I was recently gifted a beautiful Lillstina loom and now I can't wait to learn how to use it!!! Can anyone point me in the right direction of books or videos I could buy to help me learn to weave? Also, i live near Reno, NV and Quincy, CA if you know of someone that teaches classes. Thanks! Happy looming!!! Cheers! Lauren

Comments

Fri, 07/12/2013 - 03:02

tien (not verified)

The "classic" learn to weave book is Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave, but Peggy Osterkamp has a new book out that I think is even better - it's Weaving for Beginners. I'm pretty sure both are available on Amazon. Videos - Interweave Press has a lot of them, and their Hurt Book Sale is going on right now with some amazing discounts.

 

http://www.interweavestore.com/weaving-sale?cid=SBSC1307HBS

 

They also have a lot of free dowloads - you might want to start with some of those? Some of them are listed here: https://www.interweave.com/weaving/

 

Enjoy, and feel free to ask questions!

Fri, 07/12/2013 - 04:49

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

Look for a weaving guild near you. Start with an online search. I believe that there is a guild in Reno. There are quite a few in California, but of course it is a very large state.

Bonnie Inouye

Fri, 07/12/2013 - 12:36

Erica

We now offer Daryl Lancaster's warping Ftont to Back class in our ore-recorded class offerings. This is a great place to start. There are many more classes and we'll be adding more in the future! After purchase you can access the class as often as you want for at least three months. You can view our current class offerings on the classes page. Ta, Erica
Fri, 07/12/2013 - 16:51

Joanne Hall

The books recommended will give you basic information.  If you want information that covers all types of looms, including your counterbalance loom, I recommend the Big Book of Weaving.  It also has 40 projects which help you to learn.  I also recommend my book, Learning to Warp your loom, which also includes information which is helpful for your loom, which has shafts without sides, string heddles and a counterbalance tie-up.

We have information on our website about counterbalance looms. 

wwww.glimakrausa.com

Go to Learning about Looms, then Basic loom information.  The first file will give you help with learning about your type of shafts and heddles, how to assemble the shaft holders, putting treadle cords on the lamms, etc.  The second file gives more information about the counterbalance parts and tie-up.

Joanne

Fri, 07/12/2013 - 23:10

Spurfy

Hi from a fellow newbie! I grew up in northern Nevada and used to camp near Quincy every summer, so I know just where you are. This is a good resource to find classes: http://www.interweave.com/weaving/resources/classes.asp

There are a couple in Grass Valley and Nevada City that might be near enough to you. Good luck!

Sun, 07/14/2013 - 19:02

Ele Phant

Thank you all so much for the information!! It has been very helpful!
Sun, 07/14/2013 - 19:07

Ele Phant

Joanne, Do you know if there is a big difference between the big book of weaving and the big book of weaving:hand weaving the the Swedish tradition? Thank you so much for your guidance!
Sun, 07/14/2013 - 19:36

Joanne Hall

It is the same book.  The English edition came after the third edition printing of this book, called Stora Vavboken.  The first edition was printed more than 30 years ago and the book has been used as a textbook in Textile programs in Sweden.  We are very fortunate that it has been printed in English.

You can read about it here:

http://glimakrausa.com/glimakra-products/books-dvds-and-vav-magazine/

Joanne

Sun, 07/14/2013 - 21:30

Sara von Tresckow

Big Book of Weaving was the gold standard in Germany as well, 30+ years ago when I learned to weave. It is, by far, the most comprehensive, easily understood and worthy basic weaving book currently in print in English.

Tue, 07/16/2013 - 11:32

Kade1301

It (i. e. the edition that's currently available as new book - I don't know the original) is one of the most disorganized books I have ever seen (to the point where I wondered whether the manuscript pages fell on the floor and were reassembled in the wrong order). It is also 100% project-based - you are expected to work through them all to learn weaving. But pretty soon comes a 6-shaft project...  (some of the project ARE very nice which is why I've kept the book). And you need lots of different reeds and yarns, a helper for warping - the book has been written by the director of a weaving school and it shows (there's a few more points in my amazon.co.uk review).

As for the information about counterbalance looms (one of the reasons I bought it): There's at least as much on the Glimakra USA web site.

30 years ago The Big Book of Weaving may have been the best one available, but today I like Deborah Chandler's book much better (can't say anything about Peggy Osterkamp's as I haven't seen it).

 

Tue, 07/16/2013 - 17:30

Dawn McCarthy

As a weave instructor my personal recommendation was to steer clear of Chandler (good basic book but some methods I think can get new weavers into trouble).  Big book of weaving is great - especially for CB or CM looms, a student showed me Peggy O's boog and it looks like a very good resource! Hands on with an instructor is best but the Big Book of Weaving and Peggy's book are excellent resources.  You can always ask on this site also!

Dawn

Thu, 07/18/2013 - 23:37

Walkingquail

it was my first book in my effort to recall what I learned in a week long class where I made my first scarf. Several years later, I still use it. Since you have a counterbalance loom, any recommendations from Joanne Hall are very valuable. You get some varying opinions because weavers prefer what works for them and their loom and the differing loom types demand differing techniques. Hands on with a teacher is a great way to go.
Fri, 07/19/2013 - 01:13

Sara von Tresckow

Big Book of Weaving is complete -  calculations, drafting techniques, warping, bobbin winding, everything needed to start weaving. It is not meant to be worked through page by page, but serve as a reference book. As such, it is one of the best out there - especially with the drawings in two colors so one can identify the issue at hand and read up on it in less than 2 pages.

I just had another student this week - she had tried Chandler and Madelyn's video in the time since she had been to the shop. She called, came the next day, and was looking for the "concise, common sense" information she'd received in the first place - from Big Book of Weaving. She went home in much better spirits. I started with that book and never did but one or two of the projects and learned absolutely tons about weaving.

This summer we've had nothing but prospective students who come in ans say something like "I did everything in Chandler, but still don't get it" - mostly because there isn't enough information in that book to get past warping a table or small floor loom with a scarf. 

Fri, 07/19/2013 - 09:30

Kade1301

I can only suppose that it's a question of "brain compatibility" between author and reader.

Chandler describes all three warping methods (front to back, back to front with a raddle, rough-sleying). She describes drafting in such a way that I got it for the first time. She explains calculations in more detail than the Big Book of Weaving, the book contains a yarn/sett chart (which BBW does NOT have), and various weave structures are described one by one, in detail. The information is presented so that I can find it - chapter by chapter (and by index). Last but not least, I love Chandles suggestions that you weave samples and that in her assignments she never says which yarn I'm to use. Chandler teaches the technique and leaves the reader free to apply it any way she wants.

The Big Book of Weaving IS intended to be worked through project by project - it says so: "The designs are arranged in pedagogical order in increasing levels of difficulty so that the experience learned in one weaving lays the groundwork for the next. If you have never woven before, we recommend that you start with the 'First Practice Weaving' where all the steps of warping are described with both text and clear illustrations." (page 7)

The First Pratice Weaving, for a person who has never woven before, is a Nialin/linen tabby weave with 10 ends/cm in 4 colours with a total of 720 warp ends. Yeah, exactly what I would choose for my first project...

If the book was intended as a reference - why is the information presented in such a disorganized, chaotic manner? There is a rag rug project (very beautiful) on page 70. How to prepare the rags is on page 83 (and how to dye them is nowhere). There's a rya scarf on page 124 - and the instructions for the knot are on page 159. There are cross-references in the text, and I believe they are mostly (or even all) correct, but I still find the constant page-turning rather annoying.

The table of contents lists the projects in bold print, the general technical information is presented as sub-points of the projects. For example:

p. 78 Small reverse-treadled rag rug (the rug needs 6 shafts, meaning I can't do it).
p. 80: Finishing after the fabric has been cut from the loom (general, not limited to (rag) rugs)
p. 81 Washing and Fabric Care
p. 82 Choosing Materials
p. 84 Rag Rugs
p. 86 Choosing a weaving technique - the pattern (begins with: "After the material has been chosen, the next step is to choose the weaving pattern." No idea what the rag rugs do in between...).

 "Floating selvedges" are introduced and "explained" with the following sentence (and are omitted from the index): "... the outermost double warp ends float and are raised or lowered as appropriate with the shuttle for each weft shot." (p. 70 - in the rag rug project description)

And then there are writing (or translating) errors such as this one: "These cushions are striped in the warp, which means that the stripes can be endlessly varied using the same warp."

The only thing BBW has over Chandler is that you don't need to read so much (if you can find the information you are looking for) - there's more drawing, the text-layout is more broken up (i. e. lots of white space - with pale, small print in between). And there's lots and lots of pretty pictures (it's just a pity when you then can't do the project because it needs 12 shafts...). Chandler's Learning to Weave is a book you have to READ - it's very text-heavy and chatty.

Fri, 07/19/2013 - 14:36

Joanne Hall

In my 40+ years of teaching weaving, I find that no matter what the topic of the class or workshop, warping questions arise. 

The first edition of the Chandler book only had front to back warping instructions.  The addition of back to front was requested and added, but there are very few pages given to it's description.  The method is briefly described and not very effective. Yet, it is the traditional warping method used around the world and the warping method used traditionaly here in the US.  Front to back warping is very new, starting in the later part of the 20th century.

The Big Book of Weaving has 41 pages of warping instructions, with a couple diagrams on most every page. 

There are 22 pages of drafting instruction, again with diagrams.

Plus, the Big Book of Weaving teaches many basic weaving techniques including many that the Chandler book does not cover, rya and other pile weaves, band weaving, turning the pattern to warp patterning, tapestry, inlay, transparencies, etc.  Plus, it is important to understand how to weave on more than four shafts.

I have learned over the years that beginners have a very hard time choosing the materials, setts, reeds and techniques themselves.  They want a pattern to follow and they want to have the suggested threads, setts and reed.  They can very easily make small changes or substitute a different reed or weaving width to the basic pattern.  They want to be successful and following a pattern that someone else found successful is very helpful to them.  Handwoven magazine has projects which have all the necessary information and that is one of the reasons it has been so successful.  Theories are fine, but I have found that beginners want projects with instructions.

Joanne

 

Fri, 07/19/2013 - 18:46

laurafry

Different people learn in different ways.  What one teacher presents may only appear helpful to some of the people, some of the time.  Weaving is a dense, multi-layered craft.  

It can be learned on a more superficial level, or a much deeper level.  A practitioner can concentrate on learning the physical skills, or the theoretical skills or the designing skills.  Or any combination thereof.

I began weaving before the Chandler book was published.  My texts were Shirley Held's Weaving, Mary Black's The New Key to Weaving and M. P. Davison's 'green' book.

When Chandler's book came out, I was already beyond the information presented so never purchased a copy.  Different strokes for different folks.

My learning, like many others, has taken a spiral route.  I first learned back-to-front, then the Swedish take on that process, then did front-to-back until that method no longer served my purposes.  I switched to sectional beaming and quite contentedly used that method working within the constraints that process imposes.

When I changed my approach to designing  textiles I bought a small loom with plain beam and went back to 'regular' back-to-front, tweaked the process to better suit my materials (I call it a modified Swedish method) and between the two looms am quite happy.

Ultimately each person has to choose the method and tools that are going to work best given their physical abilities/disabilities, equipment, budget, space, materials and approach to designing.

In other words, choose your expert, then become knowledgeable enough to be your *own* expert.

Soap box alert!  I am tired of weavers vilifying each other due to the processes they use, the resources they recommend.  Each one must find the best resources available to meet their needs.

On a further note, I want to comment on the new technology that we now have - the internet.  There is a growing opportunity to learn on-line.  But learning on line also imposes limitations.  On line learning is not as rich as learning in person.  But not everyone has the ability to attend guild meetings, workshops or conferences.

On line learning can serve a purpose.  But people are also expecting on line learning to be the same as in person learning.  It isn't and it can never provide the enrichment of being in the same room as the instructor and a group of students.

I have dabbled in internet teaching for a very long time.  I know the limitations.  I also know the benefits.  Therefore I am willing to continue to push the boundaries of on line teaching/learning.

Weavolution was very early into the on line learning opportunities.  Daryl Lancaster offers a variety of classes here.

The big thing to remember is that a one hour on line seminar is not and never can be the same as attending a guild program.  But there are still things that can be learned and if you have no other manner of learning?  It's just another opportunity.  

People complain on line learning does not have the tactile experience.  Well, neither do books.  (Unless you buy books like my publications that come with actual fabric samples - which get very expensive!)

So please, can we all just calm down, recognize that different people will learn in different ways, different teachers will feel that different aspects of weaving are more important than others and just get on with celebrating that we can and do continue to create textiles for our own enjoyment and pleasure????

Laura Fry

http://laurasloom.blogspot.com for more thoughts on on line learning - scroll down if I've posted since and bumped the posts down the page

 

Fri, 07/19/2013 - 20:22

agneslionel

One problem with the Internet that you didn't mention: No one can see me when I jump up and down and wave my arms and shout "Hurrah!" I agree about this vilifying. I was a quilter and a knitter before I came to weaving and have very rarely seen the kind of disrespect among those crafters that I do among weavers. Quilters can use machines or hand or some combination, knitters can use Continental or regular, knit socks from the top down or the toe up, there are a million variations and I just NEVER hear knitters or quilters suggest that there is only one right way. It simply isn't done. Weavers, by contrast, seem to do it all the time, not only here in Weavolution but in guilds as well. No surprise that (as noted in another group) it is difficult to attract new weavers - we are as disagreeable as philosophers, and that's saying a lot.

I come from the North American weaving tradition (my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother were weavers - my great grandmother's loom came to Iowa with her on a covered wagon) and while I think we are somewhat less disrespectful than European weavers, I see the same attitudes when I read, for example,  Mary Meigs Atwater. So we've been at it for awhile. 

I say, let's stop. Right now.

 

Fri, 07/19/2013 - 23:02

sally orgren

I taught myself from the Debbie (Redding) and Cay Garrett books. My guildmates referenced Held and Black, but those resources did not speak to me like Chandler as a beginner weaver in the 1990's while in my 20's. I thought the Redding/Chandler book was rich with illustrations in comparison! Somehow, I ended up being B2F warper.

I like the imagery of a spiral trajectory in developing warping technique. I would say my technique has been influenced by guildmates, workshops & conference experiences, and online interactions. (And maybe a few demos gone wrong ;-)

I am thinking it would interesting to go back and re-read the both sources now that I have been weaving nearly 20 years and see what I think. 

Sat, 07/20/2013 - 16:42

Kade1301

different strokes for different folks. There may be 41 pages in the Big Book of Weaving - but for me there's not much on them because I don't "read" drawings - or photographs - easily (I never noticed the instructional photographs in Learning to Weave that an internet acquantaince raved about - I like this book for its text!). Which leaves a few paragraphs of pale, small print - not easy to read either - with instructions for a warping method I don't want to use anyway, at least for now. (By the way: There's 19 pages of back-to-front warping in Learning to Weave - not what I'd call "very few".)

Out of curiosity: Where are the 22 pages on drafting in the Big Book of Weaving? I can't find them.

What made me understand Chandler's instructions for drafting is that she provides exercises (with solutions in the back) - there's just no substitute for getting out paper and pencil and actually filling in those squares, IMHO.

For the record: I couldn't care less about who reads which book. But I'm sick and tired or reading that Chandler's is evil incarnate because the first, superseded, edition did not have back-to-front warping instructions or because she uses the word harness instead of shaft (which Black does as well in her Key to Weaving). And I'm even more fed up that the obvious and many faults of the Big Book of Weaving are simply overlooked (I'm a new weaver, but an old technical writer - we were trained to judge the quality of instructional texts). I guess both books have points to recommend them, but as a first book I'd always recommend Chandler's - at least for people who like to read (just like I've always preferred Davenport's Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving over the Ashford book - but there's people who prefer the latter over the former).

 

 

Sat, 07/20/2013 - 17:16

Artistry

Ele Phant, I see you're been a subscriber for one week and one day, well welcome! I don't know if this is too old fashioned an idea or not but the public library used to have a service called Interlibrary Loan. You could get just about any book you wanted through this service. I was thinking this would be a way for you to look at the many books mentioned and see which ones " speak " to you! I use to do this all the time for study. This way you won't go to the expense of getting books you don't like. Cathie
Sat, 07/20/2013 - 17:57

laurafry

I agree.  Until you see the book you don't really know if it is the one for you.  We all learn in different ways.  Some people can learn by reading, some by doing, some by hearing.  Find the way that works best for you.  We now have dvd's, Craftsy classes, on line seminars.  They are all different and all have something of value in them (usually!)  I also have loaded video clips of various techniques to You Tube if that is of any help to anyone.

cheers,

Laura

Sat, 07/20/2013 - 18:55

sarahnopp (not verified)

Learning is such a layered series of events. I personally read theory and history before I ever read technical, and much before project focused. But that is a style of learning I have discovered works well for me. 

(I am currently learning to play the fiddle. And I am having to remind myself how understanding comes from muscle memory and, layers of it LOL As so many others have done, I started by playing the song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, until the notes were finally correct.)

I am really grateful that I have an amazing guild, where my ears were filled with the noises and words and friendly debates as I was finding my weaving legs. And that we have a great library, which helped me develop an intellectual understanding alongside the kinesthetic one, at varied speeds.

Sun, 07/21/2013 - 01:20

KarenIsenhower

I've been using The Big Book of Weaving as my own course of study. As a *late* beginner, I wanted something that would give me an incremental approach, and this book has done that for me. It's a long process--it has taken me a year to make it through the first half of the book--but I've learned much more than I thought possible. Today I just hung Swedish lace curtains in my house. I never would have dreamed of that 2 years ago.

Sarahnopp, I've taught cello much longer than I've been weaving; and I agree, there are many layers -- and styles -- of learning. Bravo on your fiddle adventure!

Ele Phant, asking questions and doing research is a great way to start. Happy weaving!