Some Rigid Heddle Books Reviewed

One of the best way to teach yourself to weave on a rigid heddle loom - in addition to watching videos on YouTube and other sites - is to have a good book to start with. Choosing that book is important - I know because I chose the wrong one when I got my rigid heddle loom and became so frustrated trying to figure out the details of getting started, that I almost gave up - until another book was recommended to me - which got me going in a day. There are a handful of books specifically about the rigid heddle loom. Here are the ones in my personal weaving library that I will share my impressions about with you.

The first book - and the book that saved me from taking the new loom right back that first week - is Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom by Syne Mitchell. This published by Interweave - and most of the rigid heddle books are.  This book is the absolute best book for anyone who is going to learn to weave on a rigid heddle loom who has never woven before. This book covers all of the basics in detail with clear full color photos and diagrams and clear descriptions of what to do. The first 109 pages of this large book will teach you just about everything you need to know. Then from page 111 to the last page of 285 before the index pages start, the book goes beyond the basics and takes you into advanced weaves and weaving patterns,  the use of colors, and much more - all the way to weaving on a rigid heddle loom with double and even triple heddle (not all RH looms are capable of three heddles). Interspersed in these pages are project patterns to weave that give you what yarn to use, how to warp the pattern, and what to do to weave it. All illustrated clearly.  I have been weaving for three years now, and I still go back to this book to check on something I am not sure about and to learn something new for a technique that I have not tried yet. When there is a problem, this is my go to book.  Many rigid heddle weavers feel the same way about this book. I only wish that someone had told me to buy this book first when I was starting.

After you have gotten down the basics, the next very good book is The Weaver's Idea Book by Jane Patrick. This is NOT a book for a beginner. This book mirrors some of the techniques in the advanced part of Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, but goes into more detail and covers techniques that are not covered in Inventive Weaving... With this book you are going to learn to use your pick up sticks and start doing pattern weaves with fairly good detailed written instructions - and photo illustrations. The only draw back I find with this book is that some of the photo illustrations are not clear enough to see what you are trying to achieve - and her use of color yarns in some illustration photos is poor when it comes to defining the look of the pattern. This is a good book, even though I will search other illustrations of what is being shown in this book to be sure I understand what I am looking for when I do it on my loom. This is a hardcover book with an inner spiral wire binding so that the book lays flat and the pages open to put on a table next to you as you follow the directions. Despite some illustration photos - not all - she give very clear step by step numbered directions. #1 Do this. #2 Next do this. And it goes on like that until it says REPEAT. Once you know what you are doing with the basics and once you are very comfortable with your loom and are ready to move ahead, this is also a must have book. BUT there are no basic rigid heddle instructions in this book. It starts advanced and keeps going.  There are also no project patterns to weave in this book with the exception of some sampler projects that use all of the various weaves from that section in the book - but you are not coming away with a scarf or usable item. This book is also published by Interweave.

The next book that I will share with you is a book titled, Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson. This is a slim paperback book that contains some basic weaving instruction and then 17 projects to make on your rigid heddle loom which include household items like towels, cushion covers, placemats,bags, things to wear (even slippers), a rug, belts, etc. This book has some detail on how to weave from the beginning on a rigid heddle loom but does not go into the detail that Inventive Weaving... does.  I would not get this book instead of Inventive Weaving..., but it is a good book to get for the different types of projects (if you learn to make towels from the pattern in this book you can then make any towels you would like to make - and that goes for bags, etc.) and it is especially a good book because it goes into detail - on just a few pages on something not covered in any of the other books I have or have seen. That is to fix warp and weft floats discovered after your weaving comes off the loom. These result when your shuttle goes under or over the warp when it should have gone through. This book tells you and shows you with good color photos what to do to fix these. Frankly, that was what led me to buy this book and I have since found it good for the project patterns in the book. Again this book is published by Interweave.

The next book is the one I bought and received just before my rigid heddle loom. The title of the book is Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving by Betty Linn Davenport. I was told it was good for a beginner. It wasn't. IF you are not a beginner it is an OK book as it does contain a lot of nice project patterns and goes into how to make those patterns. Here is the problem with this book. The illustrations on what to do are not photographs but roughly drawn pen and ink drawings.  Basically sketches that to a total beginner are not clear to follow at all. Some of this book reads like it was intended for a college course on rigid heddle weaving and there is nothing wrong with that - as long as one has a teacher to guide you through it, but not for an on your own, total beginner. I kept this book. I bought from a retailer to which I could have returned it for a full refund, but I didn't. There are things in this book that if you can figure them out - and also project patterns - that are very good. I do not find myself picking this book up to look in often. If the illustrations would have been better and full color large photos, with do this, then this in detail, it might have been much better This too is published by Interweave. 

The last book in my collection - for the moment - is titled Simple Woven Garments by Sara Goldenburg and Jane Patrick - the same Jane Patrick from The Weaver's Idea Book. This is a book on how to weave clothing accessories with cloth you weave on your rigid heddle loom. The book has over 20 projects including jackets, shawls, tops, etc. I bought this book for the first 21 pages because in those pages are how to weave the cloth needed for making clothing, etc, how to cut the cloth you have woven, how to deal with the edges once cut, and how to sew the cloth to make clothing and other woven items that are assembled. It is only a small section of this book but it tells you what you need to know. The next really nice thing about this book is if you don't want to make what is exactly shown in one of its projects there are techniques described and illustrated that could apply to similar things in other types of projects. I had been looking at this book at full price on the shelf of a Barnes and Nobles bookstore and was interested. I lucked on a copy of this book in a closeout store and then could not resist the price for what can be a very valuable book to have if you intend to cut the cloth you weave and assemble it into something to wear or use. And if you don't find the patterns for things that are your taste - there is enough here to turn it into something that is something you would like. This book also is published by Interweave.

So there you have my rigid heddle weaving book collection. There are many more books for rigid heddle weaving and if you go to the Interweave website and look through the books specifically for rigid heddle looms (and do make sure the book is for an rh loom and not another type - as not all techniques apply from one type of loom to another) you will find a few other books that may be interesting to you. Also don't forget to check local libraries as many of these books are available in them.

A Dowel Replacement on A Kromski Loom

Over time the tension on the warp may bend your dowel rods on your Kromski loom. This is not a big problem to deal with. Dowels are available in every home store and in some craft stores. There is nothing special about the dowels Kromski uses on their looms. They are hardwood dowels. You can use a bent apron rod BUT it is best to keep the distance from the rod to the heddle at an equal distance across. When I noticed the bend on one of my Kromski apron rod dowels after using it a few months, I went out to buy dowels to replace the bent dowel. I bought a same sized dowel - you will need to cut it to length - even a small hand saw can do this - and I decided to buy an OAK dowel. Oak dowels are slightly more expensive but worth having a harder wood.

Home stores should sell perfectly straight dowels - as they should sell perfectly straight lumber but that does not always happen. Take some time to find the straightest dowel the store has. Take it to a flat surface in the store - heavy oak plywood is often flat - and roll the dowel on the flat surface and see that that it rolls flat and does not bump up at any point along its length. It pays to take time to get a good straight dowel.

I thought that this was going to be final solution, but wood is wood and in humid areas and with tension being put on the dowels on the loom, even the best round dowel will eventually warp or bend. I looked at the apron rods that Ashford uses - they are not dowels. They are flat strips of wood. If used with the flat side UP - meaning the edge of the flat wood strip faces the heddle and not the larger flat surface of the wood. I went out and bought a 1/4" thick board in one of the Home Stores. These thin boards are considered "hobby" boards or wood. I cut a strip off of that board as wide as the dowel on my Kromski and I attached it with the existing TexSolv apron cords that I had put on (see the last article). It is very hard to bend a strip of wood along its edge.

I only replaced on dowel with this flat apron rod. The cloth beam apron rod Oak dowel that I replaced the Kromski dowel with has been fine so far. If it ever needs replacement, I have more of the flat board to make a flat apron rod for this side.

It works! It will require someone with a table saw to cut the strip of wood to the correct width and then the length needs to be cut the same length as the Kromski dowel.

Different Apron Cords on a Kromski Loom

Kromski several years back changed the apron cords on their looms. At one time you received a long strand of nylon cord and the Kromski instructions told you to cut the cord into equal lengths and form looms with the cord which required holding the cord ends together in a candle and hoping to get them to melt - which meant needing to do this for all cords to come out to equal length loops which is not always easy. Then they decided to change how to use this long length of cord and put a screw at each end of the warp and cloth beams and tied the cord between the screws and showed in their new instructions how to wrap the cord around the apron rods to form "V"s to hold the apron rod loosely in place.

This works if you are using their "warp helper" block to warp your loom but did not work well when I tried to use this when direct warping. The problem on a 32" wide loom was emphasized when the dowel rod would dip down on one end while warping the other end and across. Some love this new setup and if it works for you don't change it. But I struggled with this for several months and then went out looking for an alternative.

I could have cut the cords into pieces and used the old instructions which are still easy to find on the internet to cut and burn the loops together and use them as they used to be uses. But I really did not like that. I looked to see what other looms do. One other company uses a plastic band to hold the rod to the beam. Another uses something called TexSolv - a product commonly used in multi-shaft weaving. The feature of TexSolv is that it is nylon cord made up of a chain of small loops that make it easy to put an end through one of those loops, pull and have the length of the cord on the loom exact as long as you you put the cord end through the same loop counting up.

I decided that the TexSolv was a great way to put the apron rods onto the beams and I went out to find it. If there is no weaving store near you, several of the weaving websites sell TexSolv. Some have better prices than others. Be aware that this cord is EXPENSIVE. You can buy it by the foot and you can buy it on a spool. I decided - not being sure how much I would need and not sure if at some point I would want to replace the TexSolv cords with new ones - to buy a spool.

Schacht has an excellent video on how to put TexSolv cord on the apron rods and beams of their Rigid Heddle looms and this process is the same for the Kromski. Here is a link to how it is done -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGVyv3z8T8

Here is how it looks on my loom. Compare this photo to the one above. The apron rod is securely tied to the beam. You will see the two end cords not around the dowel - this is to keep tension off the ends of the dowel when weaving less than the full width of the loom. All I need to do is slip those back over the ends of the dowel.The best thing is that it is so easy to get equal lengths cord that enable your apron rod that you warp and tie onto the same distance from your heddle across the entire length of the apron rod.

Here are some close ups and you can easily see how this cord is constructed with small loops.

A small investment made using the apron rods so much easier. And you can easily slip cords off the dowels for narrow projects to put even tension on the dowels.

Some Resources to Get You Started Weaving

I taught myself how to weave. I used two books and a number of videos that I watched several times to get myself acquainted enough to sit down at the loom and start weaving. There was also a good download file from Kromski that applies to all looms that helped to get me started. I also joined several groups on Facebook to have places to ask questions and get quick answers by those more experienced than I.

BOOKS

When I bought the loom I also ordered a book that came well recommended on how to weave on a rigid heddle loom. This book turned out to be a disappointment when I received it and at first I was getting a bit frustrated and knew that I needed something with clearer photos and more detail in explanation. When I put that out on one of the Facebook a different book was recommended and it has been my go to book since I started weaving a year ago. This book is Inventive Weaving On a Little Loom by Syne Mitchell. It has large color photos and good instructions on what to do at each step of the way. As the book goes along it introduces more advanced techniques that make this book valuable beyond just a beginner's book. I highly recommend this book. I wish that I had learned of this book from the start.

I have four books on Rigid Heddle weaving - here they are:

Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom - Syne Mitchell - Storey Press

Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving - Betty Lynn Davenport -  Interweave Press
 (Not a bad book but needs more photos than line drawings and more detail - I do refer to this book for somethings.)

Weaving Made Easy - Liz Gipson - Interweave Press
 (Covers a few things the other books don't. Focus is on projects with plans.)

Simple Woven Projects - Sarah Goldenberg & Jane Patrick - Interweave Press
  (Clothing patterns and projects made on a rigid heddle loom)

All of these books have projects of items to weave.

VIDEOS

ASSEMBLY OF THE KROMSKI HARP FORTE - 

Assembly of the Kromski Harp Forte

The Kromski Series - 

These apply to any rigid heddle loom.

Kromski Harp, Understanding the Rigid Heddle Loom, Part 1

Kromski Harp, Understanding the Rigid Heddle Loom, Part 2

Kromski Harp, Understanding the Rigid Heddle Loom, Part 3

Kromski Harp - Part 1 - Using the Warping Board

Kromski Harp - Part 2 - Using the Warping Peg

Kromski Harp - Part 3 - Dressing the Loom

Kromski Harp - Part 4 - Weaving

Warping the Harp - Using Warping Sticks


From Ashford
 
These apply to any rigid heddle loom.

Simple Warping for a Rigid Heddle Loom

Spreading the Warp on a Rigid Heddle Loom 

Tying on a Warp on a Rigid Heddle Loom 

Weaving on the SampleIt Loom

 
 PDF FILE

This applies to any loom. 

Starting a Project on a Kromski Loom

   This file starts by saying it is assembly but a few pages in it starts a project. 

RIGID HEDDLE FACEBOOK GROUPS

Rigid Heddle Loom Weaving

Rigid Heddle Adventure 

Rigid Heddle Loom Endeavor 

Rigid Heddle Looms 

Weaving    (general weaving group with rigid heddle weavers also on it)

If you are not a member of Facebook you cannot join these groups but these are worthwhile resources to make being on Facebook worthwhile - even if you don't do anything else on Facebook. There are other forums that have sub-groups for rigid heddle weaving but these are not as responsive as the groups on Facebook. Two of these are:

Weavolution

Ravelry




As we go along with these articles there will be more resources shared.