When you join a spinners and weavers group, you cant help but be inspired by the beautiful work on display from other members. Add to that, their willingness to teach you so many weaving techniques, and you can do so much of it on the equipment that you can hire from the club.
So, after a little bit of rigid heddle weaving, and a couple of workshops using a 4 or 8 shaft table loom, my interest was captured and I couldn’t help thinking that a floor loom was the way forward for me.
Call me lazy, but I just got tired of using the levers by hand and imagined that having treadles to control your weave pattern would be so much better.
As soon as I had the opportunity to expand my collection with the purchase of a second hand floor loom, I grabbed it and quickly made some space in my lounge room! This well loved loom just needed a bit of TLC to bring it back to its best life.
The texsolv cord had become dirty over time, and one previous owner had used rubber bands to secure them to the treadles which had deteriorated and left rubber residue all over the place, so that needed to be cleaned up too.
Everything had become a little loose over time, and probably worsened by being moved, so I went over each part and made sure everything was in the right place and held together tightly.
The rubber below the shafts had completely squished down, so this was easy to replace and now it makes a little less of a bang each time you lower them.
The top ‘shelf’ had a few coffee mug stains and was a bit rough. It may not even be the original material, but it was an easy fix with a nice piece of upholstery fabric cut to fit on top.
Lastly, the metal heddles and the metal rails on each shaft had corroded and become a little rough. This made it harder to use as the heddles wouldn’t slide nicely. I gave the whole loom a coat of light furniture oil and it came up beautifully.
I don’t know if it was the right thing to do.. but I used that same furniture oil rag to wipe over the metal heddles and it basically cleaned them, and lubricated the metal so that they now slide really easily across. The only concern I had with this, was if the oil leaves a residue that then stains or marks my thread. Having now used the loom for my first project, I can confirm that this has not happened. I can confirm that the heddles are now smooth, slide well and are unlikely to have any oil residue that would mark any warp threads in the future.
Overall, I am really happy with how this has come up. I know its is exciting to buy new things, but honestly, there are so many second hand looms out there that are ready to live on with a little clean up.. I just couldn’t justify paying the new loom price tag!
