I've decided to get a bigger backstrap loom, and normally I'd make it but I ran out of big enough scrap wood and figured I'd help someone out by buying it off of them. I'm looking for one like this http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/collections-research/cr-sub/ethnology/mayan/Images/Backstrap%20loom.jpg (I want to clarify because some people use a thing that looks like a window shutter and I dont wanted that) So I'm thinking the rods should be somewhere around a yard or a little longer because I'm going to be making huge blankets lol. Price I'm willing to pay, depends on the quality of the product, email me if your selling.
THANKS!!
Just a thought: are you going to be able to get rods of 1 yard through the mail?
UPS will do boxes as big and heavy as a refrigrator, so yeah I think it will be fine.
Lucky you! Cant get anything that big into the mail here in Australia. There is a seller on ebay who is selling Fair Trade looms from Guatemala, but they are only 2 foot wide, and they are the widest I've seen. You may have to end up making your own, unless you can bribe a local tradesman to cut and sand the wood for you.
Good luck! Love to see what you are going to weave at that width!
Yeah I'm keeping tabs on etsy and ebay. I'm also going to try to go to Mentone AL soon to see if I can find any good wood, its an Native American town so I should find something close to what I need. Every piece I have at home is splintered really bad and I'm worried that those pieces will get into my weaving or just mess it up.
I have a smaller loom but I can only do about 5 inches wide which makes it really hard and time consuming to attempt a blanket piece by piece, so thats why I'm wanting a bigger one. And its always good to leave a good 3-4 inches on either side of the width of material you work with (or at least thats the way I was taught). These are pictures of what I'd like to have. They inspire me so much!!
http://www.jollyqueenlouise.org/images/u...
http://www.rutahsa.com/santia5m.jpg
http://www.meganlyles.com/photos/321.jpg
Beautiful! Inspirational!
Have you thought of using copper or steel piping? Somewhere in the archives of the Backstrap Loom group is a thread on some Burmese weavers, along with photos of how they set up their wide looms. From memory it was about a year ago. They were using materials found at their local Home Depot, so it was nothing special, but should give you a good idea of what may be strong enough. They were weavng using bamboo in Asia, and weave skirt lengths of about the size you are looking at.
I use Meranti moulding for my battens - its a rainforest hardwood, with a very close grain, thats used for window frames, skirting boards etc. Very hard, but takes sanding very well. Its also quite lightweight, without being fragile. There actually is a sort of triangular piece which requires only sanding to make a batten with a bevelled edge. I used Meranti to build a triangle loom.
Hope this gives you a few ideas.
what about mop or broom handles? Nice and sturdy with a finish on them? Maybe at the local junk yard?
ah! yeah I'm trying to look for broom handles and stuff too. the closest thing I could see at First Monday was a shot gun cleaning rod. Thought that was pretty niffty but they only had one and it was like $100 so I had to keep looking. I'm thinking about brooms too.. but I hate to go buy new ones just to take them apart so those I'll be looking at flee markets too.
And omg I love the one from ebay!! I'd love to get it!! I'll see what I could do. Thanks everyone for your help!!
