Introduction to Loom Work

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 10:55 AM

Well I think I have everything ready to go so I'm going to start the intro. There are lot of people more qualified than me to do this introduction, but I have the time, so guess I'm gonna do it. I would appreciate all the input the more experienced loom works would like to toss in here. I may also have a little trouble resizing things so I might have to e-mail some pics to a few of you so I can pull this off. But I'm gonna give it my best shot.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 11:00 AM

I use a program called beadesigner 1.0 to come up with designs. I put a link in a couple other threads and I also put a thread of the link on here a while back. I really like the program and think it's a lot easier to use and to change than using paper and colored pencils. For the sake of keeping things simple and quick I did a small design. Something like you would use on a bracelet.
The key thing to remeber when making a design is it is simplest to use an odd number of rows. That is the normal rule and the way I was taught. This will keep you pattern centered. But it is possible to use an even number of rows for certain things. Depends on what you are beading! Rules are always ment to be broken, or at least bent on ocassion.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 11:40 AM

The next thing I'm going to cover, which I probally should have done is how to make a loom. You can either order one, I did this for the loom I'm using in this thread. I ordered it from Crazy Crow, to just get me started. It's an adjustable loom. I don't suggest ordering one though, they are so simple to make a nice loom. Ordering one is just Wasting your money!!!!! Since I saw how one was made, now I build my own. Cost to make a loom is anywhere from $5 to $25 depending on the size of your loom and how nice you make it. Which depends on what your going to use it for.
The loom I recently made, I'm using to make belts. It is made out of 2x8 oak and is 4 feet long. I wanted something strong, since I tend to string my loom a little tight. I didn't want something that was going to be rocking back and forth as I'm trying to bead.
For smaller projects a 2x4 or 1x4 would work just fine.
The way I build a loom is get my wood. Decide on a length I want. Normal size of stuff you are gonna work on. Let's just say 2 foot for length. So I cut a piece 2 foot long and 2 pieces about 8 inches long for the sides. put the side against the base and screw it together using (3 to 5) 1 1/2" wood screws. After the sides are screwed on I use a couple heavy duty staples, like they use for barbed wire fences to nail down a piece of 1/4" threaded rod across the top of each side. I put a 1/2" wood screw int he center top of the side and 2 small nails on the sides. Do the other side and it's ready to start stringing.
You can also make an adjustable loom by drilling holes in the sides of smaller sections of wood and add ing wooden dowels. Or do like I do. When I need to change the side of my loom, I uncrew the sides, get a longer or shorter piece of wood and screw it back together. The other option is to build another loom.

This might sound a little complicated, but once you see the pick, you'll have no problem building one.

I'm going to stop this thread here until I can get the pictures resized. Then I'll continue.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 06:40 PM

Here is the pattern that I'm going to do for this thread. Sorry it's a little off because I'm having a hard time resizing things, but it will give you the basic idea. It is similar to a repetitive pattern I used when I was first learning loomwork.

As soon as I can get the resizing problem fixed or get a little help resizing everything I'll continue this.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 07:45 PM

Well I think I might have fixxed the problem with resizing. I hope. Here are some pics of the the loom to give you an idea how I put mine together.
The first shows one end. If you look at the top part of the side you can see the screw and on the sides, small nails. These are for stringing the loom. I normally use the center screw. But on large pieces you can use the nails on the sides to hold the threads as well as the center screw. This will help ensure your threads stay nice and tight.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 07:47 PM

This is a top view of the end to show how I used the threaded rod and how I attached it to the wood.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 09:18 PM

Now we are ready to actually get started. Two qick terms before we get started. Warp threads are the threads strung on the loom. Weft threads are the threads used to sew the beads down with. Figured I'd say that now to make things easier.

For Warp thread you want to use a cotton-covered polyester thread, such as carpet or quilting thread. There are different sizes depending on the size of your beads. I'm using size 12 quilting thread here for size 11/0 seed beads.

I tie my thread on the center screw in a square knot wrapp the thread around a few times and tie another square knot. Beter safe than sorry.
I start threading on the side closest to me and put the thread in the first slot in the threaded rod and run it to the other end. Wrap it around the screw and come back in the same slot. So that there are 2 threads in the first row of thread. I then run the thread back and forth until I get to my last row. I double the last row as well. This gives your work a little extra added strength. You can do it with one row of thread on the outside, but personally.... THE STRONGER THE BETTER!!!!!!!!!!:)

I tried to show what i was talking about in this pic.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 09:20 PM

Just so everyone knows I did switch looms. The first couple pics are of the loom I built, which is already strung with my wife's belt. The loom I'm using for the rest of the thread is the one I bought from Crazy Crow. I did add the threaded rod to the top though. Personally I think it makes things alot easier.

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 09:42 PM

Where you use nymo or nylon thread is for the Weft threads. Something I noticed about loom work is you have to wax nymo for this type of work. Because I'm guilty of using 20 feet of nymo at a time when doing loom work, I have to often go back and rewax my nymo from time to time. Normally about the time I start getting knots or the thread starts to fray quiet a bit at the needle is when I rewax.
Tie the nymo onto both of the outer threads. Depending on which way you prefer working will help determine which side you tie onto. I personally prefer to tie onto the side opposite me. Next you put on your beads according to your pattern. In this case 17 beads in all. I always, always count my beads twice. I hate getting half the beads sewn down and then realizing ooops forgot a bead or have one bead too many. Taking out a row can be a real pain!!!!!!!

**spottedeagle** · 04-01-2003, 09:45 PM

I guess I need to appologize for seeming a extremely basic in my instructions. I'm mainly trying to make sure I cover everything that I had questions on when I first started doing loom work. Hopefully I'm not going to slow. If so I think this is about the point where things will pick up a little.

**spottedeagle** · 04-03-2003, 10:03 AM

Slide the beads down to the end of the weft thread. Go under the warp threads and start working the beads between the warp threads one at a time from the bottom, pushing them up. I personally like to start pushing them through on the end I'm going to insert the needle and just start sewing them down as I push them through.

The first row is always the biggest pain, so just be patient. As you will see in the pictures, it won't matter if everything is straight right now.

**spottedeagle** · 04-03-2003, 10:04 AM

This pic shows working them in and sewing them down as you can kinda see what I'm talking about.

04-01-2003, 10:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	Introduction to Loom Work Well I think I have everything ready to go so I'm going to start the intro. There are lot of people more qualified than me to do this introduction, but I have the time, so guess I'm gonna do it. I would appreciate all the input the more experienced loom works would like to toss in here. I may also have a little trouble resizing things so I might have to e-mail some pics to a few of you so I can pull this off. But I'm gonna give it my best shot. __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami

04-01-2003, 11:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	I use a program called beadesigner 1.0 to come up with designs. I put a link in a couple other threads and I also put a thread of the link on here a while back. I really like the program and think it's a lot easier to use and to change than using paper and colored pencils. For the sake of keeping things simple and quick I did a small design. Something like you would use on a bracelet. The key thing to remeber when making a design is it is simplest to use an odd number of rows. That is the normal rule and the way I was taught. This will keep you pattern centered. But it is possible to use an even number of rows for certain things. Depends on what you are beading! Rules are always ment to be broken, or at least bent on ocassion. __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami

04-01-2003, 11:40 AM	#3 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	The next thing I'm going to cover, which I probally should have done is how to make a loom. You can either order one, I did this for the loom I'm using in this thread. I ordered it from Crazy Crow, to just get me started. It's an adjustable loom. I don't suggest ordering one though, they are so simple to make a nice loom. Ordering one is just Wasting your money!!!!! Since I saw how one was made, now I build my own. Cost to make a loom is anywhere from $5 to $25 depending on the size of your loom and how nice you make it. Which depends on what your going to use it for. The loom I recently made, I'm using to make belts. It is made out of 2x8 oak and is 4 feet long. I wanted something strong, since I tend to string my loom a little tight. I didn't want something that was going to be rocking back and forth as I'm trying to bead. For smaller projects a 2x4 or 1x4 would work just fine. The way I build a loom is get my wood. Decide on a length I want. Normal size of stuff you are gonna work on. Let's just say 2 foot for length. So I cut a piece 2 foot long and 2 pieces about 8 inches long for the sides. put the side against the base and screw it together using (3 to 5) 1 1/2" wood screws. After the sides are screwed on I use a couple heavy duty staples, like they use for barbed wire fences to nail down a piece of 1/4" threaded rod across the top of each side. I put a 1/2" wood screw int he center top of the side and 2 small nails on the sides. Do the other side and it's ready to start stringing. You can also make an adjustable loom by drilling holes in the sides of smaller sections of wood and add ing wooden dowels. Or do like I do. When I need to change the side of my loom, I uncrew the sides, get a longer or shorter piece of wood and screw it back together. The other option is to build another loom. This might sound a little complicated, but once you see the pick, you'll have no problem building one. I'm going to stop this thread here until I can get the pictures resized. Then I'll continue. __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami Last edited by spottedeagle; 04-01-2003 at 11:53 AM.

04-01-2003, 09:20 PM	#8 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	Just so everyone knows I did switch looms. The first couple pics are of the loom I built, which is already strung with my wife's belt. The loom I'm using for the rest of the thread is the one I bought from Crazy Crow. I did add the threaded rod to the top though. Personally I think it makes things alot easier. __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami

04-01-2003, 09:42 PM	#9 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	Where you use nymo or nylon thread is for the Weft threads. Something I noticed about loom work is you have to wax nymo for this type of work. Because I'm guilty of using 20 feet of nymo at a time when doing loom work, I have to often go back and rewax my nymo from time to time. Normally about the time I start getting knots or the thread starts to fray quiet a bit at the needle is when I rewax. Tie the nymo onto both of the outer threads. Depending on which way you prefer working will help determine which side you tie onto. I personally prefer to tie onto the side opposite me. Next you put on your beads according to your pattern. In this case 17 beads in all. I always, always count my beads twice. I hate getting half the beads sewn down and then realizing ooops forgot a bead or have one bead too many. Taking out a row can be a real pain!!!!!!! __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami Last edited by spottedeagle; 04-02-2003 at 11:21 AM.

04-01-2003, 09:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
spottedeagle The NDN Hugh Heffner Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Soaring over you Posts: 4,288	I guess I need to appologize for seeming a extremely basic in my instructions. I'm mainly trying to make sure I cover everything that I had questions on when I first started doing loom work. Hopefully I'm not going to slow. If so I think this is about the point where things will pick up a little. __________________ The things you are doing today are the traditions of twenty-five years from now. -Daryl Baldwin: Miami