Getting to know you

How the loom works and key takeaways

Hand towels woven on the AVL

You may recall the "new" loom that came into my life late last fall. Although new to me, it is not new. As the 129th loom made by AVL, it is a 12-harness dobby loom that dates to the early 1980's. 

I must admit that I was a little awed by the loom and tried to find out everything I could about dobby looms. I did online research and bought some books. In some respects, the descriptions made it sound more difficult to set up than it is. (Please note: I am not talking about the construction of the loom.)

Dobby bars showing pegs and holes

My personal conclusion is that setting up to weave is simply a matter of rethinking the process. I got a little bogged down with how to peg the dobby bars. But it is very straightforward. Pegging the bars is like manually operating the levers on a table loom. They're either pegged--or not--and the harnesses either lift--or not.

For me, pegging the bar with the small metal pins was a bit counter-intuitive. A peg keeps the harness from lifting and no peg, i.e., a hole, lifts the harness. So, if I want harnesses 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 to raise, I peg the holes in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.

Dobby bars on dobby head

Pegging the dobby bars also made me think about how they entered the wheel. If I pegged the bars from top to bottom and inserted them onto the dobby head, my lift plan was reversed because the bars enter the mechanism from the back. Pegging from bottom to top is the right way to peg them.

My dobby bars are worn and some of the holes are stripped. For the most part, I can feel it through the peg wrench when I screw the pegs in, but not always. I haven't found them all yet so I need to carefully watch the shed and the pattern when weaving as pegs fall out. 

Painter's masking tape and 4 inch cable ties are my new best friends. I use the masking tape to wrap the pegs for the stripped holes, to mark the beginning of the lift plan sequence on the dobby bars and to mark harnesses. The cable ties I use to connect the dobby bars, which were originally connected with metal rings.

Key take-aways for my loom at this point in time:

• Pegging and assembling the dobby bars 
• "No peg," that is, a hole in the bar, lifts a harness.
• Peg the bar for harnesses that should remain in place, that is, don't lift.
• Watch for stripped holes and use tape (or the equivalent) to wrap the pegs.
• Peg from the bottom of the dobby bar set to the top. (The AVL manual recommends a set of 20 bars minimum.)
• Mark the first bar of the pattern weave with a small piece of tape. It's easy to get them out of order. 
• If the pattern is not balanced, e.g., 6 and 6, peg the harnesses with the greater number of  lifts. This may put the pattern on the reverse, but it is much easier to weave.
• Connect the chain of dobby bars with cable ties so that the connection is on the back of the bars. When joined from the front, the connector can interfere with the pattern.
• Weaving
• Until I am confident that my pegging is correct and the pegs are secure, I need to pay close attention to the lifted harnesses. 
• I use a small piece of tape to mark the even-numbered harnesses so I can very quickly see whether the correct ones are lifted--or not.



Rachet that advances dobby bars

• My dobby mechanism does not reverse. I can disengage the dobby head, but most times it's easier to advance to the next sequence. (Tape on the bars also useful here.)

At this point, my big-picture conclusion is that although the mechanism and construction of my dobby loom is definitely more complex and very different from jack, counter-marche and counterbalance looms, it's not difficult. It's only a different way of looking at the set-up.

Pegs and bars

12-harness broken twill sample on a dobby loom

and a dobby loom

My new old pre-AVL loom is a real gem. This12-harness dobby loom is compact and also known as the Witch Loom and the Original Folding Loom. If you missed the story of the 'find of my weaverly life,' it's here. But that story ended with the loom in the door and I promised updates so here goes. 

That first evening, our first reaction was to call in a knowledgable AVL friend, but by the time Monday rolled around, the beast wasn't looking so daunting. 

I had ordered some resources--Hand Weaving and Cloth Design, by Marianne Straub; Handloom Weaving Technology, by Allen Fannin; and Bonnie Inouye's PDF revision to the first part of her out-of-print book, Exploring Multishaft Design--to help me understand the mechanism and awaited deliveries. 

Some minor mechanical issues emerged but almost all of them were related to the disuse. There was a light rust film on the metal parts and they didn't move smoothly. I cleaned  the dobby fingers and other metal parts with a very light, non-petroleum-based oil and added some graphite to the sliding metal frame on the dobby mechanism. 

Ready to weave

When the peg wrench I'd ordered from AVL arrived, I was ready to peg bars and begin weaving!

I put on a warp, pegged some bars for tabby, and started weaving. This was key to my understanding the loom and how it worked. And it was key to seeing what was simply frozen from sitting and what needed fixed.

As I wove, I found that the Texsolv heddles grabbed and didn't slide smoothly on the harnesses. The heddles maintain the harnesses in position but need to move a little, too, so I lightly waxed the harnesses. Problem solved.

Mostly, it was me that needed to become familiar with my loom and how to make it work for me. My main challenges were how to attach the raddle and where best to sit when threading the heddles. But these challenges aren't unique. They're true for any newly acquired loom.

Dobby with bars pegged for a twill weave

Feeling more confident about the mechanics, my next goal was to figure out how to change the dobby bars more easily. They load from the back underside and I found them fiddly. I may be missing some basic know-how, but still haven't found it. I now use a nylon cord to wrap around the first bar to hold it in a depression until I could move it into working position. 

The original dobby bars use metal rings for connections. This requires needle-nosed pliers to connect bars and change configurations. M solved the connection issue with little cable ties. Perfect. Easy to put on and easy to snip off with scissors. (Visible at right between the first bar at the top and the second.)

I am loving weaving on this little gem and look forward to more exploration of multi-harness weaves! The South Jersey Guild has a study program this year--so there will be more about weaving to come.