Whispering Eagle

Wow, they are very beautiful, Debbie...

Whispering Eagle

lshields

On the subject of bead spacing. I have started putting in a row of beads and locating them where the spring used to be. I do both ends of the loom that way. I try to select beads that are slightly on the small size. This means that the beads are held in place by the warp threads until you get the woof thread run back through the beads.

My question
I have a small loom of only 33 inches long without means to spool out the thread at one and and spool up the bead work on the other end.
The question is How do you join two pieces together end to end to make a true belt enough to go around me at 44 inches?
I think I will rebuild my home made loom so that it does have the spooling option.

freesiasunn

I have a Mirrix Loom that I have been beading on. For me it is complex and hard to use. I am thinking of buying a new loom and was wondering if any of you have good ideas for a table top or lap loom.

I have now listed the Mirrix "Big Sister" Loom on ebay, just search "Mirrix Looms" if you are interested.

Thank you,

Debbie

Mezzobean

Freesiasunn, those are very beautiful pieces! Did you buy ready-made leather guitar straps (with the fasteners) or are they custom made?

freesiasunn

Thank you very much! They are ready made guitar straps!

BeadMan

First of all forget about joining two pieces together. Looms can be made for next to nothing and it will be much better for you to just make one long enough for your project. The Mirrix loom looks terrible to me. My experience has been the nicer a loom looks, the worse it is at it's job. My looms are all made from scrap wood from the garage, and I would have to say the beadwork that comes off of them isn't half bad. I use wooden dowel rod so that they are adjustable. A hose clamp keeps the moving end in place.

I also hate the spooling function you mention. Getting even tension on those is next to impossible. By the time you got the loom set up I would be half way finished with a project on my loom. Just make a long enough loom. I have extensions for my looms that will allow me to go as long as I want. Here are some pictures, sorry if I have posted these before, I forget.

Attached Images

	BeadLooms01.jpg (16.6 KB, 52 views)
	BeadLooms02.jpg (20.6 KB, 48 views)
	BeadLooms03.jpg (17.1 KB, 47 views)

lshields

The problem is that both sections have already been made.
One is alread mounted on red trade wool which is then mounted on lambs wool hide.
Now how do I joint then together.

I too Make my own looms. My looms originally had no metal at all. Sort of like our ancestors would use. I do rig mine with the spring but that is only to hold the strings in alignment until I get a row of 'spacer' beads at each end.

freesiasunn

You are so right BeadMan, the spooling takes longer because the threads tangle, sometimes I would get it warped and the bar would fall leaving the warp thread in a huge knot. It seemed to take longer to set the thing up then it did to bead it...Well that was my learning experience...thank you for the ideas!!!

Debbie

spottedeagle

Beautiful work Freesiasunn!!!
For those of you who know us, I can't believe I'm saying this.....Beadman and I agree on something.
Deffinatley make your own loom!!!! Even if I don't have scrap wood laying around and have to go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy my materials: wood, threaded rod, screws, nails. I can build a loom for $20 or less. I also notice for the pics we both use threaded rod to hold our threads. I think one mine I used 1/4" threaded rod, does a great job and it won't move or stretch like a spring. The only difference I see is I didn't make mine adjustable. I just thow down a big long heavy piece of wood and screw shorter pieces of the same material into the sides. But maybe the next one I make I might have to go with an adjustable loom.

__________________
The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now.
-Daryl Baldwin: Miami

Mezzobean

Hi Beadman - I don't know whether you've posted your loom pictures before but I've never seen them. I was really interested to see the hose clamps for keeping the dowels where you want them as I've wondered how to do that- what a great idea!

BeadMan

Look again SpottedEagle! The larger loom is my main one, that I produce about 90% of my stuff on. The spacers are not all thread rod, but door springs. There is a metal rod inside holding it in place. The spacing is EXACT for size 11/o beads, that's why I love it so much. The smaller long loom has all thread that is perfect spacing fot 13/o, and the little bitty one is just for teaching beadwork classes, I never use that one.

Anyone who has threaded up a loom before will appreciat ethe close-up of the end of the loom. The black marks indicate every 5 beads. I just start threading and it is super easy and super fast to count how many rows I have so far. So this piece was 39 beads wide. Count for yourself.

Another little known fact about my main loom, since I do so so so so much work on it I get tired of cutting the knots off th elittle nails every time I do a piece. So I always tie to the big nail at the bottom, you can see the buildup of thread. I have to cut it away after a month of two though.

BeadMan

In responce to the question about joining two pieces together. There is no easy way to do it and make it look nice. Having a backing will help. You could just mount them both to the same piece real close and try to disguise the gap.

You can also try to hand sew the two pieces together, like doing running stitch but not adding beads, just sewing the beads on the end of one piece onto the other. Does that make sence? This really depends on the bead and thread size you used. You will have to pass through the beads 2-3 more times, so if the thread is thick it may not work.

If I understood right this is a belt, right? What about making a fake beaded buckle to decoratively cover the gap. If that is possible that would be the way to go. Hopw this helps some.

lshields

Thanks BeadMan for your input.
What you said confirms the way I was thinking. The first section is about 33 inches long and the second section is about 12 inches long. Bit long for a buckle. I will have to put the actual fastener on one hip. Since the lambs wool backing is tubular in shape I can run a leather belt with buckle inside of it and then slide the ends together and use hooks and eyes to keep them closed.
This will be the very second piece of regalia for me. I'm an old guy but a fledgling Native American. My first piece is my medicine bag which I beaded an owl onto.

Maybe before I die I will be accepted by some tribe an honorary member, the only way left for this old man to go.

chuggins

Let me start by saying I have never beaded anything in my life. My son is a Boy Scout and in the Order of the Arrow. His scoutmaster has been putting together the regalia they need in order to perform ceremonies. I thought I'd try to help by learning to do some beading. I've read a lot of books in the last week, and I've read through tons of posts here. I bought most of the stuff to build a loom last night, based on the pictures provided by Beadman. Can you tell me--What exactly is a door spring, and where would I go to find one? Do they come in different sizes? Thanks for any help you can offer.

lshields

Beadman has a nice loom.

A door spring is just that a spring that is used to close a door. But I have found that at Home depot and/or Lowe’s hardware stores there are better springs that meet our needs.

A door spring is about 20 inches long and you need to cut it to length. Instead I found that there are some 3 1/2 inch springs, 2 to a bag, and of just the right diameter that fills the bill.
You will need four screws and 4 washers to attach the springs.
By getting the 'two in a bag' set all you need to do is poke a small starter hole and then put a washer on the screw and pass the point of the screw through one of the ends and into the wood.
With the screen door spring you will need to cut the spring to length.
You will place one spring at each end of the loom. The springs act as spacers and keep the long strings from becoming a tangled mess. The size of spring could be determined by the size of the bead you are using. But it is just as easy to use a spring with a smaller diameter wire and just skip over every other coil when you are using a larger bead.
Have fun.

chuggins

Okay, I understand. It's like those springs that used to get me in trouble as a kid by slamming the door. In your opinion, do the springs work better than the threaded rods?