Whew! I knew purchasing my own floor loom was a big decision but had no idea how overwhelming, frustrating and humbling the start-up undertaking would be. Like all my previous weaving experiences, I vacillate between agony and ecstasy with the lots of the former coming before the later, unfortunately. The loom arrived from Canada in 11 big heavy boxes and fortunately my weaving teacher arrived the following day. She spent the first day assembling the loom and then we spent the next two days warping the loom. The final half day was spent fine tuning by weaving the first 12 inches or so and adjusting accordingly to make sure all systems were a go. When she pulled out of the driveway I was immediately overcome by a sense of dread and choked. I was so overwhelmed from the set up process I collapsed into my chair, took a two hour nap and tried to ignore the shiny new contraption sitting in my living room for the next three days. This was no easy feat given I have to walk by it every time I go to the bedroom or bathroom to say nothing about the buzzing in my ear it creates due to peripheral vision as I try to watch TV or read in my favorite chair close by. Finally, given my highly developed olfactory sense, I can’t ignore the faint smell of newly varnished wood permeating through the house. All this before I even sat down to use it!
We put 20 yards of warp on the loom which should yield about 18 kitchen towels so I have a long road ahead of me. By Monday I was ready to tackle my first towel and had lots of tension problems that lasted through Tuesday’s session. I was eventually able to weave the full 32 inches required for a towel and after multiple text deliberations with my teacher, I chose to cut off the towel and retie the warp in an attempt to fix the tension problems in the warp going forward. After a few setbacks with this process and after letting the newly tied warp rest for 24 hours to ensure consistency in the tied warp threads I was ready to begin on the second towel on Friday.
This experience was even worse and after 7 hours of tinkering and still 7 inches short of a towel, I was stopped dead in my tracks due to a nonfunctioning back beam. Again, my diligent teacher went to work researching the fix and by Saturday morning the problem was identified and after some tinkering on the loom to tighten the back beam, the loom was ready for me to go back at it. By this point, both my mind and body said “no, hell no” so I took a drive with a friend visiting numerous rural art studio’s on the Art Meander Saturday. My weaving experiences give me great appreciation for the time and effort it takes to master a craft making participation in this annual event even more meaningful.
After a good night’s sleep, I was able to slowly finish weaving the last 7 inches of the second towel on Sunday. After more consultation with my teacher and with a few more tension tweaks I am hopeful my time weaving the third towel this coming week goes more smoothly. I washed and dried the first towel and it is so soft and beautiful I am experiencing a bit of the ecstasy involved in weaving. I have to give the loom a name; I’m thinking about something like “my demise” or “the choker” Got any other suggestions?