I just bought an older tabletop tapestry loom.  It isn't marked and I'm wondering if anyone recognizes it.  Here's the seller's picture:

 

Unfortunately the little booklet had vanished, so all I have of it is this picture, which shows the loom:

 

The previous owner used it as illustrated, but it's easy to swap the lap-bar for the feet so it can stand on a table top.

I'd like to know the maker from curiousity, but I really need help with the heddles. When I pull on them nothing very useful seems to happen.  Do I need to use them just one or two at a time?  There's a lease stick sort of bar making the fundamental shed, although it's small even when the shed is turned on its side.  But how do I make the pull shed?  The heddle bar is fixed in place.

 

Thank you for your help.  I'm quite new to tapestry weaving and suspect I'm missing something obvious.

Comments

sequel (not verified)

I'm guessing the string heddles are loops around the warps that are lifted by hand as seen in the photo.  There seems to be a stick behind the heddles for the stick shed, which controls the second shed... just a guess though!

Missus T.

It looks like the pull shed (as opposed to the stick shed preserved by the stick behind the upper fixed bar) heddles are mounted on the fixed bar on top of the loom.  To select this shed simply pull the desired heddles forward and these heddles will lift the opposite (pull) shed.  It's not efficient for throws across the entire warp but for tapestry work over a few threads at a time it looks great! 

kerstinfroberg

The loom is Swedish (I presume).

A quick search did not give the manufacturer, but the booklet can be found. It is either 19, 20 or 21 pages, illustrated w photos and drawings. One of the sellers suggests the year 1964.

as of now, there are four booklets for sale on Bokbörsen, here.

Ancient Weaver

And not so obvious! It was only a day or two ago, that I realised heddle rods don't always have to be moved. My blog

As you have noticed, the heddles hold one shed and you need a shed stick (kept in place behind the heddles) for the other, and yes it needs to be a bit wider than the stick currently holding the shed.

I presume you know how to open the shed stick shed? You may or may not find a second shed stick useful to use in front of the heddles, depending on how well the shed opens without one. A second shed stick is definitely advisable for clearing the heddle shed when doing plain weave, but you can probably get away without it for tapestry. You can either pull on a few heddles as required, or you can press gently on the warp. The effect, and action, is much the same as when backstrap weaving. Laverne's blog is probably the best place to look.

I've been looking for a video that shows this being done on a fixed heddle loom but most are very 'arty' and even the best pans away at the critical moment. Sadu Weaving

Cynthia

I've woven a few passes on it -- thought I would take advantage of it already being warped.  A couple of threads are looser than the rest.  Do I just weight them like I would slack threads on a floor loom?

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