In this video tutorial, I show how to make awesome shoelaces, and a great upcycling way of making those little thingies at the end of the laces.
I couldn’t remember the right name for them when I was making the video, and called them ‘aplets’, but the correct name is ‘aglets or aiglets’.
Wikipedia defines them as: The word aglet (or aiglet) comes from Old French aguillette (or aiguillette), which is the diminutive of aguille (or aiguille), meaning needle.[1] This in turn comes from acus, Latin for needle. An aglet is like a small needle at the end of a corde
For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been weaving up a storm, working on an installation for the Green Window City project in Edmonton Alberta. Link to Green Window City
I wove 7 banners ( each 5 yards long) from cut up clothing and t shirts cut into t shirt yarn (tarn and ‘Farn’- fabric strip yarn) on my Saori loom.
For the last month or so, I have been building and weaving up a storm.
I am part of a project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, Green Windows City, that has partnered 13 artists with small shops in the arts district.
The artists are creating installations built from upcycled or recycled stuff, and are creating magic!
Today is installation day, so I will take photos after I complete my installation and post them.
One of the really fun things that I have done is to design and build a tapestry loom (although it can be used for other things than tapestry) and stand from trash.
I built the loom from a picture frame and the stand for the loom using heavy cardboard tubes thrown away by the fabric store, an old broomstick and a few nuts and bolts.
It has ingenious ways of tensioning the warp strands, and opening the sheds for ease of weaving.
All it all, it is a wonderfully functional loom and stand that is almost no cost.
To my delight, I have found it to be a loom that I love and will be using for years.
I liked it so much that I have built a second one to be weaving on while this one is busy being in the installation.
I made a video showing how to make the loom and stand, and how to warp it (including the warping device that I messed up on and then replaced LOL)
Here’s the video- it’s a cheap and cheerful way of creating a really great little tapestry loom.
Several years ago, we bought a metal Ikea computer desk at the thrift store.
I didn’t like having half of the top attached at an angle.
So my beloved DH, Jim and I drilled some holes, took the angled section off and re-attached it so it was nice and flat.
I had passed the desk along to my daughter and her husband, and when they gave it back to me last week, I was inspired.
First, to make the desk a comfortable height for weaving, I cut 3 inches off the legs with a pipe cutter- whew!
That was HARD work!
I mulled over how to attach the loom to the top of the desk, as it was just a hare’s breath away from fitting properly.
I took the top apart and played with the sections to see if I could come up with a workable solution- and then- woohoo!
I discovered that the chanels for a sliding mouse pad section that were supposed to be on the under side of the desk top, fitted the crosspiece of the loom perfectly! Jubilation!
I zip tied the sides of the loom to the desk and was happy as a clam…..
except…. for the pesky owees of the tendons grizzling about the side levels, and my back spazzing out on me.
Hmmmmm…..
Inspiration! add lamms and treadles!
I started by cutting a support piece at the side, and bolting it to the side of the stand.
I used 2 angle brackets as the support for the lamms (with a little block to fill in excess space).
Then, I drilled holes in the lamms for cords to the levers and to the treadles.
I tied the lamms to the levers and was verrrrrrrry pleased! Things were moving along quite nicely!
There had to be a way of supporting and securing the treadles, so I used a board from an old pallet, and drilled 2 holes for the legs. Poifeck.
I had a 6 inch length of threaded 1/4 inch steel rod, which I ran through the treadles (which I had cut out of scrap lumber).
The treadles were too wide at first, so I cut dippsy doodles into them to make them fit better.
The most frustrating part of the whole process was finding nuts that would go onto the threaded rod. Grrrrrrrrr!
I finally ended up filing the ends of the rod, as I just couldn’t get anything to thread onto the rod. Once I did that, zip! on went 2 nuts, happy as can be.
I screwed the whole treadle mechanism to the crossboard on the floor, and tied the treadles to the lamms…..
and held my breath…… what if it didn’t work? eep….. that would have been 3 hours down the tubes….
BUT! Joy! and whee and halleujah! It works like a dream!
So, if you would like to have a floor loom, but don’t have the ca$h, watch for a table loom on the various online places, and convert a desk into a stand for it.
You’ll need to have some basic carpentry skills, and I couldn’t have managed drilling the holes through the sides of the treadles without a drill press, but I bet you could do it if you had to.
Here’s the video that I made about how to convert a computer desk into a loom stand with treadles:
Here are some notes to keep in mind if you would like to adapt my project for your table loom:
Things to look for in a desk or table that you want to use for a loom stand:
1: Being able to bolt or screw the lamm support piece along the left hand side of the table/desk legs is essential.
2: Being able to shorten the legs to drop the height of the table to a comfortable ergonomic height is also essential.
3: Being able to attach the loom to the table is one more essential. (Clamps? Zip ties? A channel like the one on mine was a piece of beautiful serendipity)
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