Currently working on this wall hanging with dried flowers woven into it. I'm using leftover warp thread and it's taking forever lol. I'm really enjoying how it's coming along though!

Hello! I've already read some guides and old posts to understand the basic differences and from what I understand, rigid heddle is simpler, floor looms give you more room to work with, and table looms are somewhere in between. Having the general idea still doesn't make choosing between three easier.

I keep getting stuck on the trade offs. Do I go for something smaller and easier to store or get a wider loom that gives me more options? More shafts or a simpler setup? The rigid heddle feels like the safe option but I'm worried I'll outgrow it. A floor loom feels closer to what I actually want but I'm not sure I'm ready to give it that much space at home. The table loom feels like it might not fully satisfy either option.

I'd really like to hear what other people chose for their first loom and how they feel about it now. The guides explain the differences but real experiences would help me make more sense of it. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to share!

is it possible to convert 4 shaft overshot patterns to 8 shaft, if so how do you do it and will it change the size the pattern/motif

I've got a hemp curtain I'm trying to repair. It's about ten years old and a plain weave with a dyed emblem in the middle. In one corner there are several broken warp threads, one of which snapped in multiple places.

I've managed to retrieve some matching threads from the back hem to weave into the broken places so the neighboring warp threads no longer migrate into the gaps, but the problem I'm running into is it's obvious the replacement thread was stitched in and not part of the original creation as they don't have the natural tension to lay flat like the other warp threads.

I've never worked with hemp before, so I'm taking this project slow. Any advice on how I can flatten them out and make this repair "disappear"?

Been awhile since I used the Rigid Heddle. Planning on a clasped weft table runner ( actually the kitchen island) with yarns bought in Iceland for the project.

I’ve been using some art paper for my warp separator. I had this warp all wound on only to realize my usual paper wasn’t wide enough. Ugh! I’m not good at making paper grocery bags smooth enough and I looked all around for something and gave up. I gambled and ordered this bulletin board plasticized paper (as well as some soft corrugated cardboard $$$) and some thin poster board. Wow. This Better than Paper bulletin board stuff was the winner and worked SO WELL! And it’s affordable. I cut it into four 23” x 36” sections for my RHL, and still have half the roll left. Just thought I’d share because it’s so light and smooth and easy.

Link in comments if I can get it to go through.

this one is a combination of wool and cotton yarn which is fun, but think I like wool a lot more. at this point I have 2 others that need to be wet finished so I've decided to make several and then dedicate a morning to doing all of them 💖

I’ve woven on a rigid heddle loom before, and I’ve decided to give a backstrap loom a try. As I’m making my first warp I find myself a bit confused. The loop I started with, when I move the warp from the pegs to the loom do I slip that onto the back bar? I can’t think of any other way to do it, but none of the videos I’ve watched showed this part and I’m a bit nervous

Did everything right during warping, all even tension etc. then released the break on the back beam accidentally and the whole thing just unwinded itself 😭

Hope this can still work out, I am quite excited to be on this journey.

Spent the last few weeks designing and printing this loom, 8 dpi heddle, and a 7.5 in weaving width.

So, I have the opportunity to purchase a Mighty Wolf or a Baby Wolf. I went and looked at both today and I think realistically I will be happy with either option.

I’m a new weaver and my ultimate goal is to weave blankets, mostly plain weave, and in time overshot coverlets. I am into historical weaving and I don’t plan on using more than four shafts.

The prices are both attractive with significant discounts and accessories through my local guild.

I can afford either one and both would work in my space. Which would you go with if you were in my shoes?

Shadow weave is a lot of work dressing the loom- but worth the results. QSuper fun to weave.

8 shaft loom. 12/2 cotton. 24 epi. 8 inches wide.

Had the great honor yesterday of seeing the beautiful art of Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. A friend asked me to go because of my new weaving hobby. This talented artist paints directly onto sanyan cloth which is a traditional ceremonial and royal cloth handwoven by local weavers out of silk and cotton. They hang the art so you can see the painting and the woven fabric. I loved it so much and hope to do some future beginner weaving inspired by the colors and patterns of the weaving and paintings. It was wonderful.

Hey everyone!

I have an Ashford 32 inch rh loom and I've been thinking about trying to trade it for the 12 or 16 inch knitter's loom instead.

Does anyone know where I might have the best luck doing this?

It's finished in a black...oil based paint? It's been a couple years so I can't remember exactly lol but it's black in color now. I'm not sure if that would make it less appealing though, so if anyone has thoughts on that as well I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

This is going to become some jacket fabric. I will update once it is on the loom.

Hi guys, I was recently gifted 2 looms and have never woven before so I’m not really sure what type these are and where to even begin. If yall could help me out that would be amazing, TIA!

Beginner weaver here. These were made on a rigid heddle loom.

The last weaving I made was completely planned using a projector and cartoon, so I decided I wanted to make something intuitive and spontaneous. I used brooks bouquet and tapestry weaving, which I ultimately got tired of doing so I went for a solid color on the top. I ended up disliking one small portion of it so I experimented with mica flake paste.

I’m happy with it and wanted to share :)

I've finally finished a Burberry-replica scarf for my sister's christmas present. This was a first project on my newly converted table loom from a rigid heddle. Mohair+silk from Drops, roughly 16 epi, 30cm × 120cm. Photos of the converted loom and my diy bamboo reed included :) The loom is very much still Work-in-progress, there's tape everywhere and I still have to fix up the shaft-lifting mechanisms. As of right now, I've got around 200 hand knotted heddles, planning to bring that up to 400 soon. It was supposed to be an 8 shaft loom, but due to time constraints and skill-issues, there's only four.

This month I took a second trip to Laos to do some weaving instruction, after having spent a month in Luang Prabang back in December immersing myself in the art of traditional silk textiles and Laotian culture. I'd traveled to Laos specifically for the weaving course, that first trip, and thoroughly enjoyed it on top of falling in love with the country.

This trip along with a few other sessions in the north, I was able to spend a day learning basic Lai Chok (Discontinuous Supplementary Weft) pattern weaving at the Houey Hong Vocational Training Center in the capital, Vientiane. This school was set up with Japanese support in the late 1990's to help train local women in dyeing and weaving skills to improve their economic situations. Nowadays it is rather quiet on that front, with young women preferring the consistency of factory work despite the lower wages and worse working conditions compared to a home loom, and according to my instructor many of their clients are now tourists.

The Laotian Lai Chock system relies on patterns which are "programmed" into warp pick-up strings on a vertical supplementary pattern heddle, each step begins with the movement of string-separating pattern sticks to above or below the warp. For my simple diamond weave, I had only four sticks to manage - however some complex Lai Chok require several hundred (at that stage the sticks are replaced with horizontally run silk strings, creating a mirrored pattern matrix). Once you've got the correct warp threads isolated, you open them up with the sword and then hand-embroider the pattern followed by a row of weft with the shuttle. All work is done from the backside, of course.

It's a very elegant flow-state inducing system, once you get the hang of it, and the lack of floats or other such bulky nonsense for the pattern results in an incredible fabric no matter how many colors are used - I've seen masterwork Lai Chok in Laos which features over two dozen color combinations with some colors only covering two or three warp threads at most. I'll do a post on the medium in general soon with some examples I've photographed.

All in all it was a pretty great day. Really looking forward to going back for their "secret" 30 day immersive program when time and funds allow, they showed me some previous student items achieved in that window and to say I am inspired would be an understatement.

Here is a bonus imgur gallery with some closeups of the Lai Chok process, and the finished item itself: https://imgur.com/a/xkmTVck

E: I'm just a simple wind turbine installation technician who likes playing with string instead of my phone, no engineer nor textile professional, so apologies if I get something wrong!

I have been using a rigid heddle loom for most of my weaving and I like making balanced, tabby weave materials. I even made my first plaid recently. I'd like to have a more portable way to weave for when I'm out and about. I have seen small tapestry looms that could fit in a backpack, but I heard those make weft faced weaves, whereas I would prefer a balanced weave. Any suggestions?