In the Durham Guild we have a member who loves experimenting with a variety of crafts and is a real source of information about new pieces of equipment.
She brought a small tape loom to the Guild. This arrives in pieces and has to be assembled. I was immediately hooked and decided to buy one. It comes in two sizes so I chose the small size.
It can be purchased from https://www.ginabsilkworks.co.uk/
I was a bit nervous about sticking the various bits together but in the end it was easier than I thought.
The completed tape loom
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| The assembled loom. |
The tape loom can be painted or brushed with melted bees wax, but I decided I wanted to try weaving with it first.
I made a warp of wool and threaded the heddle as illustrated in the book. It was a little tricky to wind on but that is down to my own inexperience with the loom mechanisms. The loom can be secured to a post by a ribbon attached around the back of the loom. This stops the loom moving when weaving.
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| The set up for weaving. |
The unwoven ends are knotted and held in one hand. The weft is wound onto a small shuttle. The hand holding the end of the warp lifts the warp up and down to make the two sheds. you do not need a back strap.
Raising the warp.
Lowering the warp.
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| lowering the warp for the other shed. |
It took me some time to get used to holding the warp and passing the weft through the shed. I made a short YouTube video to demonstrate how this is done. Practice will make perfect and also speed up the weaving!
YouTube video: Weaving on a small tape loom.
This small version of a tape loom is light and portable. It can fit into a shoe box for carrying to the Guild meetings.
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| It is so portable to take to the Guild meetings. |
YouTube video.
How to warp a tape loom and weave on it. Gina-B Silkworks on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/vq0NjbWH568?si=tiNbjKpz5b1cD9MK
My first band in wool
Here is my first band in wool. I am still getting used to the new way of weaving whilst holding the end of the tape to tension it. My width is still not even. However, I have found that I can weave with the loom on my lap, holding it between my knees. What a lovely portable piece of equipment.
I am weaving my second band this time in dk cotton.
I tied a knot at the start of the band. this is a loose knot which can be undone later. It helps to provide a secure grip on the warp ends when weaving.
Here is a closeup of the cotton band. As you can see, the width is increasing slightly.
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| A close up of the cotton band showing my unintentional width increase. |
Once I had woven a short amount, I plaited the loose warp ends at the start of the band. This still gives a secure grip.
This was the method used in Ireland when weaving the Crios belt. Weavers always plaited the start after weaving a small length.
Tape looms are not new. There is a lovely portrait of Governor Thomas Mifflin and his wife in the Philadelphia Museum collection. I cannot show you the picture because it is copyright, but you can view it yourself on:
