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Making a loom
#1
Deb pointed me to a website that has schematics for a warp weighted loom, but in looking at it, I can't figure quite how it works. The warp threads alternate back/forth, but how do they get switched after the shuttle is passed through them?<br>
<br>
Has anyone built one of these before? The general design seems pretty simple so a reconstruction looks straightforward. <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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#2
Rich,<br>
I'm not an expert but, the heddle rod (one if your going to make a tabby, three if you're going to make a twill) separates for a moment the threads of the warp, so you can pass the weft thread among them. After that, the heddle rod is returned to the inner position and you 'push' upwards the weft using a 'sword' to compat it. There is one bracket protruding from each of the main uprights, with two indentations which mark the two positions of the heddle rod.<br>
Hope that this will help (and be correct, too )<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.

Rolf Steiner
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#3
At an event this evening, I saw what was a sort of warp weighted loom (I'll have to load the photo) but the lady said they had guessed at it and there warp did not appear to have a heddle in it: she wove the weft in one strand over the other, which looks very awkward.<br>
<br>
I did find one book that appears to be the definitive work on these things:<br>
<br>
The Warp Weighted Loom<br>
Hoffman, Marta<br>
<br>
by Marta Hoffmann This is the classic study of the warp-weighted loom. Marta Hoffmann begins with the surviving examples in northern Scandinavia and works back through time picking out the evidence from artefacts and weaving implements back to the Mediterranean civilisations. Frequently reprinted. 426p with photos and drawings (Originally pub 1964)<br>
ISBN 8200080943. Paperback. Price US $16.95<br>
<br>
Here are the links that Deb provided for making a warp weighted loom;<br>
www.housebarra.com/EP/ep02/20wwl.html<br>
www.housebarra.com/EP/ep0...rping.html <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub27.ezboard.com/bromancivtalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=richsc>Richsc</A> at: 12/8/03 9:47 pm<br></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
Reply
#4
Rich wrote:<br>
<br>
At an event this evening, I saw what was a sort of warp weighted loom (I'll have to load the photo) but the lady said they had guessed at it and there warp did not appear to have a heddle in it: she wove the weft in one strand over the other, which looks very awkward.<br>
<br>
That sounds like a type of navajo loom which doesn't have heddles in it. What era was she trying to portray? (The Walking Through Bethlehem thing? You guys must have frozen your loricas off!!) I would think that ancient Middle Eastern looms would be pretty similar if not the same as Roman or other looms of the period.<br>
<br>
Which reminds me, the book "Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times" by Elizabeth Wayland Barber is another good source though she doesn't go into Ancient Greece and Rome that much. She does have an interesting theory that the Venus di Milo (the armless Venus statue, I think I have the name right) was really depicted spinning by the placement of the shoulders. She would have had one arm raised and another arm down in front of her which could have held a drop spindle. Kind of interesting.<br>
<br>
Deb <p></p><i></i>
----------
Deb
Sulpicia Lepdinia
Legio XX
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#5
You're right Deb, it was the 'Walking Through Bethlehem' event, and the woman using the loom had not built it, but was just assigned to sit there working on it for the crowds. When I find a place to host the image I'll be able to link to it and show you. <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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#6
A Navajo loom? I'd have payed to see the civilian costumes!<br>
BTW, you weren't wearing rectangular scuta, Corbridge segmentatae, etc in Augustean times, or were you ?<br>
( Oh, sorry, that belongs to another Forum! )<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.

Rolf Steiner
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#7
I'm still up for making one of these, but would love to see one in action. Deb suggested a local weaving store as the most likely suspects to understand it; anyone else have a suggestion?<br>
<br>
We are expanding our caupona for this season, so we'll have a new room to put the thing. <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
Reply
#8
I'm still researching this; I guess just seeing a working one would do. In addition to the Hoffman book, I found other references:<br>
<br>
Broudy, Eric. The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present. Providence: Brown UP, 1979.<br>
<br>
John Peter Wild's Textiles in Archaeology, from the Shire Archaeology<br>
<br>
vt.essortment.com/warpweighted_rkmy.htm<br>
<br>
www.forest.gen.nz/Medieva.../WARP.HTML<br>
<br>
This last one finally shows me what a 'shed' is, which is just the space and difference between the alternating warp threads. It shows the loom from the side, which illustrates that one set of warp threads falls naturally straight down, the alternate set is held out by the fixed shed rod.<br>
I was not too clear on what held the back warp threads to the heddle rod, but it appears they're tied in with thread, such as waxed linen.<br>
<br>
<img src="http://img15.photobucket.com/albums/v45/Richsc/WarpLoom.jpg" style="border:0;"/> <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub27.ezboard.com/bromancivtalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=richsc>Richsc</A> at: 4/13/04 8:55 pm<br></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
Reply
#9
Yes, Rich, the warp threads are tied to the heddle rod so that they can slide up as work progresses.<br>
The picture is far more complicated when you're weaving a twill and you use three heddle rods!<br>
You need also a starting band (tablet woven, usually) to be hanged from the loom, with all the warp threads arranged in groups stemming from it.<br>
I've seen it a pair of times and I cannot imagine myself as a weaver!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.

Rolf Steiner
Reply


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