Hi all,

I am new here, and also new at weaving altho I have been fascinated and wanting to weave for many years, so my wonderful husband bought me a loom :) It is a floor loom and very large, altho not really tall. My question is this: I thought it would be a four-harness loom, but it actually has 6 treadles, which I found out is not uncommon, but... as far as I can tell from looking at pictures on the internet (which is not incredibly well!!!), 6-treadle looms generally have four shafts or harnesses and the extra treadles are attached to harnesses which are already attached to other treadles and all this is so that one can weave tabby without too much trouble. However, my loom also has 6 harnesses, and I can't really see how that would work if they are for tabby weaving because it seems that having the threads run through 2 harnesses would interfere with the process, because the holes in the heddles are really very short.

 

So I am puzzled about this, and would be very grateful for any thoughts people who know about these things might have!

 

Other than that, I am a mother of 2 in college and still homeschooling two; we live in the country and are probably an hour away from the nearest weaver(s). 

 

Thanks so much!

 

Annie

Comments

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 19:08

Woodburner

There is a lot of confusion over the terminology, largely due to someone writing a book many years back when that was the only way for most people to learn how to weave, and there weren't many books around, so her mistake has been repeated all over the place ever since. As most looms (yes even four and eight shaft looms) only have one harness, it doesn't make much difference for most people, and in fact it has taken me a long time to find out how a properly named two harness loom actually works.

You, however, have hit the nail on the head, on your first atttempt! Actually several nails!

Depending a bit on the precise type, a four shaft loom will often have six treadles, and as you have probably discovered, a common tie up is to have one treadle for each shaft, and the remaining two treadles are tied to two shafts each to make tabby weaving easier.

Six shafts does suggest that you might actually have a two harness loom though. And yes you do thread through heddles on two shafts, one on the ground harness and one on the pattern harness. The ground harness (iirc -  or it might be the othe way round) has extra long 'eyes' to allow the other harness to dominate when needed.

In a six shaft loom I think you have two shafts in the ground harness, and four in the pattern. One or other of the harnesses (the one with the long eyed heddles) needs to move up and down more than the other, and the frames of those shafts will also be much 'taller'.

Could you post a picture?

You've already sussed about heddle eyes being too small, so I am pretty sure you will get to the bottom of the problem even without help! Do post and let us know how you are getting on anyway though! :D

 

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 19:47

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

Looking at pictures on the Internet will give you a broad idea of what is available. Now that you have a loom, you need a book (or two or three) about basic, beginning weaving, and maybe an instructional video and/or a class or tutor.

A loom with 4 shafts and 6 treadles is great. Often the shafts are used in combinations. A basic twill is threaded with one warp through a heddle on shaft 1, the next warp goes on shaft 2, then 3, then 4. One of your treadles is tied to lift shafts 1+2, another lifts 2+3, etc. The weft will pass over 2 threads, then under 2, over 2, under 2.

If you had just 4 treadles, you would need to use both feet to weave a basic 2/2 twill (explained in the previous sentence).

Bonnie

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 21:24

Woodburner

Just seen the op of this thread is a duplicate. I don't know why this one was so close to the top. I did think it a bit odd that no-one seemed to have replied.

Wed, 05/01/2013 - 20:11

Annie 12

Sorry about the double-post; I didn't even notice it til I came back today. Oh, thanks so much, Bonnie and Woodburner :) Woodburner, I don't know about the nails... but I did think you had answered my next question until I looked and saw that all the eyes of the heddles (?) are only about 1/2 inch tall--each shaft has the same height eyes. So, that means I will have to figure out how to get my photos onto this site. because I took some to ask why two of the shafts have slightly longer chains than the others. I wil try to post that question only once ;)