I decided to try improving the tie-up of the shafts to the lifting handles. The string tying the shafts to the handles has been tied to the centre of each shaft (photo 1). This means that the heddles can only be slid to each end and that I have needed to thread the heddles from the centre out to the left and to the right. I wanted to change the setup so that the string was attached to each end of each shaft. Paul assisted by finding me hooks, drilling holes in the shaft ends and advising on knot work. He showed me how to make a loop in each end of the attachment string by whipping with a thin thread and placing a drop of superglue on the knot to ensure that it doesn’t come undone once the ends are trimmed. These loops were threaded onto a hook that he had screwed into the top of the ends of each shaft (photo 3). I then used zip ties to attach the handles to these strings (photo 2). Zip ties made it possible to make small adjustments to the height of the shafts to give me the largest shed possible for this loom.