My husband said he wanted to skip his bike ride to take me down to Vista, California, in northern San Diego county. If the traffic's light, it's a two hour drive. He wanted to take me to the Antique Gas and Steam Museum. The idea of any kind of engines is not very motivating for me. I would say that trying to get me out of the house resembled fighting the inertia you push against in prying a rock from it's bed. But he had seen an ad in one of my magazines for the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. Luckily, my hubby was willing to push. It was WONDERFUL!!! This one building held about 50 looms!
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| Look at the works on top of this loom! |
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| It fascinated me! |
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| Punch cards. |
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| Each of the individual heddles hanging behind the shafts had it's own weight hanging from it. |
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| And the yellow strings went one to each of those heddles. |
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| I wanted to have a visual record of the way this Glimakra countermarch was tied up. It's upside down from the way I learned. |
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| Such pretty colors and work on this dobby loom. But I wanted to take note of the temple. She used bent j-hooks from knitting... |
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| then added a pulley and a bottle of sand. |
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| I know I don't have room for a great wheel, but... Then, on the way home, we stopped in San Pedro at Crafted. My eyes, followed by my feet, went straight to the giant countermarch loom. It's 10 feet in the reed. |
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| Dana, it's owner, is a textile artist. We spent a delightful hour visiting both under and in front of the loom. I look forward to seeing what she produces on it. The day after all this fun, I had a visitor, Robin, who's contemplating purchasing a Glimakra loom. She wanted to have the opportunity for a little hands on before she made her decision. It was perfect timing. I have a sample on Sophia (the countermarch Standard) and napkins on Julia (counterbalance), so I didn't mind someone else weaving on them. Besides, I was so full of excitement about the previous day's and week's activities, I wanted to share! The week before all of this, I spent watching and learning from the dvd, Dress Your Loom the Swedish Way. I hope both ladies will forgive me for babbling on about everything I learned from the dvd. Because I learned to weave on a jack loom, tie up and set-up on my countermarch has been a struggle. And I don't learn by reading. So, to finally get Sophia dressed with ease was a pleasure. And now she's weaving as comfortably and smoothly as I knew she could. I can't stop grinning! |
Wow, what a great place to visit!! So many looms in one place, it must have been wonderful to just wander around. That's interesting how she made that temple. Something to remember. And the tie up on the Glimakra was interesting too, as I haven't seen it done that way before. I'm with you on the challenge of working with a countermarch vs. a jack. I learned on a jack, too, so it was tough at first to work with my Glimakra Standard. It sounds like you've come away with some great weaving energy!!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there could be so many looms in Vista! I need to look that place up m.next time I'm in the area.
ReplyDeleteThe tie up you saw is on the countermarch is exactly how I tie up my Glimarka, it is easy to do and fast. The temple is a version that many of us use, I use a an opened paper clip with lead fishing sinkers, cheap but effective. Prefer this type of temple because I can see what I am weaving and not have the active weaving area covered up by the body of a wooden or metal temple.
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