Rotary Temple fitted to AVL Workshop Dobby Loom

I bought a Rotary Temple from Fireside Looms some years ago and fitted it to a Leclerc Artisat. I subsequently sold the loom and the temple has been carefully packed away for about ten years.

I have an AVL WDL which I haven't used for about 6 years - I recently took it out of its packaging, gave it a good clean and got it ready to weave again. So that I could move it about I built a wooden dolly which the loom sits on very nicely.

Once the loom was on the dolly it occurred to me that the dolly might make a firm base for a framework to hold the rotary temple.  I  adopted a "suck it and see" approach to the design, clamping various bits of wood into place until I something that would hold the mounting brackets in the correct position. I screwed and glued it all together, put on the brackets and track and it works. I am still using clips to secure the framework in place until I think of something slightly more elegant.

Initial mockup with uprights clamped to the loom frame and sitting on the dolly

A slightly diferent set up

Bracket clamped in place

The arrangement had to be different on each side to allow for the ratchet handle

Final design - uprights on the left

Uprights on the right

Upright, bracket, track and temple

In use

Ms & Os

Ms & Os Sample

These samples were based on a draft for a turned Ms & Os scarf using 10/2 cotton and 8/2 Rayon. I used 11.8/2 nm wool and a plain weave sett of 14 epi. Next time;

• Tighter sett
• Wider plain weave panel adjacent to the selvedges and tension separately
• Carefull thought about the colours
• Long twisted fringes
• Photoshop how this structure would look as a shawl

Weave structure

Turned Ms & Os

Equipment

16" Ashford 8 Shaft table loom; 12 dent reed; Leclerc boat shuttle

Yarns

Warp & weft: Bendigo 2 ply (11.8/2 nm)

Yarn Sources

Bendigo Woollen Mills PTY Ltd.

4 Lansell St, East Bendigo VIC 3550, Australia

Warp

78 ends, 2 yards long

Spacing

Warp:14 epi, Weft: 14 ppi

Tension & Selvedge

Double dent last two threads on each side

References

Handwoven  Nov Dec 2004, Turned Ms and Os Scarf, Emile Pritchard

Finishing

Wash in hand warm water, dry flat, hot iron whilst slightly damp.

Dimensions

Sample 1

Length  off loom 15"

Length after finishing 14"

Sample 2

Length  off loom 24"

Length after finishing 22 1/2 "

Width on loom 5 1/4 "

Width off loom 5"

Width after finishing 4 7/8 "

Mandvi Dish Cloths

Five years ago my wife and I spent three months in India - she did yoga and I did textiles; perfect. We spent a week in Mandvi, Gujarat, staying at the Rukamavati  Guest House. I was fossicking around in their linen cupboard when I came across a cotton towel; this is a close up picture of it.

 From the photograph I derived this draft;

 and I have just recently woven two samples from it in Patons regal 4 ply cotton. I set one at 10 epi and one at 12 epi. The tighter set seemed to work the best.


I haven't been weaving for the last five months and this was a lovely little table loom project to get me going again.






They are not the most elegant things that I have woven but I use them as dish cloths on a daily basis and I am so pleased with them that I shall weave some more.