1 - 8epi Heddle
1 - sami sword shuttle
1 - metal apron rod
1 - Take up dowel
1 - warp dowel with apron rod pocket
2 - loom sides
1 - loom back
1 - loom bottom
2 – ratchets w/covers
2 - wood washers w/covers (other end of dowel covers)
2 - pawls w/ covers and short dowels
(there will be a total of 6 Covers, only 4 are shown in the image below)
Warping instructions
and a few patterns to get you started
What you will need:
Wood Glue
fine sand paper or steel wool
Black sharpie (to touch up any edges)
Your choice of finish
4 bar clamps or any method you choose to hold your loom together while it is drying.
No nails are required.
To begin building your tape loom you will want to check that you have all the parts mentioned above. Sand all parts to your satisfaction. Using a sharpie touch up any missing black color on the edges of all pieces. Next wipe down all the dust from all your wood parts. The more dust free your parts are the better your finish will be. Now using the finish of your choice put a finish on all parts. Be cautious of the edge tabs if you are using a thick finish. You want to be sure that your loom will still fit together even after you’ve put your finish on. I generally do not put a finish on the edges until the loom is completely assembled and the glue has dried. This is entirely up to you. Let your finish dry using the recommendation given for the finish you’ve chosen.
Using wood glue and a paint brush, brush glue on all the edges between the tabs (but not on the top edges of the tabs). Do not over glue.
Now you can assemble your loom. Place the loom bottom in front of you as seen in the image below (having help is good here) Place the back of the loom with the design facing out on the back side of the bottom (the short side with the tabs) as seen below.
Now place the left side of the loom onto the back and the bottom as shown below.
Place the warp rod in the top side holes making sure the apron rod pocket falling forward as you see in the image. (the cloth part of the warp rod should look as it does in the image below) Then add the take up dowel (this is tricky by yourself) and while holding all this in place add the right side of the loom and snug everything up.
Next clamp gently so you have free hands and put the heddle in place making sure there is no glue in the heddle slots or anywhere that the heddle may inadvertently get glued to the loom. One the heddle is in place adjust your clamping so that when you look on the inside of your loom there are no gaps and the heddle moves freely up and down.
This is how I clamp when I build a tape loom.
In the following images you will see clamps, however you will not start the instructions that follow for 24 hours so that you can remove the clamps.
Now that your loom is assembled and the glue is dry you will finish assembling your tape loom. The ratchets go on the left side of the loom and both ratchets will point in the same direction as you see in the image below. This is important so take a close look. Place a small amount of glue on the inside of the hole that is in the ratchets and then push them onto the dowels that are sticking out from the warp and take up dowels. Be very careful not to get too much glue onto your ratchets and accidentally glue them to the side of your loom. We just do not want the ratchets to move at all on the dowel, only the dowel itself should move once your ratchets are glued properly into place.
Next locate your to pawls and the little dowels that go with them. Take the little dowels out of the pawls and place a small dot on the cut side of the
Take the little dowels out of the pawls and place a small dot on the cut side of these dowels and place the cut side into the holes on the loom. Let these dry very well before proceeding to the next step. Very important….
Once the glue is dry you can proceed to placing the pawls onto the dowels. The top pawl faces this direction.
And the take up rod pawls faces this direction.
Once you’ve placed the pawls onto the little dowels place a very small amount of glue inside the little cover and push it onto the little dowel to cover the end so that the pawl will not fall off. Let this dry. You might want to check while it’s drying that you haven’t accidently glued the cover to the pawl itself by rotating it back and forth gently. Just be sure you haven’t put too much glue into the hole but enough so that the cover does not fall off. And finally glue the covers onto both ratchets and both wood washers as seen below.
