I have a Bartlett 8-shaft loom that's currently using a hodgepodge of approx 33cm string heddles and was considering changing her over to texsolv.  Finding texsolv here in NZ is pretty much a no-go unless you have an Ashford loom so I'm looking at getting them in from England as their post is cheaper than the US.  My other loom which is a 4-shaft Bartlett is using 31.8cm texsolv heddles without any problems but I'm wondering if it's likely to cause problems if I went slightly shorter to the 28.5cm heddles as that's the closest size on the website I'm looking at.

I'd love to get an order in so I can get her all sorted and up and running.  I still need to finish my tie-up but the shafts and lamms were all put in place yesterday so I'm itching to get going!

Comments

Yvonne K

Petlins spinning and weaving supplies are the Australian agents for texsolv. Last time I bought heddles from them, they had a good stock of various sizes. You can buy online - the only question is, is postage from UK cheaper?

sewsable

Hi Yvonne, I didn't know about Petlins, if I have to stick to the current size heddles then they'll probably be the best bet and I've just emailed them to get shipping costs.  I have used Glenora previously, but they were more expensive per bundle than Petlins.  I'd prefer to go with the smaller size if I can, I've found them much cheaper, but at the same time I don't want to get them and find they won't work at all.

Yvonne K

Hi Sewsable, I don't know anything about Bartlett looms so I can not give useful advice. I suggest that you make some 28.5cm heddles and try them on the loom. Make them with the same sized eyes as the texsolve heddles. You would not need many - about 10 per shaft - to see how they work on your loom.

I did this once when I wanted to try out long eyed heddles before investing in them. Making heddles is fun, once you get into the swing of it.

Sara von Tresckow

If your working loom with Texsolv runs well on the 318/12 heddles and this one is the same maker, by all means continue using the 318/12 heddles. I find that Finnish looms are rangier and take the longer heddles and prefer them on the big Ulla Cyrus loom. If your heddles are too short, the shaft bars bump into the warp when forming the shed. Also, on looms with more than 8 shafts, the longer heddles are an advantage. Many web sites can supply the 318/12 heddles - ours can.

kerstinfroberg

... or you could check with "the horse's mouth", aka http://texsolv.se/. After all, it is they that manufacture the heddles... and it might be that price and/or postage is better from Sweden?

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