Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Clipboard Loom - Toba Sash Inspired

NOTE: Dr. Carol Ventura, Professor of Art, has created a wonderful website http://www.carolventura.com/ with dozens of articles and hundreds of pictures.

When I saw the article "Sashes of the TOBAS of ARGENTINA" http://www.carolventura.com/pickup.html showing how to weave with warp floats on a small frame loom, I knew that would be part of the fiber adventure.



(click pictures for larger image)

Seeing the loom diagrammed by Carol V., I thought of a clipboard. I found a hefty legal size one for 99 cents at a thrift store. About 9 inch by 15 inch.



I cut it down to 13 inch so it would fit in my book bag. Using a fret saw is easy and I can cut curves.


With a drill larger than the rivets, I drilled out the rivets holding the spring clip so it can be removed.



I marked a two inch border, drilled holes in the corners, put the saw blade through the holes, and cut along the lines to open the center of the board.


Board is cut, extra holes are to tie on the dowels. All cut edges were sanded smooth.


As I weave the band will get tight on the loom. The plan is to remove a dowel to create some slack so I can manipulate the band. I read that somewhere on the internet.



Here is the band warped up on the loom.


So far, so good. The simple frame loom is working with a string heddle and shed stick. I'm using a plastic debit card with notches cut as a shuttle and beater.

Have a good day!

9 comments:

Sewicked said...

That's just clever. Thanks for the info.

Straylight said...

This looks like it might work well with tablet-weaving, too. Might need some minor modifications to allow the cards to turn more easily, but I like it...!

ENORCA said...

amazing!
this is so simple, but so clever at the same time X3

Unknown said...

Thankyou-thankyou!

Where are you people coming from? I don't often get 3 comments in 3 hours on my humble blog.

I'm not complaining. Just wondering.

Have a good day!

jjmcgaffey said...

Craft Magazine mentioned you - tweeted

Clipboard Loom:

Franco of Franco's Fiber Adventure, created this ingenious portable loom from a clipboard and a ... http://bit.ly/chGsIR

That's what brought me, anyway.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the clue! I thought it must something like that. I haven't seen this much traffic since Craft magazine featured my cardboard spinning wheel.

Thanks again!
Have a good day!

Anonymous said...

this is an absolutely brilliant idea! I am definitely going to try this out.

Absynthee said...

OOOOOO!! This is sooo cool! I am a fiber artist, and this is gr8!!! More sturdy than the cardboard versions i have seen! TY TY!!! xD

zippiknits...sometimes said...

This is a brilliant piece of tool making. Wow! Thank you. I'm showing this to the kids.