Weaving Goodwill
Last fall, when I acquired the little Leclerc Dorothy table loom (Lola) and rehabbed her, one of the many things I did was remove her wire heddles and replace them with inserted eye heddles.
As I have done in the past, I offered them for free in one of the Facebook weaving groups. A lady commented she would like to have them, and I asked her for her address.
She lived in San Antonio, and I work there.
I suggested we meet to transfer them, and she came by my office one afternoon, I gave her the heddles, we chatted, and I made a friend.
We friended each other on Facebook and have kept up with one another since then.
As to the little Leclerc, other than a set of place mats, I really have not done much with her.
One of the issues in using her is her levers are difficult to engage, especially as I prefer high tension on the warp when weaving.
A second problem is the narrowness of her shed. My regular Schacht shuttles do not fit well, so I have had to use a stick shuttle to weave.
A couple months ago, someone had a pair of old antique maple Hammett shuttles with wooden bobbins for sale at a good price. They were tiny.
Here are the photos from the original listing:
I scooped them up.
They were perfect for Lola!
As I have done in the past, I offered them for free in one of the Facebook weaving groups. A lady commented she would like to have them, and I asked her for her address.
She lived in San Antonio, and I work there.
I suggested we meet to transfer them, and she came by my office one afternoon, I gave her the heddles, we chatted, and I made a friend.
We friended each other on Facebook and have kept up with one another since then.
As to the little Leclerc, other than a set of place mats, I really have not done much with her.
One of the issues in using her is her levers are difficult to engage, especially as I prefer high tension on the warp when weaving.
A second problem is the narrowness of her shed. My regular Schacht shuttles do not fit well, so I have had to use a stick shuttle to weave.
A couple months ago, someone had a pair of old antique maple Hammett shuttles with wooden bobbins for sale at a good price. They were tiny.
Here are the photos from the original listing:
I scooped them up.
They were perfect for Lola!
The only thing, I only had one bobbin for each shuttle.
These bobbins were wee tiny and much smaller than the standard 4” ones, which fit the Schacht 11” shuttles I have.
I was not sure what, if anything, I was going to do about it until my new friend in San Antonio posted on FB some things she had made with her 3D printer.
Now, I do hate to ask people for things. My question to her was whether she was interested in bartering some handwoven tea towels for a few bobbins.
We discussed measurements, and I provided the best I could from the wooden bobbins.
A few days passed, and she sent a few photos.
I was so thrilled!
I sent her two tea towels and a postage prepaid priority shipping envelope.
A couple of days later, ten bobbins appeared. And, they fit perfectly!! Yay!!
Now, Lola has a pair of new shuttles with plenty of bobbins!
Weavers are the best!
Hopefully, she is about to acquire a stand, as well.
A while ago, there was a listing on FB for this loom and stand.
I obviously did not need the loom, but the stand was $100.
New they are $230.
I inquired regarding shipping.
A lady was posting it for a friend who was not on FB, the friend’s son was drafted to handle the shipping, and then the shelter-in-place thing happened.
This morning, the son contacted me and said he was “circling back around” to see if I were still interested.
I am.
I truly know nothing about him, but there is nothing more attractive than a take charge man.
He had me at “I will come up with a plan!”
Hopefully, Lola will soon have legs!
Comments