Friday, March 10, 2017

Bye bye rigid heddle

Sadly, Canberra Spinners and Weavers wanted their little rigid heddle loom back, so I snipped off the last project and waved it fondly goodbye. Actually I took it and everything I'd made into the Wednesday weaving class for show and tell - I think they were quite impressed that such a daggy little loom could make pretty things. The last project was a sampler of different techniques from the book my husband got me for Christmas. The first few are different sizes and shapes of loops for texture. Wide apart loops, close together loops, and large cut loops.



The next things in the black wool are Danish Medallions where I didn't quite understand the instructions for the first few. They look a bit mutant, but get better.



Then there are ones where you loop the weft around the warp to make a more open look. The middle ones are really easy but look very cool. I did it in different sizes and different distances apart but it's all the same basic technique.



These ones were done with pick-up sticks; where you manually put an additional stick through to make different sheds ... mimicking a four-shaft loom in effect. It's quite fiddly but the textures you can get are lovely. And very varied - I picked out the main techniques to try but each one could have multiple variations. And I only did it one colour; if you put different colours through it as well you can get something that looks incredibly complex, just on your little home-made rigid heddle. Sob.
 

2 comments:

  1. Well, it looks very impressive.

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  2. I looked on TradeMe under Heddle Loom and there is one in Canterbury. I wouldn't know whether it was rigid or not. Interested? Plus some books. Have a look.

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