barn loom

(cross posted to the Harmony Weavers blog)



for the last several decades there has been a barn loom (c. 1850) in the Ziegler cabin on main street in harmony.    this cabin is generally only open during special events, and while there was a warp on the loom (with one finished rag rug wound onto the cloth beam and a second in process), no weaving had been done in 20 years or more.

several museum volunteers are in the process of renovating the 'decor' in the cabin, with the goal of making it more 'period correct' to the timeline of this particular dwelling.   they have decided that the loom doesn't fit into their vision.      there has been discussion regarding where this loom should go, and the hope was that it could be moved to the weaver's cabin.     unfortunatly there is no room on the first floor,  and we feared that the floor of the second floor might not be able to support the weight of this heavy loom.     it was finally decided to clean out the basement (which has been used for storage) and put the loom there.

yesterday several of us embarked upon disassembly of this old beauty, and moved parts of it to the cabin.   the larger, more cumbersome parts will be moved by other volunteers.

looms of this type are called 'barn looms' because they are built using similar construction techniques to what would have been used to build barns during this time period.    often built by husbands, brothers or sweethearts of the intended weaver, the mortise and tenon joints are secured with removable pegs and wedges, allowing the loom to be easily disassembled for storage when not in use.  since space would have been at a premium in those days,   and household weaving was often done in a spurt rather than throughout the year, it was good to be able to take the loom apart and store the pieces flat when not in use.

i took a few pictures, pre-disassembly, for reference. in this one you can see the simple counterbalance mechanism.   this loom has 2 shafts and 2 treadles,  allowing for weaving of tabby (plain weave) cloth.   it would be relatively simple to add more shafts and more treadles if we want to do more complicated weaving.     the rope draped across the upper side controls the simple brake mechanism.

here we can see the warp beam with 20+ year old rug warp still in place.

close up of the brake mechanism on the warp beam (back of the loom.
also visibile is the hanging beater, complete with antique wooden reed.

slightly better view of the brake release.

view from the back, after removal of the warp, and hanging beater.

the plan is to clean her up, get her into good working order,  and weave on her.    when in use, the basement will be open to the public (when volunteers are availble).

my plan is to photograph the restoration process and post progress here.

a slow sunday....

it was a quiet sunday in harmony today. 

after work, i went to spend a few hours at the weaver's cabin.   spent some time chatting with liesel and amanda,  and didn't get a lot of weaving done, lol.    i am MUCH more productive when there isn't anyone there to talk with.....      i am working on the last overshot table runner on this warp (i had dressed the loom with enough warp for 3,  in variations on an overshot draft called 'ancient rose design').    this draft has 2 versions of treadling,  so i did one runner with the rose treadling, and 2 with the star treadling.   the star treadling of this draft has been one of my favorite overshot patterns ever since i started weaving overshot in college.

when i initially set up this warp,  i fell back on old habits (from weaving mostly on countermarche and counterbalance looms) and tied up the treadles backward (as far as this jack loom is concerned, lol).    so the pattern that i see as i weave is the back.    i have to look underneath to see the front.  not too big a deal,  but i'll fix it next time i use this loom.

the warp and tabby is 8/2 cotton (same as i use for dish towels) and the pattern weft is yarn i spun and dyed from local sheep.    the first runner i did in a light teal.    for the second and third i dyed more traditional colors.    dark blue (resembling indigo or logwood) for the rose treadling,  and red (which would traditionally have been dyed with madder or cochineal) for the star treadling.

this is the top...   technically the back side of the pattern.

and this would be 'technically' the front.

i spent some of the time supervising (ahem) as amanda photographed some of her scarves so they can be listed on etsy.

and then turned and took pictures of a few local buildings.....   harmony is such a picturesque little town.   :-)

both of these houses are historic buildings.   the log cabin is more than 200 years old, built by members of the harmonist society.   i'm not sure if the brick building is harmonists or mennonite.

the harmony inn, one of harmony's many haunted buildings.   it was originally a residence and is now a restaurant.   it's recently under new ownership.   i'm looking forward to seeing what changes they make.