I'm student teaching in the artroom of a weave-aholic right now and a couple of our students just completed card weavings a week or so ago. They had a series of cards with four holes in each; they had to put the string through the holes in a certain pattern and then tie themselves to the door (sitting in a chair with the harness around the chair) and turn the cards in certain ways...don't ask me. It's confusing but they turned out beautifully.
We don't have a website here...Judy, if I emailed you some pictures could you post them somewhere? Or somebody?
We also have lots of inkle looms (the middles school kids are doing this right now) and a couple others that I don't know the names of, and a large one that sits on the floor. (My cooperating teacher would die if he read this.) He studied with a quite famous textiles artist at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the sixties I would guess. I've tried to absorb as much about weaving as I can, but it all seems so complicated!
From: Judy Decker [mailto:email@example.com]
Sent: Mon 10/20/2003 11:42 AM
To: ArtsEdNet Talk
Subject: RE: colonial american weaving
Looms with heddles/harness loom have been around a
Simplest looms were one harness (device through which
warp yarns are threaded). The Colonial home loom
varied from two to four harnesses. Harnesses may be
connected to foot treadles which raise or lower them,
singularly or in combination. The earliest coverlets
wre woven on two harness hand looms. soon to be
replaced by four harness handlooms. Looms were often
set up in the common room of the home or in a loom
shed, separate from the main dwelling. Usually women
were weavers. During the late 18th and early 19th
Centuries - a 'Colonial' style, 4-harness,
counter-balanced loom was used.
Here is just a blurb I found:
"The making of woven bed covers underwent a revolution
in the early 1800's after Joseph Maric Jacquard of
France invented weaving loom attachment that used a
series of Punch cards for figured and fancy woven
patterns, Previously, overshot coverlets using hand,
barrel or draw looms prevailed. The jacquard
attachment enabled the master weaver to create a
larger coverlet panel, work much more efficiently, and
reduce costs drastically."
I did search history of loom and colonial loom...but
gave up finding anything more difinitive. I could
probably go upstairs and look it up in my weaving book
- but this should be enough of an answer for your
students. Our local county museum has a four harness
loom on display (but I do't know the age of it).
--- "Hillmer, Jan" <hillmjan@Berkeleyprep.org> wrote:
> As long as we're discussing Col. Am. art, Thanks,
> Sharon, for your wonderful site - we're doing a
> weaving project based on your woven drawstring bags.
> A question, tho. Does anybody know what types of
> looms were used during those early American days? A
> student wondered out loud, and I didn't really know.