Author Archives: Ian Bowers

The Classification of Wool Fibres; count, staple length, crimp and lustre

Bluefaced Leicester Top - White

Four factors are considered in the classification of wool fibres; count, staple length, crimp and lustre: Count: The traditional classification of wool fibre was done using the ‘Bradford Count’ which represented the greatest length of yarn that could be spun from 1lb (454g) of the wool fibre. The fibre was spun into yarn which was […]

Weaving, Understanding the Shed

What is the shed in weaving

Understanding Weaving Loom Shed The shed is the space between raised and lowered warp threads in which the weft passes through. Floor looms have a range of mechanisms for creating the shed; each has its benefits and disadvantages. The shed shown in the image right demonstrates how the warp is lifted and separated. This small […]

Sleying the Reed with the Autodenter

Auto reed hooks | Autodenters

The autodenter is most helpful for sleying the reed when threading the warp onto the weaving loom back-to-front. You can work left-to-right or right-to-left across the reed, whichever your handedness prefers. The Autodenter Looking at the autodenter you will see that it is made of two distinct parts, a wooden handle with two short metal […]

Types of Weaving Loom

schacht-wolf

The range of looms featured on the George Weil website are built by skilled craftsmen from long established manufacturers. There are the GAV Glim¥kra AB looms from Sweden, the Louet looms from the Netherlands, the Schacht looms from America and the Ashford looms from New Zealand. The extended range of looms and other craft materials […]

Weaving and Knitting Yarns

Venne Merino Bio Wool Yarn

The value of a length of woven material lies primarily in the time taken in design, loom preparation, the weaving and the fabric finishing. The cost of the weaving yarn is generally a very small proportion of the final value. At first sight there is a huge range of yarns available to the hand loom […]

The Schacht End-Delivery Shuttle

Schacht End Delivery Shuttles

The Schacht End-Delivery Shuttle is designed especially and precisely for handweavers. It is lightweight, comfortable to throw and catch, adjustable to a variety of yarns, and easy to thread. The shuttle has a pirn which remains stationary, instead of a free-spinning bobbin. The weft yarn unwinds off the pirns tip when the shuttle is in […]