Hi,

I've been making great progress using Jane's videos to learn to weave on my Glimakra floor loom. i'm also much more confident using my loom than when i started. However i still resist weaving true "samples" because it just seems like a lot of setup work to produce, well, a "sample." i know i'm not alone in this. But i've been wondering if there is an significantly easier/faster way to produce useful samples by using a smaller loom. So, for example, i started wondering whether I could get a Jane 15" loom really just for the purpose of making quick samples. But i'm not at all sure whether it's really easier/faster to dress a table loom versus my floor loom. of course I wouldn't have to tie up my treadles, but at least for now, almost all of my treadling is twill or plain weave, and i keep those six pedals tied up most of the time. I can see that there would be a savings in loom waste (my current loom wastes at least 18" at the back and however much i use to tie on in front (maybe 8-10"). But I really don't think that saving a few dozen yards of yarn is enough of a reason to use a table loom for this purpose. Especially when compared to the expense of getting the table loom. I could just use the savings to buy more yarn. But having said all of that, if i could MATERIALLY improve the speed and ease of generating a sample, I can see how it would be a useful thing to be able to do, and worth the cost of the extra loom (I may be just rationalizing acquisition of another toy, but i'm not entirely against that). So i'm asking the hive mind (and Jane, if you're listening) whether i''m barking up the wrong tree, the right tree, or if anyone has any experience solving (or failing to solve) this conundrum. Thanks. End of rant.

John, I am totally with you on the samples thing. I can't bring myself to warp David to try something out. Then maybe have to rethread or, whatever to get something better or just different. I guess maybe we are impatient. But, like you say, there is the waste issue, too.

Someone here (that's YOU dear Cheryl, 🤣) has been trying her best to convince me to get a Jane. I would love to have one to dedicate to smaller weavings, but right now I can't justify the $2,000 ish amount. My David is only a year old and it cost quite a bit because I got the 110cm. If a Jane fell into my lap though I wouldn't complain. 😉🥰

Ha ha Deb! I love my Jane. I also have another 8 harness table loom that I love. In addition to being fast to warp with minimal waste, not that my David 3 is wasteful, it is convenient to NOT have tie ups to mess with, and I can have more than one project going at a time!

🥰🤗
I’m saving up. And seriously thinking of selling my practically new Kromski 32” rigid heddle. 🤔

Instead of the gamps or samples, I make tea towels by expanding the width of the samples and if need be, changing the set. Then I have a useful product. It works for me.

I have woven samples on my Woolhouse table loom …. but it’s 23” wide. You can weave more quickly using your treadles on your floor loom. I tend to put more complicated structures on my David and plain weave or twill on my Woolhouse. Currently I’ve got a project on my David using 40/2 linen as warp and weft. The treadling is a bit more complicated so it goes on this loom. I also have another warp waiting to go on the Woolhouse - my own colourway of the Crammed and Dented Eco Jeans scarves. Both looms are happy with their projects 😏. BTW - I save all my thrums for a friend who has done some beautiful weaving using them tied into weft! Soooo - my answer is “it depends” - if you are a relatively new weaver, then I’d probably go through a few seasons before investing in a table loom.

I concur with all these replies. I have tried a Jane which I sold and now I'm trying to offload my LeClerc Voyageur. I just don't have the table space and I can't take up more of the house. DH tried not to be give me the side eye when I took over the dining table. I don't think he found it to be the most dynamic conversationalist.;)

You could look about for a used table loom or even rent one to try out--is there a guild near you who could let you try one out?.--maybe even one of the smaller floor looms like the wolf series.

The one thing I thought was interesting about the table loom was the flexibility of lifting the levers vs. tying up and changing tie-ups. Also, if you have hip issues, you wouldn't have to press treadles.

Cheryl,

Cheryl,

Thank you for this response., which of all the many comments (thank you all!) comes closest to answering my question. So when you say it is “fast to warp” is it really appreciably faster than a floor loom, such that it might make me more inclined to do my sampling? Do you use any special tricks or techniques to do the warping on such a small loom? From watching videos it looks like the same procedure as on my floor loom. Another commenter did point out that one can actuall
Johny WEAVE faster on a treadle loom, but for sampling purposes it seems that the time savings of the treadles is rather cancelled out by the (1) brevity of a sample and (2) the likelihood that some variation in the treadling will be part of many samples, and if you are crawling under the floor loom to redo the tieup, then it seems to me the advantage of the table loom is even clearer. Any further thoughts? Thanks.

( for some reason i couldn't load this comment as a direct reply to your comment)

I think the thing that makes it so easy to warp my Jane is that I can pick her up and move her around the room, so I don't have to warp from the same corner I weave in. I can move her over to the couch while I'm putting threads in the raddle, I can use the long side of the room for beaming, and then once all the running around the loom is finished, I can move her back to the window and thread the heddles.

Weaving is a little slower than on a floor loom, but I've had my Jane for almost 10 years and I'm pretty fast now. Not as fast as with treadles, but my fingers can pick out patterns (especially plainweave) without me thinking about them. It's also so nice to not have to worry about having enough treadles. The samples are slow weaving anyways, I really enjoy working through them carefully.

John, I agree with what Rebecca posted. I use the Lofty Fiber raddle which is has a version made for the Jane loom (1/4 inch increments and taller dividers between each increment). and their lease stick holder system. Also, I do not chain my warp off of the warping reel. I tie my lease cross like Jane does, and add choke ties.

I simply drop the warp into a plastic bucket slowly as it unreels. I either use "yank and crank" method for winding on the warp, or simply stretch the warp out from the front of the loom with books placed on the end. As Rebecca states, it's easy to move the Jane to a position in my living room where there are no obstructions while doing this.

I have a sectional warp beam on my David 3 so warping is a completely different process.

Also, I have stenciled big 1-8 numbers on both sides of my levers on my table looms, so it's always fast and easy to identify which levers to use. Also, you don't lower every harness when you change sheds...just the ones that need to be lowered...so most of the time, I'm lowering only one or two, and raising one or two new ones. Very easy.

I love floor and table loom weaving...but guess which one I was able to use when I had my hip replaced until the hip had healed??

I don’t think a table loom is faster to sample on at all and was glad to sell mine and get a baby wolf in addition to my giant rug loom. Since I started as a rigid heddle weaver (and still am) I’ve direct warped my baby wolf with a short warp, eliminating the warping reel and that was faster and easier. With a narrow sample, it’s easier to thread the floor loom than the tight space of a table loom , so it’s quick and easy.

Interesting and useful insight Heidi. Thanks. I had not considered the tight quarters.

Another thing I am wondering is whether the fact that a jack loom (such as a table loom) is a rising shed loom and im used to the sinking shed of my countermarche, though i supposei its a simple matter of reversing the lift plan/ tie up plan.

Cheryl and Rebecca thanks for providung so much detail. These flexibility techniques seem like they mike make dressing the loom more pleasant even if not a great deal faster, and that could well make me more willing to “do my homework” in terms of sampling. Very much appreciate everyones advice and experiences.

Good luck with your decision making John...also, I don't find my table looms any more difficult to thread than my David 3.

I will add....and I hope not to insult anyone with an Ashford table loom...I had zero experience with Ashfords until helping a brand new weaver get her first warp beamed, threaded etc., on her new Ashford 24" 4 harness table loom. I disliked it (didn't say that to her) and would not recommend this loom. Also, it had a tiny shed. If this had been my only experience with a table loom, I would probably have never bought another one.

Good to know! As you know, Cheryl, I came very close to getting an Ashford table loom. So glad I got my David floor loom instead.