One of the things that I find so unique about Ruthie’s is that there are so many different types of looms! There are rigid heddle looms, counter balance looms, looms for rugs, an AVL dobby loom with 32 shafts…..the weaving possibilities are endless! Basically for any type of weaving project you have in mind, the chances are very high that you’ll find a loom that is the perfect fit. I’ve been with the studio for about a year now and each of my projects were woven on a different loom. Fun Fact: Some of the looms have names!
One of the looms at the studio is called Peter (after Peter Collingwood, prolific weaver and designer of the shaft switching loom for Harrisville Designs). It was my first time weaving with a shaft switching loom, and was quite the learning experience.
(Did you know? We have a wall hanging in the studio that was woven by the weaver himself!)
Peter explains the concept of shaft switching much more thoroughly in his books, The Techniques of Rug Weaving and Rug Weaving Techniques: Beyond the Basics, but the switch device that’s attached to the shafts essentially gives weavers the ability to assign groupings of ends to alternating shafts. In doing this, you can create block colorwork weaving with just 4 shafts. So when designing a woven fabric for this technique, you can create a chart with two colors per horizontal.
If you’re familiar with the concept of double knitting with a charted pattern, this is similar to the concept of weaving with shaft switching looms.
This shaft switching loom we have here in our studio is sturdy and great for rug weaving, and I’d love to explore weaving on this loom more!
Further Reading:
On Peter Collingwood, the weaver: https://www.petercollingwoodtextiles.com/about
The Techniques of Rug Weaving by Peter Collingwood (available at Ruthie’s Weaving Library)
Rug Weaving Techniques: Beyond the Basics by Peter Collingwood (available at Ruthie’s Weaving Library)