The loom framework: building a cardboard or stick loom

1The frame that makes weaving possible

Try weaving with loose threads on a table and they slide everywhere. A loom solves this. Every loom, from a notched piece of card to the large treadle looms used in textile workshops, does two jobs: it holds the warp tight, and it keeps the warp threads evenly spaced. If you build the loom well, weaving becomes easy; if the warp is slack or uneven, no amount of care will make the weaving straight. Think of the inanga: its single long string is laced back and forth across the wooden trough, evenly spaced and tight. A loom's warp is set up in much the same way.

2Key vocabulary

• Loom frame: the rigid part of the loom that the warp is stretched across.
• Notches or nails: the small cuts in card, or nails in a wooden bar, that hold each warp thread in place.
• Warp spacing: the distance between neighbouring warp threads. Thick weft needs wide spacing (about 1 cm); fine yarn needs close spacing (about 0.5 cm).
• Tension: how tightly a thread is stretched.

3Make it: a cardboard loom

You need: a piece of stiff card about 20 cm × 25 cm (the back of an exercise book or a box), a ruler, a pencil, scissors, tape and cotton string.

1. Draw a line 1 cm in from the top edge and another 1 cm in from the bottom edge.
2. Along each line, mark a dot every 1 cm, starting 2 cm in from the side. Make sure the top and bottom dots line up exactly.
3. Cut a notch about 1 cm deep from the edge to each dot.
4. Tape the end of the string to the back of the card. Bring it through the first top notch, straight down the front to the first bottom notch, round the back to the second bottom notch, and straight up the front to the second top notch.
5. Continue until every notch is filled. Tape the last end on the back.
6. Check: the front shows straight, parallel warp threads; the back shows only short loops between neighbouring notches. Pluck each warp: all of them should feel equally firm.

4Make it: a stick loom

You need: four straight, dry sticks (bamboo or eucalyptus), two about 40 cm long and two about 30 cm long, sisal twine, small nails and a hammer (ask your teacher for help), and cotton string.

1. Lay the sticks in a rectangle with the long sticks on top of the short ones at the corners.
2. Lash each corner tightly with sisal twine, winding it diagonally across the joint in both directions, then round the middle to pull it tight.
3. Check that the corners are square (see the worked example below).
4. Hammer small nails every 1 cm along the top bar and the bottom bar, leaving each nail standing up by about 1 cm.
5. Tie the string to the first top nail, take it down to the first bottom nail, round it, up to the second top nail, and so on, zigzagging across. Tie off at the last nail.

Worked example 1: is the frame square?

Byiringiro's stick frame measures 30 cm by 40 cm on the inside. He measures the two diagonals, corner to corner: one is 52 cm, the other is 48 cm. When all four corners are square, the two diagonals are equal; for a 30 cm by 40 cm rectangle they are both 50 cm. So his frame leans. He pushes gently on the two corners at the ends of the long diagonal until both diagonals read 50 cm, then tightens the lashing.

Worked example 2: how many warp threads?

Uwase wants a weaving 12 cm wide with warps 1 cm apart. Many students answer 12, but count the gaps: 12 cm holds 12 gaps of 1 cm, and each gap needs a warp on both sides. The first warp is at 0 cm and the last at 12 cm, so she needs 13 warp threads and 13 notches at the top and 13 at the bottom. This is the same rule you use for fence posts.

5Look closely

This tapestry is still on its frame loom. At the top and bottom you can see the bare cream warp threads stretched between the bars, evenly spaced like the strings of an inanga. In the woven part the weft has been pressed down so closely that it hides the warp completely.

Practice