At the moment, the Feisty Studio also houses the large desk for the day job.
While there is ample room to move around and actually work at each of the four looms and the desk, it feels a bit stifling. To warp any of the looms, a few things must shift to get it done. If I stop in the middle of dressing a loom and step back, I find the entire room in disarray.
Originally, I thought it would be next summer before we would be able to remove a bed from the game room to relocate the desk; however, a change of events dictates the bed move in the next few weeks. Which means, of course, the desk will probably take up residence in the adjacent room between Christmas and New Year's!
I am thrilled!
Although, I freely admit I do enjoy working at the day job among my looms. The pool table does not give me the warm fuzzies as much as the looms and prepared hand dyed warps hanging on the wall do.
As well as the photo above, here is the view from the door to the studio:
Not surprisingly, the Beast dominates.
Amusingly, he has the narrowest of warps at the moment with 13-inches wide waffle weave wash cloths, but he was the one available when I needed to beam these. It is a testament to just how versatile he is. If I had to keep just one loom, hands down, it would be Beast. I bought him from his original owner near Tyler, Texas. He was built in 1976. I have his original invoice and shipping receipt, as well as two of the three original shuttles, which came with him. I gifted the third to a good friend of mine.
Behind him are Lil Miss at 32-inches and sweet Meg with her 24-inch weaving width.
Lil Miss (in my head, she has become known to me as Blair, aka Lil Miss Blair Macomber) began her life in 1968 as a teaching loom at Oregon School of Arts. Once she retired from there, she passed through a couple of people, until I bought her and had her shipped from Washington State.
She is an absolute doll and sports the cleanest and widest shed of all of them.
Meg was built in 1960, which makes her the smallest and most mature of the fleet. She started her life in New York City for a textile company. Once upon a time, Macomber offered upgrades of staining looms Mahogany. Unlike any of the other looms, she was originally outfitted with all eight-shafts and did not require additional units. She is the one I bought from a lovely lady in California. I flew to San Francisco, rented a SUV, picked her up, drove to LA, picked up my daughters from LAX, spent some time there, then we drove her back to South Texas.
Sweet and easy to treadle and weave, I find her the most efficient of all. Once we get going, tea towels literally fall off her.
Evangeline is the 40-inch six shaft loom who is the most recent addition to the family. She was purchased in 1980 to a lady in Lake Charles, Louisiana (less than an hour from where I grew up). This lady passed away in 1984. Her son kept her loom(s) and all of her weaving equipment. I bought everything from him in October, except the bench. His mother had woven the cover for a bench cushion for it and he wanted to keep it. In a month or two, her additional harnesses will arrive, and we will have her up to 8-shafts.
To the right of Evangeline is my day job desk. Once it is relocated to the game room, Evangeline will slide four or five feet to the right.
This next photo is where Evangeline sits now. It will revert back to the space where the warping mill (presently in the game room) and warping square will stand.
The warping square is presently hiding behind the Beast, which is not optimal, but as it is on casters, it is very easy to roll around the entire room. I am long overdue on a post devoted exclusively to the warping square, how to use it, and my thoughts on it. Soon...
In the meantime, this is what it looks like:
As the husband and I discussed the move last night, I revealed: "I think I am done. I was happy with three looms, but I am delighted with four. I do not honestly believe there will be any more looms."
He graced me with a skeptical smile and asked knowingly: "What other sizes does Macomber make that you don't have?"
Laughing, I replied: "48-inch, 64-inch, and 72-inch."
He raised an eyebrow.
"In fact," I smiled, "there is a 64-inch for sale in Kyle (about 20 minutes away) that has been available for a few months now. She has gone down in price from $2,400 to $2,200."
He considered the information and asked: "You have trouble weaving the full width of the Beast, don't you?"
He was correct. The Beast has a 54-inch weaving width. "Yes. I am not interested in that loom, especially as it is only 4-shaft; however, I did reach out to the seller. There is a Macomber bench I offered to buy from her."
He nodded.
I continued, "She was very nice but told me she wanted to keep them as a set."
"Do you need another bench?"
I have three benches upstairs for four looms, one is a Leclerc, the second is a Macomber, and the third is a small one he built for me to go with Meg. I could certainly pull a bench over to share with the fourth loom and said so; however, the OCD part of me would prefer to have a bench for each loom.
He did make a face when I explained all that, but asked sweetly: "What would you like for Christmas?"
I almost giggled. "If we ordered one right now, I doubt Macomber would have it ready for Christmas, but it would make a great birthday gift!"
My birthday is in June.
Nodding again, he told me: "Send me the information."
I know.
Not only am I richly blessed, but completely spoiled. I am also profoundly grateful.
Giddy with good fortune, I asserted: "I do not think I will be buying anymore looms."
Again, he gave me the skeptical look.
"Truly," I laughed, "at least not one I intend to keep."
For the record, I last bought a loom on October 1, 2020.
It has been 43 days since I last bought a loom...
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