Saturday, June 19, 2010

My first projects on the Dobby loom

Did I say I love this loom.
It has taken me a little while and with some assistance to get this loom into full functioning mood.
A learning curve as I've had to learn what the different mechanisms do without the written instructions. But with a few adjustments, it is up and weaving. So I took a dyed skein of alpaca and wound a warp for two shawls on my warping wheel.The AVL warping wheel is a piece of equipment that makes warping a real pleasure. A while ago I converted the back beam on the Ashford Jack loom to a sectional warp beam so that warping by myself would be easier. The wheel allows you to wind the warp from only one cone or more as desired and you can design the warp as you go which appeals to me.
Although the Dobby loom has an ordinary back beam it was still nice to wind the warp chains on the wheel, they stayed very tidy and all the same tension and length.As my first foray into eight shafts, I threaded a straight eight shaft twill.
The first shawl is woven with a cream weft and I chose a variation on a straight twill lift for the dobby lags.
The warp is a hand painted skein which I call 'Glacier' as I leave a third of it cream when I dye it, and the blue reminds me of the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers on the West coast.
The dobby mechanism has a neat little box useful for hiding tools inside, like threaders.


And look.... nothing by the weaver's feet but two neat pedals, and a roll of woven fabric.


The second shawl weft is a handyed blue. The shawls are nearly done and I'm very happy with how this loom works. Can't wait to put a new warp on.
The loom was made by Jim Mecchia in 1983, sturdy, functional and beautiful.

3 comments:

Shirley Goodwin said...

Very nice! You're so clever at warping and wefting!

Doespins said...

I don't know about that. It isn't as hard as it looks and a space dyed yarn makes the cloth look more complicated than it is.

Bianca said...

Hi, I just became the owner of a mechia dobby and I am having real problems getting the shed large enough. Do you have any tips on increasing the width of the shed?
Thanks
Such a gorgeous loom... I really want to love it!