago, which was helpful because now I knew exactly where they belonged. This was good because it's nice to have the same number of heddles on each shaft.
To make sure all the shafts were at the same height, I ran a string from beam to beam, threading it through one heddle on each shaft.
Only one was stubbornly out of place, and this turned out to be a broken Texsolv peg in the countermarch.
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| The pegs hold the Texsolve cord |
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| One of the pegs was broken |
Replacing it solved the problem.
Then I was ready to attach the lams to the shafts. The tie-up fixture (upright posts and locking pins below) holds the lamms at the correct height for tie-up and stabilizes them.
The shorter upper lamms are tied to the bottom bar of each shaft.
The longer lower lamms are tied by a long cord to the countermarch. These were more challenging because the lamms are only about 14 inches off the ground and it felt like I was standing on my head to see to attach them! I had trouble holding the cords tight while inserting the peg into the cord. It finally occurred to me to use a tapestry needle to hold the cord taut so I could insert the pin.
That helped! And that completed the tie-up to attach the countermarch, shafts, and lamms.
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| Done! |
The action of this arrangement is that the upper lamms lower the shafts and the lower lamms raise the shafts. Which does which depends on how the treadles are tied to the lamms. Because all the shafts are either raised or lowered, a good shed is created.
The next step will be to put on a warp and tie up the treadles.
© 2024 Leigh's Fiber Journal
4 comments:
Just reading about this made my head hurt – SO much more complicated than my little jack loom!
Michelle, it is, and I'm so glad I learned to weave on a jack loom too. Getting this loom was motivated by the desire for 8 shafts, and this was the one available at a price we had money for. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I'm really glad I have it though, and am happy with more shafts and the wider weaving width.
Leigh, I am with Michelle - This makes my head hurt (although it is endlessly fascinating).
Youngest child Nighean Dhonn sent a picture that she is expanding her fiber arts from crocheting to a hand loom. Her interest is ancient fiber arts, so I should become much more educated on this.
TB, at least you'll know what she's talking about when she hints for more equipment. :)
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