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Tapestry weaving can seem like a pursuit that requires A LOT. A lot of equipment, materials, and knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Weaving tapestry can be quite simple and your materials and equipment do not have to be complicated. If you want to learn tapestry weaving, below are some suggestions for how to get started. There are also many resources for people already deep into the tapestry experience, but this post is mostly for people who are pretty new to tapestry weaving.
If you’re a tapestry weaver who does smaller format work, you’ve likely at least heard of Mirrix looms. I’m guessing you probably have one in your studio. The classic looms that are rectangular in shape and have a shedding device also come with a funny-shaped handle to shift the shed. If you’re new to this sort of shedding device, the way this handle works can be a little mysterious.
I was getting out of my car at the library yesterday and I had the two dogs in the car. They like a ride sometime and I didn’t have to stop anywhere for long so they got to come along. Sal was barking at some unidentifiable thing and a woman walking down the sidewalk turned around and asked if those were dachshunds barking. She said she’d know that bark anywhere. She also said they’re great dogs. Which they are. They’re smart and they love to help, especially Sal. She is bright and learns fast and she gets into all kinds of trouble.
Many of us like to use tapestry looms or frames with continuous warping. This usually means that you have some kind of warping bar that revolves with the warp around the loom. This way of warping is helpful because you can weave something a lot longer than your loom is tall. But one problem I see on any loom with continuous warping is that the warping bar can become tilted as you’re weaving. If you don’t notice this problem, it can have consequences for how square your tapestry is. It is easy to miss the tilt as it starts happening because we tend to weave with something between the layers of warp. That makes weaving easier visually, but it also hides the bar from our immediate view.
Both the classic Mirrix looms and the Schacht Arras tapestry loom have this kind of continuous warping with a warping bar. You can also do it on any pipe loom. In the video below I demonstrate the problem and talk about how to fix it.
I’ve been playing with the new Mirrix Chloe loom for several months now and I’ve had a lot of people asking me about it in my online courses and on social media. The Chloe loom is the new version of the Saffron Pocket Loom. The Saffron came out with in 2020 and I reviewed it HERE.
The Chloe loom uses the square bars that are standard on Mirrix’s bigger looms for a lap-sized loom with one tensioning bar in the middle.
I use the Saffron loom a lot for samples and teaching and honestly, I didn’t see any need at all for a new version of this loom, but I will admit to all of you, that…
Put things in boxes. Keep them from getting broken… they said.
Okay, that is what my brain said when I was packing. But let me tell you, when you take apart four different large looms with wooden parts and then put them in boxes that match the size/length of the parts instead of by loom, it can make it mighty difficult to find the parts when you want to put just one of those looms back together again on the other end! Sure, it was efficient in terms of packing and the number of long boxes I had, but not so great on this side of things.
Putting the rug loom back together with my dad…
Jim Hokett’s business was called Hokett Would Work. He was a woodworker and his little pun was quite a joke actually because I have met few people who worked harder than he did. For many years after finding his beautiful looms at a conference booth, I purchased his looms and tools. He did eventually retire several years ago and the tapestry weaving world has missed him ever since.
Jim passed away suddenly on March 6th. I wanted to post some of his work here as a remembrance. I hope you’ll tell me your memories of using his tools or maybe interacting with him in the comments.
