I've had some emails begging me to keep the Yahoo group going because some of us like the emails instead of the web-based delivery.

this is worth some thought.

I have to see how many of us "migrate" over here.

I definitely want to start archiving the discussions, though.  There is so much good info there that it would be good to be able to have it all together in a document.

Nancy c.  ("THe Structo Queen(-;" )

Comments

Fri, 12/04/2009 - 20:26

sally orgren

Okay, I'm here.

Give ms.thimble a few days, and she'll wander over too, I'll bet, along with everyone else.

Sally

Fri, 12/04/2009 - 23:15

weaversouth (not verified)

yay, Sally!  I saw "Sandelah" came on board, as well as some other faithfuls.

Nancy C

Sat, 12/05/2009 - 00:45

rosearbor (not verified)

 Yep, I'm here too, but I know many folks still like the yahoo groups.  It doesn’t matter much one way or the other to me.

Mon, 12/07/2009 - 04:21

sandeleh (not verified)

I only check over here a couple of times a week - the forums are tricky to get around in, and if you happen to reply to an individual msg instead of at the end, the notification email you get will not send you to the new reply.  As far as I know, that notification email doesnt work well for anything on the 2nd or later pages of the forum anyway.   It does take some getting used to.

All of my yahoo email downloads into Outlook and gets filtered into separate folders, just waiting for me to read by group.  It is easier as far as the reading of msgs goes.

Sande in Fresno, CA, USA

 

Mon, 12/07/2009 - 16:51

sally orgren

Here's what is on my Structo this week:

Over twist sampling for a future project, due in March/April. Colors are not so important, but I want to test shrinkage rates, sett, and structure choices. The sections of over twist appear lighter in the warp, and are more spaced out in the reed. We'll see what happens! 

I will add to "projects" so you can check back there from time to time, to see postings/results.

Sally

 

Thu, 01/07/2010 - 19:35

Bonnie Datta (not verified)

Here's what's on mine...

This is a weft-face weave woven on a rosepath threading (12341432).  I'm still using up a spool of the fine cotton yarn, and for this it is used double and sleyed at 5 epi.  The weave is mushy but the pattern is showing up.  This could be a mug-rug, small hanging, hot pad, pot holder -- I plan to felt it a bit to firm it up.  I have a day or two more to do and I'll post the finished piece in projects.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 02:42

crosstownshuttler (not verified)

Hi Bonnie,

I love your sheep! They almost look like they are dancing on the fence.

It's hard to see because it is also gray, but that looks like a piece of plastic pipe over the front beam. What a great idea for eliminating that sharp edge. Do you think it would round it enough to use a paper warp about the size of 5/2 cotton?

Carie

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 03:14

Bonnie Datta (not verified)

Hi Carie.  Yes, that is a 1" piece of PVC pipe, slit along one side and slipped over the metal front beam.  It totally eliminates that nasty problem of the front beam moving your weft picks around.  I had one on the back too, but it got lost.  It's only purpose was to raise the back beam so the warp ran perfectly level to the front beam.  Anyway, everything works fine without it.  With that pipe on the front beam I can weave very delicate, slippery yarns and very open structures and get no distortion.  Don't know about paper warp though.

Fri, 01/08/2010 - 04:42

crosstownshuttler (not verified)

Thanks Bonnie,

I think I'll try it for our guild's upcoming yarn tasting. Handwoven had waffle weave paper mats that looked fun. One inch pipe is now on the Home Depot shopping list :)

Carie 

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 22:45

sally orgren

GREAT tip Bonnie! (The pvc pipe over the front edge.)

Wed, 03/31/2010 - 18:57

maurerwerks (not verified)

Hi - I'm a newbie Structoer.  A friend came to work and dumped a poor, sad, table loom on my desk a few months back and said he found it in the dump and thought of me.  Hmmmm.  Anyways, it had no label on it anywhere that I found on a cursory inspection.  Rusted reed and heddles and the "jack" mechanism needed help.  I didn't know what it was until I went to a guild meeting and one of the looms that was being demoed on was a Structo and twin to mine.  I was so happy to find out what it was.  And I was so happy to find this group!   I still have to get around to fixing it up.  I normally weave on an 8-shaft floor loom, but I can think of plenty of things that would be much easier on this little guy.  Any advice for me in the arena of fixing it up?

Sue

Fri, 04/09/2010 - 21:35

weaversouth (not verified)

join us over on the Yahoo group..all_things_structo

I tried to migrate it over here, but we have so many archives and files it proved a bit frustrating.

Nancy C (listmom)

Sat, 04/17/2010 - 20:23

sally orgren

Clean the wood up, oil all the metal parts, taking care not to get oil on the wood. 

Is it rusty? (From the photo it looks pretty good!)

How are the heddles and the reed? (if too rusty, you might want to replace them.)

For the first warp, to test the loom, I always recommend a dark warp, so if stuff comes off on the threads from the clean-up, you may still get useable fabric off the loom from the get-go.

Sun, 05/16/2010 - 02:57

Pam Howard (not verified)

Hello there

I was looking through some forums tonight and found this one.  I got tickled because in the description of the group it talked about the little structos and a warp weighted loom.   Well I am sitting in my studio an owner of three tiny structos a warp weighted loom by my side.  I had just had my dear friend for Shetland to help me warp it up this past week.

I don't weave much on my little structos, but I do think they have their place in the weaving world.

Pam Howard

Resident Weaver - John C. Campbell Folk School

Brasstown, NC

Sun, 05/16/2010 - 15:22

sally orgren

Pam,

I didn't get to say this before, but I appreciated your comment on another forum about using the Structo's for wire weaving. That was *EXACTLY* what I was thinking to do with mine!

And someone else mentioned the wire, sticks, and something else group here in Weavolution, so as soon as I get the little guy cleaned off from a few structure experiements, and I can pursue this!

Mon, 05/17/2010 - 00:59

kellytwo (not verified)

I just bought an 8" Structo loom yesterday from a friend. I never saw one before, so I'm really happy to see a group for it. I'll join the yahoo group too.( It' so cute, I just love it.)

Doreen

Mon, 05/17/2010 - 03:22

sally orgren

 You just made Alison jealous.

If you have any other friends with 8-shaft, 8" Structos, please let her know!

Tue, 05/25/2010 - 13:54

weaversouth (not verified)

At the risk of sounding like I am bragging, I picked up an 8"- 16-shaft a couple of years ago off ebay.  There was a 20-shafter on there a while back, but I missed out on it when I couldn't connect in the last few minutes of the auction.

I love the 16-shaft.  I took it to a workshop with Lillian Whipple.  I have about 4 of the 8-shafts.  Sadly, I only use the 4 shafts since they are used for the kids' summer programme.

Nancy C (admin for the Yahoo group)

 

Tue, 05/25/2010 - 13:56

weaversouth (not verified)

If you haven't already done so, please join us over a "all_things_structo" on Yahoo.  I tried to "migrate" it over here, but was unsuccessful, since the members wanted to stay put.  We have lots of good info, files, photos, etc.

Nancy C. 

Tue, 05/25/2010 - 14:01

weaversouth (not verified)

 As to "what's on my Structo"  I am currently warping up 50 little table looms of various origins for the summer "Art Camp" programme.  I don't have the kids long enough to teach them to do that part, so I "prepare" the looms for them.  there are about 20 Structos, along with several "Dorothy" and LOTS of Harrisville "Easy Weavers."  I lurked a lot of time on ebay to pick all this stuff up over a period of about 2 years.

I figured out that I can load the spools on and, by using a combo of tape and the "rough side" of Velcro beam the warp as a combo of "section" and straight, "normal" beaming.  I thread them f2b and secure the warp ends by bouts to the spools.

If you are using wool or any other "sticky" yarn, this works quite easily, but I have had to use a tape "cover" and sandwich other fibres in between the tap and the velcro, but it works well.

 

Nancy C/

Sun, 06/13/2010 - 00:45

fibermaine-iac (not verified)

I picked up my 4-shaft Structo for $5 at a yard sale and use it frequently for children's programs at a museum here in Maine.  The small size and the lever action make it easy for kids to see the relationship between what they do to the shafts and the resulting structure of the woven cloth.  Right now, there is a cotton dishtowel project on the loom -- the work of many young hands!

Fri, 06/18/2010 - 15:27

sally orgren

My 8" Structo is almost empty. I have a bit of bamboo warp left on it that I was experimenting with back in January-April for an overtwist exchange project. (Final project is posted under projects, "Danish Medallion," which was woven on the floor loom.)

With the remaining 12" of bamboo warp, I took a sharpie, colored warps on just 4 shafts, and proceeded to experiment with treadling double weave on the same threading (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, etc). I wanted to experiment with some ideas for a future double weave project using cashmere and handspun angora bunny, and this was a cheap and easy way to anticipate results. I might even execute the whole project on the 8" Structo, because it has minuscule loom waste.

My colorful Structo 600 warp is still going strong for kid demos! 

Here is a photo from the recent May "Born to Be Shorn" event at Cooper Grist Mill, Chester, New Jersey. We had a bunch of happy visitors who wanted to weave, including one mom who couldn't resist when she saw how much fun her boys were having. That's guild mate Cathy Drescher near the end of the line, and the rest of the looms are "peg" or "penny" looms—basically 2 shaft looms with a peg on top of a bar that allows the child to flip forward or back, alternating sheds. The kids think any of these looms are WAY better than the "potholder" looms they are more familiar with.

Sun, 06/20/2010 - 16:22

weaversouth (not verified)

OHHHH those pot-holders!  The first year I had gotten together enough looms for the kids to REALLY weave, I mentioned to one of the Art Camp kids who attends my church that we'd be weaving on "real" looms,  and she sighed and said "Thank goodness.  I am SO sick of pot-holders!"  She was 10 at the time.

so, there you are!

Some kids still want to make them, so I keep a few in the classroom, ready to go.  But most of them hate them.

Nancy C 

Thu, 06/24/2010 - 02:58

sally orgren

I recently visited "RugsbyJoe" in Milwaukee this past week. If you are on WeaveTech or RagTalk, you probably know who he is. He has a wealth of wonderful resources. Yes, he has lots of big floor looms, but no Structos. 

BUT, look what he DID have!

He said in purchasing old looms, materials like this could be found with the looms. He had some other drafts and full size samples for the Structo 600, too. What a treasure! (And BTW, those are some of Joe's rugs underneath the draft.)

Thu, 06/24/2010 - 03:10

crosstownshuttler (not verified)

 Hi Sally,

Very cool!  And with a sample!

I don't see her name anywhere on the draft, but that sure does look like Mary M. Atwater's lettering. I wonder if she was involved with the Structo company in some way.

Carie

Thu, 06/24/2010 - 12:44

sally orgren

Yes, I thought the same thing too, and it IS an Atwater draft, her name was on the document!

Thu, 06/24/2010 - 12:52

claudia (not verified)

Wow, wow, wow.  What a find!  Sounds like you had a great visit.  To have both the hand written draft and the sample, quite a treasure.

Claudia

Mon, 10/18/2010 - 01:41

sally orgren

At Rhinebeck, MsThimble found a vendor who has them in stock. I talked to Gary,
and he said they located a former worker who used to manufacture the heddles and
he still knew where the pattern was. So they set up the machines and did a
"limited" run, but it seems like they made A LOT in that limited run! Gary said
they have not put them up on the Internet yet, as they are in their "show"
cycle. So in November you will likely see them available online.

If you have the Structo 240 (8" metal model), these new heddles are stainless
steel, and the only difference I can see is that the ends are slightly curvier
than the original ones. That may mean they will automatically space further
apart than the olds ones on the heddle bars, especially if intermixed.

The original looms came with 50 heddles per harness. They were called Structo
240's because with a 15 dent reed sett at 2 per dent for 8 inches, you had a 240
warp capacity. However, with only 50 heddles per harness, I am guessing you had
to buy more heddles from the get-go if you ever wanted to use the full width!

I bought bundles of 100 for $20. I plan to have 75 per harness. I am not sure if
I want to load anymore than that, as the warps might get too dense to get a good
shed after that point. (I have an 8 shaft.)

If interested, here's the contact:
Serenity Farm & Studio
980 Cypress Chapel & Studio
Suffolk, VA 23434
(757) 986-2010
www.fibertoolsonline.com

Mon, 10/18/2010 - 01:40

sally orgren

Here's what my 8" Mighty Metal Monster was sporting at Rhinebeck 2010 this weekend!

Mon, 10/18/2010 - 02:21

francorios (not verified)

Carie and Sally,

Mary Atwater included some drafts in the Structo manual.

You can find a pdf on the yahoo group files area

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_things_structo/files/

Manual of Instructions for Structo Artcraft Looms 2.pdf
Manual of Instructions for Structo Artcraft Looms by Mary Meigs Atwater

Other useful files are there too.


Have a good day!

 

Wed, 10/27/2010 - 22:34

sally orgren

I assume this might be one of the original ones (?) based on the lever shapes and flare. Not sure I have seen that before on this type of model (Structo 600).

All original parts as far as I can tell, including the cranks (which are taped to the beater bar at the bottom.) But as you can see, this one certainly would need some TLC. The location of this loom is northern NJ, (near the PA, NY, NJ borders.) I don't know much about this baby, it is owned by one of my 97 year old guildmates (who is "cramming for her finals" as she puts it!) Her daughter has come to live with her, and is cleaning out the equipment stash, so I took photos and am just trying to help. If interested, I can put you in touch with the seller and her daughter. Just shoot me an email. Sally

Tue, 11/09/2010 - 04:51

kbird (not verified)

I love to see the pictures of the old looms!

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 14:40

scotdeerie

How the heck are you able to use a shuttle that big on an 8" loom?  I could barely get a yarn butterfly through mine sometimes.  :(

 

P.S.  That's beautiful, btw.  I hope you see this.  I realize I'm answering an OLD post but I'm a new old-Structo-owner.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 17:54

Cat Brysch

I have just applied to join the all_things_structo!  Thank you for having such a group available!

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 00:32

unstrungwoman

Hi - I am a long time weaver, but a new Structo 240 owner!  Does anyone know where I could find a manual for it? It came with an additional back beam.  This is so exciting - thanks!

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 00:54

[email protected]

The Moderator of this group has passed away, limiting access for those of us who have recently gotten Structo looms--congratulations on your loom, with a bit of envy for additional back beam.  Sally Orgren can probably provide you with whatever manual is available through that group in the meantime.

I have found mine to be straightforward without a manual--perhaps we will develop an active Structo group here on Weavolution.

Francine

Wed, 09/07/2016 - 21:08

Lhebacker

I'm saddened to hear of the sudden death of the all_things_structo moderator and continue to want to be a member of the group. 

Does anyone have news about the disposition/plans of the group?

(I am in refurb mode and need a widsom repository to get me to the end!)

Tue, 10/13/2020 - 00:11

Michele White

Is there any chance someone can save the documents on  the Yahoo group? I just discovered it and now Yahoo says they are closing the groups down.

Fri, 10/16/2020 - 15:53

sally orgren

Please note the last post to this thread was 2017.
Migration to this site and this particular thread is incomplete.
If completed, the addition of the images to this thread would be vastly helpful.

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Structo Central