Tue 21 Jul 2009
Posted by Tropical Twister under Articles , My Looms
[3] Comments
My Julia, “the little red loom from Glimakra” arrived yesterday! I’ve documented lots of photos showing how it’s going together. A very nice loom, at a great price.
It arrived in a flat shipping box and shipping from Sweden, it is one of the ways they’ve kept the cost down. Opening the box it looked pretty complicated but with the aid of drawings and a great CD instructions, it’s coming together. The “Weaving on the Julia” which comes with the loom if GREAT! It provides simple direction without condesending to the experienced weaver but still providing details the novice like me needs.
You’ll notice the Kessenich Loom project rug at the front door. Couldn’t resist giving it a place of honor. More as I get her up and weaving.
Tropical Twister
Hi, Am a new weaver and want to get a floor loom. I have a friend who loves her schacht wolf $$ But I am looking at the Julia. What do you think. Is ist hard to warp what kind of heddles does it have? Do you feel the weaving to be even? I was encouraged by your blog but now I want to hear more thank bobbie
First, what do you plan to weave. The Julia is a counterbalance loom which is ideal for even patterns, that is where the same heddles rise and fall with alternating passes. With a 26″ weaving area, the loom is ideal for runners, napkins, scarves, etc. using linen, cotton, etc. The Julia has quiet Texsolv heddles. It comes with 500. It takes very little effort to operate and is easy to move and fits through common household doorways.
The Schacht Wolf is a jack loom which has moveable harnesses. The harnesses are a bit heavier than the configuration of the Julia and requires a bit more work. Weaving widths are 18″ (wolf pup), 26″ (wolf), and 36″ (mighty wolf). It may be somewhat less quiet as there is the sound of harnesses moving again each other. You can weave a variety of patterns both even and uneven. Jack looms are more common in the states. The wolf looms are very weaver friendly. They are very well thought out. They fold up and you can add wheels that make them easy to move from room to room.
Older pattern books often are written for counterbalance looms; there are many pattern books available for 4 and 8 shaft jack looms. The looms you’ve mentioned are both excellent choices. If you have an opportunity to join a weaving class or attend a weaving workshop you may have an opportunity to sample different looms and decide for your self … Apples and oranges.
The Julia is available as either countermarch or counterbalance. I would suggest getting the Julia in the countermarch flavor with at least 4 shafts. It costs a little more than the cheapest Julia with 2 shafts, 2 treadles, in counterbalance – but it will meet your weaving needs for a long time. You can even weave small rag rugs on this loom.
Keep in mind that there is always some shrinkage when you take the piece off the loom so when you weave to the full loom width of 26″, the resulting piece will be narrower when removed from the loom, depending on how much draw-in you had (hopefully you can avoid much of that with experience and perhaps the use of temples), on the materials used, and on any additional shrinkage after washing.