By Alex McKeon, Fiber Studio Weaving Coordinator
We have three exciting additions to the Fiber Arts Studio this season for weavers! Calley Morrison, a talented Seattle weaver, generously loaned our studio an AVL dobby loom. This is a production-style loom with a staggering 16 harnesses. Our very own Jim Gibson is already warping it as we all dream of complicated patterns to try!
We also received a donation of a four-harness Leclerc loom with a whopping 60” weaving width. For those of you whose shoulders ache just thinking about reaching out to catch your shuttles to weave that wide, fear not! This donation, from Cecelia Flickinger of Port Ludlow, also came with a fly shuttle mechanism. This system sends the shuttles back and forth with a flick of the wrist. We have two shuttles to use in this system. Please reach out if you’re interested in helping to get her firing.
Giovanni Strohmenger has already used the full width of the loom to weave four beautiful mohair blankets with a supplemental warp he tied onto to avoid loom waste. He’s left the supplemental warp on the loom so others interested in using more expensive or limited warping materials can do so without the usual loom waste that accompanies floor loom weaving.
Finally, we were donated an eight-shaft Cranbrook Countermarch loom in incredible condition from Anita Kaplan of Seattle. Scandinavian-style looms are hard to come by in the western United States, and Cranbrooks are regarded as some of the best around. They are particularly great for weaving rugs and tapestries. We were very lucky to have the help of former Seattle Weavers’ Guild president and current Vice President Erica Tiedemann, who came over to help assemble the loom and give invaluable operational advice.
These looms are now available for members to reserve for a month at a time. If you’re interested in learning more about these different styles of floor looms, please don’t hesitate to reach out to weaving coordinator Alex McKeon, or check the calendar for weaving labs where we will do deep dives into the unique functionalities of each loom. We can’t wait to see what you create next with these incredible machines!
