A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to find a used Saori CH60 loom. That loom lives in a spare room in our house. I wrote this post Weaving a Cowl for a Christmas present about using that loom.
On the weekends we usually go to our cabin. The cabin is only a 30 minute drive from home so we go there, do yard work (amount varies seasonally) and then have a meal and a nice quiet night. We return home the next morning to 3 cats who are very happy to see us. The cabin is basic. There is no TV, though there is internet. While there I tend to do a craft of some kind. Last year we added a screened porch to the cabin and I began to dream about sitting on the porch and doing some spinning or weaving. Sadly our porch project started late (getting planning permission was hard) and was finished just before Christmas. So we have been waiting for warmer weather to arrive before getting it setup.
So I started shopping around for a folding loom. I had my eye on a Saori WX60. Luckily one of my friends had bought one and it didn’t suit her weaving style so I was able to buy hers. (My friend was planning to return to using her rigid heddle loom. Whereas I sold my rigid heddle looms after adopting my Saori loom because I no longer had time for them.) I picked up the loom at the end of March and I’m really happy with it. Here you can see the loom on the porch. I threaded it up the first day.
One of the nice features of the Saori WX60 loom is that it folds. And you can fold it up with a project on the loom. This makes the loom easier to store, and to relocate to another place. I am still getting the hang of folding/unfolding the loom, and find it easier to get help doing that. But I am sure that with practice it will become a solo task.
The loom weighs 13.5kg (29.8lb) and has the following dimensions:
- When open the loom is 76cm (30″) wide, 76cm (30″) deep and 98.5cm (39″) tall.
- When folded the loom is 76cm (30″) wide, 25cm (10″) deep and 106cm (42″) tall.
I cleared a space just inside the cabin where the folded loom could be stored. I also setup a nice rolling cart to contain my tools. This makes it easy to move the loom outside or inside as necessary. I use a regular chair with the loom and prefer to add a nice cushion to the chair as well. (Lifting your feet to treadle puts more pressure on the bony parts of your butt.)
The first weekend I had the loom I got it threaded. On the next visit to the cabin it was time to start weaving. This shows my porch and inside the cabin weaving locations.
Over the course of a few visits I proceeded to weave, changing colours and textures as I felt like it. This is a highlight reel of the resulting weaving progress.
I am now nearing the end of the warp. Originally the warp was on a square tube on the beam near the floor. (You can see more details about the Saori warps on square tubes in this blog post.) When the warp unwinds from the tube you transfer it to a rod so you can maintain warp tension. In the left photo you can see that the warp is tied onto a rod that is located close to the beam near the floor. As I continue weaving the rod is getting closer and closer to the shafts on the loom. I have just a few more inches of weaving to do. When I finish the rod should be just behind the heddles. This loom design minimizes warp waste. When I am done weaving I will be able to hemstitch my cloth and remove it from the loom. The remaining threads will be trimmed slightly and twisted into a nice fringe for my cloth.
I should have some finished cloth to share soon.