My Play on Pipe Looms

My husband was at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts this week. So I went to the library, picked up Pride and Prejudice from the BBC and watched an episode each night while I worked on the framing mat for Dakota's picture. P&P was the 1980s version, which is not bad, but certainly no as good as the 1996 version with Colin Firth! With that I was able to complete the mat and even the finish work. Here it is. Dakota's yarn is the fuzzy neutral block about 1/4 of the way from the top. I did blend it with the white wool yarn I used elsewhere. He didn't pack down nicely on the left side, and I didn't push it for fear of breaking it. I had expected the color of his block to be more white since the yarn by itself did appear to be, but it is interesting once it is woven together the browns that came out. His yarn is definitely a warmer color than the other greys. I was able to get the photos printed out this week at Walgreens by uploading them and ordering the prints on-line. First time, I have done that and I was rather pleased with the process! We had already played with a number of prints we had made at home with the laser jet and narrowed it down to this picture. We were looking at black and white because we have a number of old family photographs that we are planning on hanging together in the heating hall. So we wanted to make sure Dakota picture was part of that. When I sent the order to Walgreens, just for kicks, I also sent the color picture. I think I've decided that I like it better with the mat. It actually ties the browns of his yarn in nicely and makes it look like it was meant to be together.
Now I just need to get it into the frame. I'm thinking of adding some spacers to ensure the weaving is not pushed too hard against the glass. It may take a little time, but I think it's worth it.

I've had a couple questions on my pipe looms, so I thought I would add a blog entry on them. Right now I have two pipe looms for 8" and 24" wide tapestries. They are essentially Archie Brennan's pipe looms with a couple of tweaks. You can find the plans for Archie's looms at : http://americantapestryalliance.org/Education/Ed_Ar/BrennanLooms.html.

I combined the small copper pipe loom with the leashing unit on the free standing copper pipe loom. The next tweak I received from Tommye Scalin in my first tapestry weaving class. To make the small pipe loom free standing, she took two female threaded PVC "tee" and slid it over the copper pipe. Then she added male threaded PVC pipe to the tee. Rubber feet on the ends keep it from sliding and a rubber band keeps the ends from separating.

The next tweak is just to add a copper tee to the corner at the bottom of the loom rather than an elbow. I added a small bit of pipe to the bottom of the tee and another rubber foot. This keeps the bottom of the frame off the table, floor, etc. Then if the loom is continuously warped, I can advance the warp and not have the frame sitting on the "freshly" woven fabric. Lastly, of course, are the connectors for the leashes that I talked of in the last blog entry.Hope this of help!