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    Inkle Loom Design & Construction
    Inkle Loom Design & Construction
    Inkle Loom Design & Construction
    Ebook181 pages1 hour

    Inkle Loom Design & Construction

    By Jim MacLachlan

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    About this ebook

    If you want to buy, design, &/or build an Inkle loom, this book is for you. It will show the weaver what to look for in a loom, as well as how to modify, repair, or build their own with minimal tools. They're great projects for woodworkers since they’re fairly simple, generally forgiving to construct, & they make a unique, useful gift that can be made inexpensively. I'll explain the basics, design considerations, & include plans/drawings for nine looms, from lap to floor size, along with ideas for others & possible modifications.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJim MacLachlan
    Release dateOct 16, 2017
    ISBN9781370744985
    Inkle Loom Design & Construction
    Author

    Jim MacLachlan

    I grew up on the family farm with horses, sheep, cattle, fowl, dogs, cats, & a lot of other critters in north central Maryland. While the farm paid for itself, the family remodeling business was the steady income. I worked at that for about 15 years until an injury forced me to change my computer hobby into my career. It was tough at the time, but a great career move from an economic standpoint.Now I'm the entire IT department for a small manufacturing company in Louisville, KY. My wife of 35+ years & I have a small hobby farm with horses, goats, dogs, & a cat. Taking care of the farm, woodworking, & various fiber arts take up my free time.

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    • 5/5
      This book is so detailed and well-thought-out! It's EXACTLY what I was looking for, and I am glad to have found it. I'm going to need to source my materials in metric units, but the book's advice on what is most important to consider about the dimensions will make it easier to decide which adjustments to make.

    Book preview

    Inkle Loom Design & Construction - Jim MacLachlan

    Introduction

    When my daughter joined the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) & wanted to start weaving with an Inkle loom, we built one from plans & pictures we found on the Internet. I'm a woodworker & they looked simple enough, but we made some grave mistakes with that first one because we didn't understand their design, proportions, or how they worked properly. Since then, my daughter has become an accomplished weaver while I've examined, discussed, repaired, & built quite a few looms for her & others, as well as read everything I could find about them. It's been an education, a laborious one since I couldn't find a book devoted to their construction.

    The art of inkle weaving is quite old. The word ‘inkle’ is an old word for a band or ribbon which was woven on traditional looms, but I couldn't find anything about the basic proportions or geometry of dedicated inkle looms. I've dabbled with Colonial woodworking (16th - 18th century U.S.) for decades, so I know that proportional design was often used before measurements were standardized in the first half of the 19th century. Inkles were certainly made before that & the the Florilegium (SCA archive) site states, "The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe". They are generally thorough, written by people dedicated to historical accuracy, so this lack was a mystery. It was solved when I found that the one-sided, hobby Inkle looms first appeared sometime after the middle of the 19th century. This was after measurements were standardized, so they were never built by proportions. Since the information wasn't available I decided to figure it out on my own.

    Inkle looms are simple & portable. They're somewhat limited compared to the more traditional sort, but they're also a lot less expensive; often less than a tenth the cost when homemade. I've seen many imaginative designs on the Internet, but most are simply pictures or cookbook instructions. Many don't work well, even those built by otherwise reputable companies. Critical measurements, such as warp length, are usually missing. I found almost no meaningful discussion on design, construction, & portability which must be balanced against warp length, width, & looks. These are critical points to prioritize & I'll walk you through that as well as modifying & fixing a variety of designs.

    Eric Sloane found that the process of ordering his findings & thoughts into a book was the best way to learn a subject. That seemed like a good idea & this is the result. We'll start by breaking the looms into their component pieces & discuss them in relation to each other so you can avoid design flaws whether you're building one from scratch or purchasing one. I'll show you the basics & preferences my daughter & I learned from experienced weavers. Finally, I'll design looms starting from an idea with drawings & photos all the way up to simple, finished plans. I'll detail a variety of modifications & construction tips along the way. If you've already invested in a loom but are frustrated by certain features, you may be able to fix these with a few simple, inexpensive tools.

    I was told that "Inkle Weaving" by Helene Bress was ‘The Bible of Inkle Weaving', but it only has one short chapter on the construction of looms. Her points on deficiencies in some designs & her knowledge of weaving are impressive, but I found the loom designs in her book decidedly less so. (To be fair, she wasn't a carpenter, but a weaver extraordinaire.) Quite a few of the plans I found on the Internet were a rehash of the two in Bress’ book, so I'll build her small loom & include it here along with some better, modified versions. I'll also discuss the floor loom in her book & offer some alternatives plus provide plans for several completely different designs, several of which are far better.

    I had to make up some terms & standards as I went along, so read this carefully & in order or my explanations might not make sense, especially if you're new to weaving. I'd suggest reading through it once & then referring back to specific points as needed. Use the dimensions on drawings; some plans aren't drawn precisely & others didn't transfer with proper proportions. If the plans or formatting (The PDF version kept the formatting the best, the epub has the worst.) aren't satisfactory, email me (see the end of this document) & I'll send the original images or PDF version with explanations. I'm not a graphic artist & didn't hire one for this hobby project, so drawings & photos are good enough to get the point across, but they're not professional quality.

    I've included hyperlinks both inside the document & to generally safe & stable Internet sites. Use the latter at your own risk, though. Obviously, I have no control over them.

    All measurements are in SAE units since I live in the US where we still haven't changed to metric for most things, especially not woodworking. I was deliberately casual in the way I wrote this & use common terminology.

    1" = One inch

    1' = One foot or 12 inches

    1-1/2 = One & one half inch, the same as 1.5, but decimals are rarely used with SAE board measurements since fractions convert easier & are what our tools show.

    Warning & Disclaimer

    READ THIS. I'm serious.

    Use of any & all construction methods I describe or you think I allude to is at your own risk. I may use shorthand or do things that are dangerous. I'm not writing safety instructions since I don't know what tools you're using, your age, or skill level.

    Working with wood is inherently dangerous. Anyone using any of the tools or techniques in this book is personally responsible for learning the proper methods involved. You assume all risks and accept complete responsibility for any and all damages and injury of any kind, including death, which may result.

    Before using any hand or power tool with which you are unfamiliar, consult its operating instructions, and if necessary, seek instruction by a qualified person well versed in its operation and appropriate safety techniques. It remains up to you to make sure what you're doing is safe. The joy of woodworking, rewarding as it is, is not worth the cost of getting hurt. Please keep safety foremost in your mind whenever you're in the shop.

    If you hurt yourself based on anything in this document, that's your responsibility.

    By reading further, you agree to the above.

    Table of Contents

    Intro

    Warning & Disclaimer - Read this!

    Table of Contents

    Important Terms

    The Basics

    Alternative Warping Methods

    Lower Warp

    Picking Warp

    Card or Tablet Warp

    Pins (pegs) In General

    The Heddle Pin (H)

    The Tension Pin (T)

    Cams or Paddles

    Intermediate Pins

    Shuttles

    Construction Notes

    Wood: Type & Qualities

    Board Measurements - Nominal versus Actual sizes

    Cost

    Half-lap Joints?

    Wax on screw threads

    Hardware Sizes Vary

    Important Points to Consider

    What Does The Weaver Want?

    Does the weaver have other looms/experience?

    Lefties

    How long is an inkle?

    Should the loom be one-sided or two?

    How wide are the inkles?

    How wide is too wide?

    The Stash: (AKA, shuttle / miscellany holder)

    The Base or Feet

    Capping Pins

    Making a Tension Release Slot

    Router

    Tablesaw

    Other Methods, if you don't have a router or tablesaw

    Making Star/ Clamping Knobs

    Stains & Finish

    Care & Maintenance

    Designing Looms

    F-style Looms

    Bress F-Style

    Bress F-Style, Mod 2

    Other Modified F-Styles

    Fixing Erin's Maple Loom

    L-Style: Tina's Curved Loom

    TinaCurvedMod1

    The Right Warp

    Floor Looms

    Tina's Tall Loom

    Large Floor Loom

    Other Sources

    Afterword

    Important Terms

    Before reading further, you need to know how to warp & use an Inkle loom. No real expertise is needed, but an understanding of the basics is required.

    The F-style loom (My naming convention, some call it the Bress or Helen Bress style.) is the most common configuration where the top 2 warp pins (R1) & (R2) are on the same plane vertically, but are far apart horizontally, usually requiring separate uprights, as in the picture below. This type will allow all warping configurations, but it doesn't pack as much warp length on smaller looms so it's a good beginner's loom. The one pictured below is based on a loom in Bress' book.

    The L-style loom (cradle) has the top pins closer together horizontally, usually on the same upright at different heights, as in the picture below. It tends to be more efficient for longer warps in smaller looms & is best suited for picking & tab/card warps.

    No matter the style of the loom, there are a number of common features:

    Pin & Peg mean the same thing & are used interchangeably. I generally use 'Pin'.

    Thread, string, & line are the same things & used interchangeably.

    Warp threads are the long ones that run the length of

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