Search Now:
Books on Weaving:

Card Weaving
Candace Crockett

Inkle Weaving
Helene Bress

Weaving Without a Loom
Veronica Burningham

A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tablewoven Bands
Nancy Spies

The Techniques of Tablet Weaving
Peter Collingwood
All photographs and content ©2005 Robert Karl  

A loom in use is a very different beast from a loom in the shop. While I designed this loom for inkle weaving (also known as tape weaving), my wife also wanted to card weave. When her mother gifted her with cards and a book on card weaving, the loom was quickly repurposed.

What I had considered a mistake (placing the center rung of the center support about an inch lower than intended) became a "feature" of the loom: there was enough space between rungs to comfortably accommodate the cards. If I make another, I will be sure to replicate this arrangement.

There were other lessons learned once she started using the loom:

  • Seating the rungs properly is really important.
    I had known that one rung was not seated correctly, but the glue was set before I noticed. That rung became the loom's first failure: tension from the weaving broke the glue bond soon after it began to be used and I needed to clean out the hole and properly insert a new rung. If you look closely in the pictures below, you might see that one rung is a replacement and has not been full sanded or oiled yet.

  • Cast-on heddles need to be very tight.
    The card weaving (which did not use the heddles, but rubbed against the underside of them) quickly loosened the first heddles I made. I ended up removing the heddles completely and reapplying them. I also applied hot-melt glue to the last three knots of the outer end. So far, this has held up nicely.

  • The strength of the cast-on heddles relies on three castings between every heddle.
    Apparently during the first cast-on I put only one knot between two of the heddles. This immediately became a problem, allowing the heddles to turn out of position. I was super careful to include three knots between each heddle for the second set I tied.

I had intended to photograph the loom with the heddles in use, but my wife in the middle of a card-weaving project when I found time for the shoot. The project in the pictures below is a sampler of techniques possible with just two colors on the loom.

Click each picture to see more of the loom from that angle:

image of the rungs fully warpedThe warp (lengthwise strands of yarn) runs around the rungs in sequence. Length of the overal weaving is controlled by the number and pattern of rungs used.
Image of the cards in use on the loomIn card weaving, each card holds four strands. Patterns are created by the weaver's choice of colors and then by her turning cards in forward and backward rotation for each pass of the shuttle.
Image of tensioner and shuttle in useThe weaving is tightened from the tensioner. My wife generally places a foot on the far arm and pulls back on the loosened tensioner before tightening. The shuttle/beater shown is one of my design, which is extra long and has a pointed end both of which, I'm told, make it easier to pass through the shed.