Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Rebirth - Hilda

I was at an Ink and Spindle Open Day a couple of months ago and Teegs mentioned that she was given a table loom but she did not know how to use it. I said sure, come over and we can figure it out.
We had an initial inspection and decided on the parts that needed replacing. Teegs went to work, ordering new parts and refurbishing the loom.
Both of us are so excited that we needed to tell the world about the re-birth of Hilda and that Teegs is weaving! So this is a shared blog post:
Hilda is a portable 2 shaft/harness table loom, with a weaving width of just under 40cm. The 2 shafts/harnesses work by moving the handle on the top roller back and forth to create the shed. It was interesting to see that all the heddles were connected together, top and bottom. They were made of string with a metal eyelet in the middle. Unfortunately, they were very rusted and on the way to disintegration. The reed was 15 dent and also very rusted.
Teegs: Original, wonky, sad.
Teegs: The restoration & dismantling begins
Teegs replaced all the screws, the tying rods at the back and front beams, and the top and bottom timber bars supporting the heddles. She ordered a new 10 dent reed and Texslov heddles. The reed had to be cut down a fraction to fit within the frame of the beater.
Teegs: In pieces, hoping I'm as good
at puzzles as I'd like to think!
Teegs: Reconstructed, with a thick, fresh
coat of homemade beeswax & olive oil
timber conditioner for her very dry, thirsty wood.
Hilda was put back together again, in a much better condition! We just had to put the heddles back on with some adjustable Texslov loom cords.
Teegan: Hilda! Weaving!
The loom was made in Melbourne by Dyer and Phillips Pty Ltd. I did a brief search on the internet but there was not much information on the company. The address was in Flinders Lane, previously the centre of Melbourne's rag trade for the middle decades of the 20th century.
Teegs made a 7.2m long warp, 10 inches wide at 10epi, of Bendigo Classic 2 ply wool in black. We put the warp on front to back - sleyed the reed first, clamped to the table and then threaded the heddles. (Yes, I do work with a mix of metric and imperial measurements!)
The loom in action!
I had previously shown some of my Saori weaving to Teegs and she was quite interested in that. It has more of a focus on colours and textures, and is quite suited to a plain weave structure.
Weaving with a shuttle stick.
It took us from 11am to just before 6pm with a very short lunch in between to get to this stage. Teegs worked really hard all day and I just did a lot of talking.
Some tapestry techniques and fleece insertion.
Well done Teegs and Hilda! and all the best for your new adventure together. (Yes, Hilda is going sailing as well.) I cannot think of a more appropriate thing to do on a Easter Monday!

PS, I do wonder where did Hilda come from and what was woven on her before!?

13 comments:

Meg said...

What a fab day for the two of you. The refurbished loom looks lovely.

jodie said...

It sounds like a lovely day, and I can just see Teegs weaving away on that pirate ship.h

sampling said...

It was a joy to see the loom revived and not gone to the rubbish dump or ended up as firewood. I even think that the old timber bars with the original heddles will look great framed up as a 3-D sculpture!

neki desu said...

as i always say, a new weaver is always good news.
there are wonders to be woven in that little loom. plus she can add 2 more shafts and....

shipbuilding said...

a loom that goes sailing is my dream!

all that hard work was definitely worth it
welcome to the world of weaving Teegs : )

Anonymous said...

hi
what a pleasure, and surprise to find this post! i picked up the exact same loom as Teeg's only yesterday, from a local vintage shed and was doing the same search on google to find out more about Dyer and Phillips!
my "hilda" is in the same state as Teeg's and i'd love some help to get her back to good working order. Obviously we are in the same state as I am familiar with Ink and Spindle... Where should I go to get replacement parts? - my reed is rusty, I think im missing warp sticks, and one of the "catches" is missing from the ratchet.
Id love some advice!
look forward to hearing from you
cheers
samm (hoardersdaughter@y7mail.com)
ps the only info I came up with re Dyer and Phillips is that they were registered to sell poisons so im assuming that refers to dyes?!
I have recently made my own loom (www.sammiam.wordpress.com/looming)

sampling said...

Neki, new weavers are good news and I am trying to do my bit to spread the word! There are a lot tobe done with 2 shafts as well!
Shipbuilding, I think Dorothy is small enough to go sailing too!?
Samm, I will email you with some places that you can get spare parts.
Happy weaving!

Karen said...

Well done. What an inspiration!

Unknown said...

Hi,
thank you so much this post has been so very helpful. :)
I just bought the exact same loom from a lady in Melbourne and it is in perfect condition. I have never woven before and I have managed to warp it and I am about half way through my first project (hopefully a scarf) and I was hoping you might be able to recommend a few good weaving books or websites. I would like to do a basic pattern nothing too fancy in the next project and I was wondering if that is possible on this loom?
Hope you're having a great day and thanks in advance.
Erin

sampling said...

Hi Erin,
I am glad that you found one in good working order. It is a cute and functional loom. It is possible to do a lot of things on this loom. I just got given one in its original condition like Hilda so I will have fun fixing it up.
There is a book called Learning to weave by Deborah Chandler and it is good start for beginners. I don't have it but it has been highly recommended by other people.
Are you on Ravelry? There are a few groups on weaving on Ravelry.
Here is the link to the weaver's guild website. http://handweaversandspinnersguildofvictoria.org.au/groups.htm There may be a group near you?
The Ashford website also has some video tutorials:http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/tutorials/weaving-tutorials
Are you on Instagram? This is my account:https://instagram.com/theweaversworkroom/ I have recently changed the name to match my online shop. Can you email me via the bigcartel shop and I can email you back with more information directly.
Happy weaving!

Unknown said...

Hi,
I recently purchased the same loom in exactly the same condition and am having trouble finding replacement parts for it. I was wondering if you could let me know where you sourced your replacement parts from. Would really appreciate it and I quite like the loom and would love to be able to use it.
Thanks
Amanda

Julia said...

I have a Dyer and Phillips table loom that my mother would like to sell. It is quite large over a metre long. It ha not been used for around 30 years. Can you tell me what it would be worth. I have no idea what price to put on it. Thanks.

Orph said...

Hi, did you end up selling her? What state are you in? 🙂