I’ve been wanting to try backstrap weaving pretty much since I first heard about it. And yesterday, inspired by this lovely lady’s blog and guided by her article on WeaveZine, I finally did it!
This is my uber-basic loom, made from three dowels, a pillow case, and a bunch of string. Oh, and a little plastic ruler. Total actual money output: $10 for the dowels. Could have been only $5, but I wanted them to be a bit longer than the 16″ I’d have gotten if I only bought one.
Though I guess that will change tomorrow when I go shopping for yarn to make my first real project – a proper back strap.
I had a bit of trouble controlling the tension at first, but I think I’ve got it mostly figured out now.
Not bad, eh? It took about two hours, from warping to setting up the loom to weaving about a foot. Then I realized it was past my bedtime, so I had to stop.
The other cool thing is it fits right in with my sculpture class this semester, which is on “re-skilling” and walking the line between art and craft (basically my life, art-wise), which means that I can get academic credit for something I’d be doing anyways!
Tags: backstrap weaving, Weaving
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