Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom Historical Documents

         I am SO excited.  I sold the loom to a good friend and hand-spinner, so I know it will be well loved.  That is not really why I am SO excited though.  I am SO excited because the good friend and hand-spinner from whom I bought the loom originally is moving to Portland.  That part is sad, but leads to the exciting moment of her finding the paper-work about the Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom which she had promised to give me when she sold me the loom originally.

          It is funny as well as exciting because there seems to be a  history of delaying the forwarding of these documents--she handed them to me in an envelope addressed to her from the then previous owner with a note that says:

     I will have to include a similar note to the new owner! But FIRST I am going to scan and document these things, because when I searched the inter-webs I found nada/zilch/nuffin about these looms except for other people asking for information about them.  

    I think THIS note was from the previous, previous (previous) owner.  Susan Lilly still has a website, at weavingroom.com which I am going to go check out a little more closely very soon to read about her garment construction books, but back to the note:

       I visited the Historic Looms of America Website just now. While they do have much worthwhile information about historic looms, they do not have any information on the Arthur A. Allen Loom posted. I imagine it is just too small a company to have been prioritized as of yet. Hence, I am going to attempt to scan it for you.* I will do it page by page, as I think it will be too small to see in its adorable original 7" x 11" folded into thirds size.  

 

 

 

It really just explains how to warp it.  The rest is up to you. Hurrah!  Golly gee, it never occurred to me to fold it to make reaching the heddles easier while warping.

I have been saving the best for last.  Well, actually I am saving the best until I can go to the library tomorrow and see if I can find this on microfilm to get a complete copy.  This article appears to have appeared in the Sunday Oregonian Magazine in August 1944.  The last bit is missing front this copy, and it is pretty poorly reproduced here, so let's cross our fingers and just check out this teaser:

Hurrah, indeed! 

Hmm just found this link to Popular mechanics as well. Now, there's a rabbit hole....

*No copyright infringement at all is intended.  I suspect I am in the clear, as this is pretty old, and I am surely not making any money from this, but thought I should mention that.

Weaving Around

          Sooooo, I just purposely deleted a half-finished (incredibly funny, of course) post from 5 months ago. It was all about those dishtowels I showed you the wound warp pictures of.  Since then I can hardly believe how many projects I have done on my lovely, mid-century vintage Arthur A. Allen folding floor loom.  Which brings me to a big sigh.

SIGH

          I need to sell it.  The good news is that it is because I love weaving so much that I have purchased a different loom.  I am hoping that I have moved up a mini-notch on the loom ladder and not just betrayed my one true love.  Time will tell.

SIGH

          So this post is going to be all about how I have improved and woven on this loom for my exciting first year of discovery of weaving around the weaving world. It may well need to turn into several posts. Or if I do manage it all at once, feel free to skim and/or read it over several visits!

SIGH
   
          I bought this loom and immediately signed up for a 3 day intermediate weaving class at fiber arts retreat called Fiber In The Forest, run by the local weaving shop, The Eugene Textile Center.  I figured I had better whip something out pretty quickly at home in Rose Cottage before driving into the wilds of Oregon with it to be sure I could get the thing to function at all!

Weaving Tips I learned from this project:

*Handwoven dish-towels are 110% better than store-bought.

*I love weaving!

In the collage below, look at the pictures counterclockwise starting with the cones of yarn on the stairs

Weaving tips I learned from this project: 

*You can take apart your teeny warping board and screw it to your fence to make it larger. 

 *You can also use it to hold your reed on a table to sley the reed.

 *Using 2 very different threads in your warp is extremely difficult because they would be happier with different tensions. 

*Doubleweave weaving is difficult, but fun.  

*You CAN do a 3/1 treading on this loom even though it is counterbalance, but you have to watch the shed carefully (especially if you can't get the tension tight enough). 

*Madelyn VanDerHooght is an excellent teacher.

*This loom needed a little TLC and rehabilitation.

      So, upon return from Fiber in The Forest I set about the beginning of the loom rehabilitation.  Overall it was in great shape, but the wax cotton cords for the treadle tie ups, roller bars/harness hangers were gross and hard to handle.  Also, the brake didn't work very well, which really contributed to my tension problems.  Over the course of the year I managed to fix all of those things to my great satisfaction (just in time to sell it). This collage makes it look like it was all really fast, but it took several projects to identify problems, a lot of head scratching, trips to various shops and plenty of help with tool loans and a second set of hands from my handy husband.

Arthur A. Allen Counterbalance Loom Rehabilitation Tips:

*Don't try super-gluing sandpaper around your back beam to increase friction on the friction brake. It helps for about 5 minutes, then you can't get it off easily.

*Heater hose from your local funky auto parts store is the perfect replacement for the rubber tubing.

*Use a couple of zip-ties to replace the wax-string wrapping that keeps the tube bent around the bolt (you'll understand this only if you are actually rehabilitating one of these).

*Attach the brake tubing to the spring with a tiny cheap something that opens--try various size carabiners--to get the exact right tension and make it easy to remove rather than lashing the darn thing through the spring-end-hole (again, this will only make sense if you really need it to)

*You don't need little plastic connectors for Texsolv cords.  Use loops (see top center) and the holes.

* I re-inforce sewed the apron/wavy metal rod then lashed on a hollow 1/2" aluminum rod cut to length for a normal apron rod (you can see a tiny end of it sticking out of the cardboard by the brake)  You could remove the canvas aprons, but I like to keep as much intact on vintage things as possible.

*It's worth it and you feel good about yourself when you accomplish little mechanical tasks.

          Wow, I feel like I am starting to weave around nearly literally after staring at the computer screen so long.  Perhaps now is a good time to pause and publish. Given my previous record on "coming right back" to the blog, perhaps I should end with one shot of the loom in full, just in case I don't make it back super soon. If you have any specific questions about any of these things, shoot me a comment!

Now, wouldn't she look cute in YOUR craft space?

Fleece out,

LauraRose