warping up tablet cards photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I wasn’t in love with it,

so I gave the book and cards away.

Last year, my best friend, who is also a weaver,

offered me a little pile of

tablet weaving cards

that she wasn’t using anymore.

I thought…. hmmmm…. why not?

I brought them home

and hung them on a ring

on one of the carts in the studio.

They’ve been calling out to me, but I have been resisting them.

Then, last week, when I was noodling through Ruth MacGregor’s website, I saw that she had written a booklet about continuous warping of tablet cards.

I thought…. hmmmm…. perhaps this is the key that will make me fall in love with tablet weaving. I hit the paypal button and began peering anxiously into my mailbox.

The booklet arrived yesterday, and today, I gave myself a little holiday by taking it for a test drive.

I clamped some clamps to the workbench, and got out some cones and bobbins of yarn. The first pic is a long shot of the warping process.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I had a few

‘eh’????

moments,

when I wanted

MORE information,

but decided to

trust that

everything

would turn out okay…..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and if it didn’t

then -

so what?

It’s all just string

and it can be untangled

and used again.

I was going to put

the tablet weaving onto

my inkle loom,

but decided that I use

my Cricket loom instead.

Getting it onto the Cricket required a whole bunch of effort from me and my daughter-in-law, as well as one small dog and one large cat both offering their advice.

She had taken her broken ankle to bed, so she lay there, (foot elevated),  holding onto the end of the warp strands and  laughed. Meanwhile I juggled the Cricket in mid air, over the head of  the sceptical dog and  fascinated cat, flailing with brown paper strips, trying to maintain the tension on the warp while winding on the warp.

Whew! that was distinctly challenging!

Well…… I have done something slightly off kilter,  (given the loom juggling, I am not all that surprised) so, this first band is wonky.

I am used to warping the tablet cards in the way shown in this pdf: Non continuous warping

so the continuous method feels uncomfortable to me.

Weaving narrow bands is fascinating.

There is  a long history of humanity weaving narrow bands and using them to construct other fabrics, other objects.

It’s worthwhile to explore the different ways of weaving those little bands, and then, to see what potential, what possibilities, they hold.

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For centuries, tapes and ribbons were essential for so many reasons:

They were used for a lot more things than they are now-

Woven tapes were essential to hold clothing up, hold clothing together, hold shoes onto feet,as well as being used around the house and workshop in a miriad of other ways.

Fancier woven tapes and ribbons were used to trim and embellish all kinds of textiles, from clothing and fashion accessories to curtain ties and trims to all kinds of home decorating accessories.

Nowadays, there are lots of people who are working with tape looms, not just to re-create history, but for the pure pleasure of creating beauty in a unique way.

There are 2 styles of tape looms.

One has a box base and ratchet system to wind the warp strands onto a back beam.

photo by Grace & Fred Hatton used with permission

The other is a paddle style, held between the weaver’s knees.

photo by Grace & Fred Hatton used with permission

There are advantages to both, and both are very beautiful.

Here’s a great little video of a woman in historic costume, working with a paddle style tape loom, held between her knees.

Video of tape loom in use

Here is the  most wonderfully useful and comprehensive website about tape loom weaving: Tape Looms

Luckily there are some talented craftspeople still building these beautiful looms:

Jonathan Seidel

and

Fred and Grace Hatton

Grace Hatton has written several excellent articles about how to weave with their double hole Norwegian style rigid heddle tape loom.

Here’s a link to the article she wrote for Weavezine.

Small looms can be sooooooooooo enchanting….. and these are especially so!

Happy Weaving!

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Click on YouTube on Kente Cloth weavers….

There are a series of mind blowing videos of Kente cloth weavers at work. Mastery in motion, and I MEAN ‘in motion’!

Dazzling…..

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She has written about what it has been like for her to do the sewing of the memorial textiles (called antependia) that we have co-created in memory of her Nana, my precious mother in law….. we both found it to be very stirring to put huge effort into creating a loving memorial to a marvelous woman who was central in our lives.

Here’s her entry: Chloë  and the memorial textiles

Here’s what I wrote about this process:

1] Starting the weaving 

2] a not so stellar moment…. 

3] weaving…. 

4] weaving a metaphor

5] my part finished…. 

Sunday morning, we’ll be participating in the dedication of the altar cloth,  pulpit banner and  table runners.  Jim’s trio is going to play, and a friend of ours, a fabulous singer, is going to be singing. It’s going to be wonderful….

I’ll take some pics and post them……

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I’ve written about it before – memorial textiles 

For the last few days, I have been deeply immersed in finishing up the bands so my daughter can take them and stitch them to the ‘antependia’ (sacred textiles).

There’s nothing like knowing that if you don’t get your part of the project done, then the project doesn’t get done! eep

So, weave weave weave…. I’ve woven miles of bands…. and now, I get to pass them to my daughter, for her to make her magic with.

She’s good.

She’s REALLY good!

She’s her grandmother’s granddaughter for sure )

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Chloë wrote today about her part of the Memorial textiles that we are working on in celebration of the life of her grandmother/my beloved mother-in-law.

Chloë’s doing a fabulous job on them, and it’s a HUGE project, all driven by love.

Jim took some pics of me working on my part…. the weaving of the narrow bands that are trimming the banners and altar cloth and side table runners:

When I was first approached about weaving this memorial for my precious mum-in-law, I envisioned something much bigger.

I got WILDLY inspired and came up with a really exciting concept.  It’s a huge and exuberant idea for a wonderful weaving project!

So, the seed is planted for a project that I KNOW is going to see the light of day- sometime…..  it’s gestating – and I know it’s going to be fun!

BUT… there was a VERY firm nudging that kept coming up for me. It was a prompting that  I believe was coming from Mum, saying: Keep this simple!

And judging by the ‘deer in the headlights’ look in the eyes of the memorial committee  when I proposed the very high energy (lotsa people involved) project, that inner prompting was right.   THIS  memorial project does need to be elegant, minimalist and simple.

Simple ain’t easy, though… Chloë  and I are working our butts off on it.

And, it is just SO RIGHT!  It seems to me that women have found ways of remembering each other and making connections in and through their threads since the beginning of time.

We are all weaving a tapestry of life that carries our memories and love in every one of the precious threads we spin each day.

Here’s to the tapestry!

What are you weaving into the threads of your life?

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It’s taken awhile to get all the details sorted and everything approved, but now things are on fast forward.

Turns out what the committee wanted was to replace the worn out  navy blue velvet  with new velvet ones, to have me weave decorative edging.

Sewing velvet is one of my least favorite things on earth, so my wonderful daughter has taken on that part. (Bless her heart!)

She’s doing all the sewing by hand, which is a LOT of work.

And, she can’t do it until I get the bands woven…. so….

Today, I got out my bobbin winder and filled a paper quill with a heap of white thread…….

and my inkle loom, and then I got warping……

and now…. weave….. weave….. weave……..

 It’s going to be a touch slow, as pickup weaving is done stitch by stitch…..

and – there’s love in every stitch.

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Would it be hard to learn to weave the strap for a camera case for her sister?

Not at all!

So, last night, after supper, we got the loom  warped, and she sat right down and wove her  first band:

She did a gorgeous job! She’s a born weaver.

Am I proud of her?

Of course.   )

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Here’s the list of loom links organized by the cost of the looms:

$0 – Looms made from recycled stuff

Under $5 – Plastic Potholder Looms

Under $15- Peggetty Loom Book

Under $20- Harrisville Potholder Loom

Harrisville Peg Loom

Under $25 – Harrisville Backstrap Loom

Under $30 – Schacht Mini Loom

Weavette Looms

Under $40- Wishing Windows Loom

Under $50 – Schacht School Loom (Frame)

Under $100 - Inkle Loom

Historical Vesterheim Museum Cradle Loom

Over $100 – Rigid Heddle looms

To see some of the guzbillions of projects that I have woven on these looms, run down the categories list on the right hand side of this page and click on them…. they’ll take you to the entries.Happy Weaving!~ These are my favorite looms…. tell us about yours!

) Noreen

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the shuttle in the photo is one that my son in law made for me. A very nice little wooden one comes with the loom.

The loom comes with an excellent instruction booklet.

It’s wonderfully portable and lightweight. It fits in a small bag or large pocket.

The one thing that is  a little tricky for people to get used to is that the tension on the loom is supplied by the weaver’s body.

Also…. It can be a touch frustrating to get yourself all set up to weave, and then realize that the phone is across the room….. and ringing.  Sigh.

Other than that, it’s definitely ‘thumbs up’ for this lovely little loom!

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