Does anyone know of a good source for information on weaving letters on an inkle loom?
My favorite resource is Helene Bress' book, Inkle Weaving which is available on Amazon HERE.
I know Daryl Lancaster sells a monograph on her website HERE that is all about weaving on an inkle loom and includes weaving words and letters. I have not personally seen it but have heard her monographs are pretty good.
There is a weaving words article on Weavezine by Lillian Whipple HERE but it's on a 4-shaft loom.
Hope that helps.
You can weave these kinds of letters on an inkle loom.
If you use red weft you won't have the black spots. You get longish floats on the back though. I will be doing a tutorial on this on my blog next week.
Claudia, Thanks so much for responding to my question. I have seen Helen Bress' book, but the illustrations were not real clear, and in following the directions, I was getting longer floats on the front, and couldn't tell from the picture if this was correct or not. I remember seeing examples of letters before, but didn't remember the floats on the front. It is my first inkle project, so didn't know whether to chalk it up to inexperience, not interpreting directions correctly or . So I thought that having it explained by another source might help. I will look up the other resources you mentioned.
Laverne, I like the letter style shown in your photo much better than the letters in the Bress book. I will be following your tutorial next week with much interest. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to respond.
This is the lettering I really want to do.
This band was done by my Guarani friend here in Santa Cruz. You don't get long floats on the back. It requires two sets of string heddles so may be awkward to do on an inkle loom. Probably not advisable for a first time ever inkle experience. The technique creates quite a thick band. I am going to ask my friend to make a band for me with all the letters of the alphabet so I will have something to copy. I understand the technique but haven't devised an ideal way to chart the patterns as yet.
You can weave very nice letters using tablet (card) weaving. The book has the delightful title, Please Weave a Message. The author is Linda Hendrickson
I like to use an inkle loom with my cards. Linda does beautiful work so please take a look at her website.
Laverne, those are some great letters, but way beyond me at this point. Thanks for showing them. It is always good to see other things, and have some goals to strive toward.
Bonnie, I have met Linda and have purchased the cards and the book you mentioned, but have not done any card weaving yet. You have, however, got my attention when you mentioned you can use cards with the inkle loom. Can you tell me more about that? That sounds very interesting.
When I started card (tablet) weaving, I used a backstrap to provide warp yarn tension. However I had a small child at the time and I often had to put the cards down quickly. I was frustrated by the need to rearrange the cards so frequently and I already had an inkle loom. I just put the cards where my heddles had been on the inkle loom. Later I built a larger, floor-standing narrow loom for weaving bands. Most of the time, that loom is warped with cards. It lives in our mountain cabin and I use it for demonstrations. The cards stay in place quite well but I tie something aroung the pack before moving the loom in a car. I have also put cards on a normal inkle loom. The take-up with cards is greater than that with inkle weaving but my looms have a peg with wing-nut that works well. Bonnie
Thanks Bonnie. I am definitely going to do some exploring and experimenting.
Laverne, I just read your blog on lettering. Thanks so much. It was very helpful.
Handwoven magazine May/June 1999 pages 38-41 has instructions for letters using an inkle loom and a pick-up technique by Ann Brophy. I hope this helps.
Thanks!! I know our guild will have a copy of that issue. I really appreciate the help.
I have a copy of Daryl Lancaster's monograph and it is good. There is also a book by Lavinia Bradley called Inkle Weaving which has the letters charted out for you.
Annie, is there a place I can find Daryl Lancaster's monograph? I have borrowed Lavinia Bradley's book from our guild library have been going through that. The charted letters are good.
Daryl sells her monographs on her website HERE. And, you can PM her on Weavo HERE.
Thanks for repeating the link, Claudia. There is a difference between the way that Lavinia Bradley and Daryl Lancaster show the woven letters.
In Bradley's book, she uses a checkerboard background, and Lancaster uses horizontal bars. I have tried both and find the bars to be preferable. Some of the letters are more easily formed on this pattern and overall the letters come out looking neater, too.
I guess I'd better get busy and post some photos of my bands here. In the meantime, many examples can be found on Flickr here.http://www.flickr.com/photos/aspinnerweaver/sets/72157617973326702/
I have ordered the monograph. Thanks for the helpful information!!
Annie, I just saw your flickr photos. Some very great weaving! Love those straps/belts etc. Thanks for your help.
Thanks. I will look forward to seeing pictures of your woven words!
What kind of inkle looms do you use for your lettering? Thanks!
Trina- My family of inkle looms currently includes 7 looms, three of which are Schachts. For a view and comparison of these, look here. As you may guess, the Schachts are the ones that get used the most.
Annie, I am sort of new to weaving. just sold my Dorothy Table Loom (4 shaft) because of shoulder pain when warping. Truth be told, I am a mess at warping. That's why I think an inkle loom is the best chance for me (since the warping is done right on the loom). I can't give up weaving, since I am new to it. I loved making dishtowels with 8/2 unmercerized cotton, but didn't even get to keep one for myself!! I had shoulder pain for 4 months and had to quit until the pain went away. I used to spin but gave that up when I became a mom---feared she would get her fingers in the maidenhead and it would be disastrous. I spun for several years prior, did demos, but NOTHING beats the therapy of weaving! I did get a one castle loom from www.lucets.com, but didn't like that the selvages were so ripply. I didn't experience that on the table loom and it did cause me to say forget it to the card weaving. Still, the card weaving was fascinating. I am obviously new to this group; I am wondering if the Northwest Inkle loom is a better choice than the Schacht. I had a Schacht wheel and none of the others came close to it in quality of wood and ease of spinning. What do you think? I do want to continue demos as I teach el. education. I know the Northwest Loom would keep my threads from falling off. AND I do tend to beat HARD and have a ton of tension. I would value your ideas, or anyones, as I have no one in my area who weaves. Thank you so much for your assistance. mary
Mary, I have shoulder pain, too. If you decide to try again, there are a variety of ways to make a warp for a shaft loom and often one of them will work better for your body. A horizontal warping reel (warping mill) will allow you to not raise your arm, which can help shoulder pain when warping. A warping wheel or sectional warping are also different motions from a warping board. One student I had just used the tops of chairs and walked back and forth between them.
Anything you can do to cut the time spent warping will also help. Warping with 2 or more threads at a time, winding a warp that is twice as long and half as wide will cut the time spent drastically. Using a reel allows me to make the same warp 2-3x faster than I can do it on a board.
The Dorothy is also one of the hardest looms on the hand and shoulder used to operate the levers. A floor loom, which puts half the work onto the feet, will help the stress on the upper body. A bench at the right height can also ease shoulder pain greatly.
There's also the time-honored tradition of taking on an apprentice. Find a kid who really wants to learn to weave and trade winding warps for teaching/weaving time on your loom. I had a wonderful Korean high school girl work with me for three years. It was fun for both of us and a way to pass along the craft. I know you are a beginner, but learning together can also be fun.
If you tell us where you are, someone may know of a weaver near you who could help with ergonomic issues, or let you try several looms and warping methods. Good luck!
