Glimakra Bandloom

Freshly assembled Glimakra Bandloom.

For many, many, many years, I had been wanting a Glimakra bandloom.  My trip to VavStuga last fall was just the excuse I needed.  We had the opportunity, evenings, to weave on one up in our living quarters, so by the time the week was over and my purchases were being added up, I asked to have a bandloom shipped to my home.



Bockens cotton.

While there, I also chose five colors of Swedish cotton for a first warp, not as fine as I would have liked, but probably a better choice while learning to warp the loom.  It was mid-November, a long WI winter was ahead of me, so I chose cheerful spring colors to work with.



Bandloom weaving supplies.

The bandloom came with one small stick shuttle, a number of small warping sticks, two extra pegs, as the loom can be used as an inkle loom or as a two shaft loom, a pair of lease sticks, and heddles.  I chose to set it up as a two shaft loom since it comes with two treadles, and I have a tabletop inkle loom.



Beaming the warp.

I made a three yard warp on a warping board (and forgot to take a photo), then worked out a way to beam the warp, along the lines of Swedish warping methods when you are working alone.  As you can almost see, I did not have the warp up over the top back beam, but did have it winding on in a straight line.  I also should have spread my warp threads out a bit, which they did while winding on.  I turned the loom so the back beam was right in front of me, and holding and applying tension to the warp, wound it on.  Lease sticks were in place before beaming.

Then came threading the heddles.  Note,... when sitting at the loom, start threading with the heddles furthest away from you.  I did not, and ended up two heddles short, found it difficult to add them to the inside, so pulled the warp out and threaded a second time.  Many lessons were learned that evening!



Warp tied on, just need to advance it for better shed.

The warp was then tied on, advanced, a quill filled with the turquose, the outermost color of the warp, and I was ready to weave. 



A beautiful shed.



Beating the weft into place with a bandloom knife.

The bandloom knife was purchased at VavStuga, they are made in Shelburne Falls, MA, especially for VavStuga.



Just the beginning...

I try to weave a bit each day on this loom, developing a new habit, and looking forward to weaving towel hangers, curtain tiebacks, trims, and more.