I bought an 8" Structo loom and have a ton of questions. First, pictures to follow later today. The loom has about 10 heddles on the 2 shafts and I want to add more heddles but can't figure out how without forcing the shafts out of the castle. Then, the beams only move a short distance, how do I wind a warp on.
I contacted Janet Meany already about getting a copy of the manual, she is looking for it. I have looked at everyone's blog posts about taking their looms apart but am reluctant to just start ripping into it without knowing a little more about what I am doing. I don't want to ruin the loom, I want to weave on it.
I'll be back with pictures and more commentary. I appreciate any suggestions and help with this sweet "toy" loom.
Claudia
Weavolution now has a Structo loom group.
http://www.weavolution.com/node/6840
Maybe we need a new groups feature. It is so easy to forget to look.
Wow, is my face red. Thanks for the redirect, I joined. Looking forward to learning more about this sweet little loom.
Claudia, remaining anonymous for now. Imagine, if I was a founder of this website how embarrassed I might be ; )
Claudia,
There is also a very established Structo group over at "all_things_structo@yahoo.com." There are lots of documents, manuals, and how-to photos loaded over there, and "List Mom" Nancy is still trying to figure out how to import all that content over here to Weavolution. (So do check there until that happens. And you might want to touch base and see if your techies can offer her any assistance or advice. Yahoo wasn't so helpful.)
Flat steel heddles are tough to find for this small size, so many folks end up making a jig and tying their own string heddles.
To remove the shafts, just drop them down from the castle. I usually place the loom between two chairs, with the castle area unsupported. Release the metal hook from the flat metal arm just under the top of the castle box, and the farme that holds the heddles should just drop down. The heddle bars then just wiggle out by lifting up or down and sliding them left or right. (I am sure you will see how the flat heddle bars come out once you drop the whole frame down from the castle.)
Don't try and flex/bend the flat metal heddle bars out, as that will cause jamming when weaving later.
Right now both my Structo's have warps on them, so I can't take an "action photo" of this operation, but perhaps I will be in a better positon to do so when I get back from MO at the end of the week.
Do take and post photos. You'll find we Structo-Junkies have figured out all sorts of work-arounds for these little gems. I use mine for sampling *ALL* the time. (It has so little loom waste, it's perfect for a quick test of a structure or yarn type.)
Sally
Thanks all, I requested membership in the Yahoo group earlier today. I will discuss with our techies and with Nancy the viability of moving the group over. You never know.
I also joined the Weavolution Structo group and will post photos there.
Claudia
