I have been enjoying my weaving so much that I wanted to take it to the next step. I love my simple 60cm wide, 4-shaft table loom. There is so much that I can do with it, but I want the increased weaving speed of a floor loom, the wider weaving width of a 110cm loom, the added flexibility of an 8-shaft loom, the larger shed of a countermarch loom and the simplicity of shaft tie-up with a jack loom. After much research, I settled on a Louet David 3 loom – a sinking shed jack loom (https://louet-inc.odoo.com/floor-looms). This loom has all of the above with the advantage of compactness. It measures 132cm wide x 85cm deep x 127cm high and 52kg; when the backbeam is folded, it measures 65cm deep
I placed an order for the loom on 6th of August with The Thread Collective in Australia (https://threadcollective.com.au) – also a wonderful source of beautiful yarns. Now I have to wait patiently for its arrival – it will take several months as the Louet factory is very busy with orders and shipping from the Netherlands to New Zealand is slow because of covid.
I’m keeping busy while I wait for it to get here by working my way through more of the videos from Jane Stafford’s School of weaving (https://janestaffordtextiles.com) and also colour and weave classes by Tien Chiu (https://www.warpandweave.com)
“Small but Mighty”
Named after David and Goliath, David is a compact 8 harness floor loom loaded with functionality. The David is a unique sinking shed jack loom with a 3″ shed and has become a very popular compact floor loom. David comes standard with 8 harnesses and while he may look modest, he has tremendous functionality and the weaving experience surpasses many large floor looms. Smooth and light-weight treadles due to a cam system give the David treadles a mechanical advantage. Weaving on this loom gives you a real appreciation for the word balance.
Like a jack loom, it has a singular tie-up . All harnesses sit in the up position. The harnesses that need to move to create a shed are pulled down by an ingenious spring system. The spring system also results in easy treadling: once the treadle is pushed down, the weight of your leg is sufficient to keep the shed open.
Features:
- 8 harnesses
- Sinking shed loom
- 3” inch shed
- Built-in raddle and wooden raddle covers
- Standing beater, with a hinge point close to the floor, the result is smooth movement and a favorable pivot radius to strike the fell line.
- Removable beater & breastbeam for easy threading
- Tension brake on warp beam
- Brake disc with rotating crank handle
- Back beam folds in for easy storage
- Made of lacquered beech
- Castle section comes pre-assembled with built-in raddle and shelf