Do you ever have those bright ideas in the shower? A nice steamy shower seems like a "concentration booth" for me sometimes--I frequently have ideas pop into my head that are solutions to things nagging at the back of my brain. The other morning I realized I could adapt the Archie Brennan pipe loom to a standing version to be used for beading. Well, duh?!?! Of course!
So, I took myself off to Home Depot and bought 1/2" copper pipe, 3 pieces of 24" long (more expensive that way, I know...but easier for me to carry), 2 pieces of 1/2" x 12" threaded rod (I had some 1/2" nuts at home so didn't buy those), four elbows, four tees, and four rubber caps.
With my handy pipe cutter I made a small loom with feet, 6" wide and, with threaded rod in place at the sides, up to about 16" long. The loom's feet are 3" high and, when inserted into the elbows, the loom stands nearly 4" off the table. I used a paste epoxy to adhere the elbows and tees to the legs and to the side pieces to make it more stable.
I put a strip of masking tape at the cross bars, marking that with sharpie at 1/2" intervals to help with the warping. I tied the beading warp onto the bottom and did a figure 8 warping process between the bottom and top cross-pieces. I brought the warp into one plane and began beading. The little guy works just fine and, although I don't do much bead weaving, having a good sturdy loom to replace my flimsy crafty bead loom is nice.
So, yes, I'm distracted from designing the next tapestry but my mind is working! And I'm about to start a project, along with some friends, for the month of May...more will come to the blog about that shortly!
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