Monday, September 3, 2012

Five dollar loom

A while back my parents went to an auction sale for me. 

It was hard to tell them what I was willing to spend without seeing it in person.  The picture in the ads was not clear, but I thought I could tell it was a Union...

My dad is used to auctions... Bulls and heifers, but he knows when to bide his time :)

He sat back and waited when the auctioneer called for 100$. 

No bids.

He offered 5$ ~ They sold it to him for that, LOL.

Then it was up to him to get it out of the basement it had lived in since its delivery and assembly.

He found some young guys that were willing to help and after removing a bunch of parts and the stair railing, it came up and out of the dark.

I decided to leave her be, and just give her a good scrub and some oil.

I think I'll call her "Blue".

All the metal is a little rusty, but not bad. I haven't decided if I'll replace the canvas warp tethers... I might just take them off.  The hooks on the end are rusted through.  My other Union doesn't have them, so they aren't necessary anyway...

I'll probably put a warp of something dark on it and weave the rust away.  She's a sturdy little bugger tho!

The brake is of a different type of what I'm used to, so it's gonna take a bit of thinkin' when I do get to warping it.  It'll be fun, just not sure when I'll get to it!

I'm up to 3 functional floor looms.  Two Union 2 harness and a 4 Harness Newcomb.  There is a 6 harness mystery loom downstairs, but that need some major rehab.  Not sure of the future of that one.

Now I've just got to find the time and energy to get to weaving on them.

All for now,
JULIE

2 comments:

Sharon said...

I cannot believe how looms just fall into your lap. You're at the point where you could open a studio and give lessons.

Hilary said...

As soon as I saw the blue, I knew it was a Union Special.
I have one...they are sweet little looms.
If you need help with the brake, just holler.....it is a bit different.
Don't ya just love saving old looms?
I think it's a calling.