Loom Basket Upset!

First of all, this was our week to weave at the Knoxville Museum of Art. Carl and Bonnie wove first and then I wove the last few hours. I tried to give you an idea of the bands we're weaving. Down below the breast beam are the bands they wove and coming around to the top are mine.

It really is fascinating to see how the colors progress. I wonder if there's any way that we can find our bands? Even with our pictures, I think it will be difficult. One of the assistant curators was wondering how long it would be before they would have to cut
the fabric off. I told him that it would be awhile yet but the plan is to cut off the fabric with some warp attached, then store it until the next part is too full for the cloth beam, cut it off and then very carefully assemble it into one piece again! I admire anyone that is going to tackle that part of the project!

So here's the part about the loom basket upset. I wrote last week about the loom I bought. I had resigned myself to the fact that I had a production loom, not a rug loom. That would be ok. Then on Tuesday, while we were talking about it, Carl reminded me that he used to weave on a Herald. Someone suggested that we swap looms so that's what we did. Thursday we loaded the Herald into the van and brought it to the center. Unloading was easy and it's shown here waiting to be put in place and re assembled. Carl now has his own loom and he's getting off the small harrisville that's he's been patiently weaving on.

Then we started moving the leclerc. DD got a quick lesson on loom dismantling and, actually, it wasn't that bad. We loaded it into the van. I was concerned about getting it into there because the nilus is taller than the herald.

No problem. Put it on its side. We tied a rope around the harnesses and treadles to keep them in place! You know why when weavers go shop for cars, the first thing they look at is the trunk, right?

We got it home and unloaded without any difficulty. I took a picture of DH holding Molly, our 11 year cat from....... She's a sweetheart, but she is probably from a feral mother. We got her as about a 3 weeks old, bottle fed her and everything. They say cats like that can be weird. She loves us but when DD went away for a semester to college 5 years ago, when she came back Molly treats her like a stranger to be hissed at, even 5 years later. Molly can be very sweet but only to the 2 of us! I forget to get the camera when she's near my loom and thought this was a good time to get a picture of her.

The real problem was in assembling that nilus. We had removed the warp beam entirely. The screws at down at the base of the loom and getting the loom supported up enough for us to work on it last night was something to see. I'm sure if there was a video of it, it'd be used against us! However, it's together. The warp on there now is wool and very old. I think I will remove it and put a different one on. There is another beam sitting on the bench right now. The things they brought us included a second warp beam with sectional parts to attach to it and all the pieces necessary to make it work. Just need to drill holes. I am wondering if there is anyone out there that has a 45" nilus leclerc with a double warp beam. Is it structurally sound? Has anyone got good or bad things to say about it? I'm really curious. Before we drill the holes and do this, I'd like some information.

I'll write an update on any information we get.

Oh, BTW, we're supposed to get snow again tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully it won't stop us from going to the center on Tuesday. We all need that time! Looms to thread and weave on, students to learn more and we're getting a yarn order together! Can't miss that!!

Carol