Celebrations, summer and a flash back!

Happy Belated Peace-filled Independence Day!

I have been busy in the studio overseeing the Woven Voices weaving project...and we are making peace flags like crazy! I have about a dozen weavers coming over the course of each week! Special thanks to all you Macomber blog readers who responded to my Kickstarter project....we made our funding goal on Sunday!!

It is summer here in Maine and the living is easy, full of amazing opportunities to be with family, friends and nature. Today I took my (almost) daily swim in the near by salt water cove (with wet suit!!) and little dog Faye was right on my heels the whole 3/4 mile swim!

Mom weaves a prayer flag 2008

This week my mother celebrates her 90th birthday. She is an AMAZING woman. She treated herself to a hot air balloon ride as a birthday present!! For her birthday the family is gathering at her home in Yarmouth, Maine. Happy Birthday Mom!!

And while I was preparing for her birthday, I was going through old photos to make a collage for her. Look at this vintage clipping I found! 

Me at age 29, weaving at the Macomber shop. For a few years, I ran weaving classes in the upstairs of the barn shop. Geez...I look awfully young!

Local news story about Macomber Looms 32 years ago!!

Woven Voices prayer flag in South Africa Buddhist garden.

I hope you are having a fun summer, finding time to celebrate the loving connections of family and old friends while enjoying the beauty of nature.

I enjoy hearing from each of you and if you are in Maine this summer, look me up!

Happy Weaving ! ~~ Sarah

The dawn of summer

I have two dogs. One dog is a long term visitor. Meet Avery, a Labradoodle. She has been with us off and on for five years while her owners circumnavigated the world. (yes, her family is the one I sailed across the Atlantic with).This week she will return to her family who have landed back in South Freeport, Maine, having completed their voyage. We will miss you Avery!

Avery the dog.

Faye snoozing on the couch

Our resident dog is Faye. She is an English Cocker. She weighs about 22 pounds, but being the alpha dog...she rules the homestead with her bossy-pants attitude!

Both of these dogs keep me on my toes. I recommend a studio dog...because they make you get up about every 20 minutes to open the door and let them in or out.  This is an excellent habit for us weavers who tend to sit too long in one position. So dog or no dog....try to get up and stretch about every 20 minutes!

Riley modeling his doggie coat

Keith's loom

Do you have a studio dog?? Here's one from Canada sporting his new hand woven outfit!! Here's what Riley's owner, Keith says "Here are a couple of pictures of Riley’s tartan doggie coat on my Macomber and on the model.  It’s 18/2 superfine Merino in real red, emerald green and pewter grey woven as balanced twill at 23 epi on my 40 inch Macomber. The cloth was woven by yours truly and wet finished with Eucalan in tepid water. Mrs. Melanie Mitchell, a staff member at the N.B. college of Craft and Design here in Fredericton made up the coat. There’s a layer of polyester felt between two layers of the woven cloth joined with bias tape. The coat fastens with Velcro at the neck and under the abdomen. Riley is our 11 year old West Highland white terrier. Hence, the tartan (Riley’s plaid)."

So if you have a studio assistant that has four legs, send me a photo! Especially send  images that show these companions in your studio. Now if you have a chicken or other critter, great! All photos welcome!

inserted eye heddle

Now on to the more serious business of weaving! I was recently asked about heddles. Right now, as far as I understand there is only one kind of heddle available in the world. It is the inserted eye heddle shown here.

three kinds of heddles

There are other heddles still on looms that are older and different. Liz from CA sent me this great photo of three kinds of heddls that she has on her loom. Older Macomber looms have heddles like # C. Then for a spell looms came with #B. And now the inserted eye heddles # A come on all looms. There it is, the abc's of heddles!

Today is the day before the summer solstice. As many of you know I love summer! It is a time of year that we Maineiacs wait for all year! I have been swimming once already in the ocean (with wet suit!).

This summer in my studio, I am offering a Grand Finale to my Woven Voices community project. As a part of this Grand Finale, I will be busy weaving 1000 prayer flags with the help of community volunteers. This project is being supported  by a Kickstarter fund drive.

We are still looking for funds to reach our goal, as this is all or nothing funding. Please check out the 2 minute video

"Woven Voices" is a grass roots community project that uses weaving to lift the human spirit. Thank you to everyone for all the amazing support! ~  Sarah

every prayer flag gives joy

P.S. I have a weaver looking for photos of the wheels or castors on a loom. If you happen to have these on your loom....please send me photos so that I can post them! Thanks!!

Who said you can't....

The old maxim..."Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks" works perfectly for old looms. Here is a terrific story sent to me by some inspiring blog readers.

This is an OLD Loom!

The Loom over view

"My wife and I bought an aging Macomber 40” loom about twelve years ago. Contacting Macomber, we were able to ascertain that it had been built in Saugus in 1953. 

Undaunted, we disassembled it, cleaned and varnished all the woodwork, and renewed the fasteners. The loom had only four shafts, but a castle that would accommodate ten. As a metal sculptor, I was able to duplicate the  existing shafts, jacks, lamms, and treadles such that we now have a ten shaft loom. My wife (the weaver; I am the LT --- the loom tech) has turned out scarves, blankets, fabric and many other beautiful woven objects. She has always wanted to weave a rug, but was uncertain as to whether that would work out well on a jack loom. We decided to gamble on altering the existing loom to make it as compatible as possible with the somewhat more robust demands of rug weaving.
 

The first step, in order to provide greater tension on the warp, was to increase the distance between the shafts and the back beam. We were able to move the entire back beam structure---as it was---to increase the warp depth by some 30”. The supporting horizontal black metal bar can be raised to give access when dressing the loom. At the same time, we put sturdy metal braces on all four corners of the castle structure to reduce any side-to-side motion. The entire loom is also bolted to the floor and to the studs in the adjoining wall. The apron ribbon on all three beams is “Mule” tape, a tape used by electricians. It has a breaking strength of 2500 pounds, is very thin and does not stretch.
 

Turn buckles on harnesses

breast beam "catch" for front side rod

From a discarded loom we were also able to add a second, plain warp beam to the already existing sectional beam, and to create a second back beam to accommodate the warp from this second warp beam. The raddles, and temples we made ourselves and we were fortunate enough to have an extra 12-dent reed, which we altered to a 6-dent one.

The rods that connect the jacks and lamms have always distressed me with their tendency to bend and stretch. To correct them such that their tension is equal and the lamms lay in a smooth line, we spliced small turnbuckles, available from the local hardware store, in line with the rods. This allows tightening or loosening of the rods as needed.

Following Peter Collingwood’s recommendations of “a pound of beater weight per inch of warp” we added two 20 pound steel bars to the beater, and to make it easier to handle, also added a handle.  
 
Of all these innovations, my favorite is the catch for the movable bars that allow the breast beam to be lowered to the floor when dressing the loom. With a simple notch filed into the bar and a screw in the vertical wooden member, the bar drops onto the screw as the breast beam is lowered, a huge help for those of us limited to having only two hands.

A successful sample has been woven. The linen warp in the pictures is for the first finished rug, which will be soon started."

Best wishes,
Reese T.

Thanks Reese for sharing your story! I still have so much to share...and so little time!   Check out the local newspaper story on my trip. I have been busy with teaching, but now...alas studio time!

Thanks to all for your orders, questions and encouragement!

Happy Weaving ~ Sarah

Thread by Thread

Giraffe love

"Thread by thread" is a standard phrase I use to remind myself that weaving is a slow, repetitive process that in the long run offers me time and space for reflection and encourages me to be grounded in the present moment.

As many of you know, this winter I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Simonstown, South Africa to Barbados in the Caribbean. This seven week ocean passage offered me a similar opportunity. Through the repetition of daily life on board a 43' boat, the landless wide horizon and living under the stars, sun and moon, I found myself able to just hang out in the beauty of the present moment. To just sit and watch the horizon for hours was a precious gift.

I have much to share, many photos of our passage and of course Macomber Loom news. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch with me. I realize that my last blog posting was in December. So I promise to do my best to share images, memories and news.

Elephant family on the move

Prior to leaving South Africa, our crew went on a short safari. Don't you just love the eye lashes and horns on this giraffe?? We had a wonderful extravagant 5 days in the bush. We were able to witness up close all of the Big Five (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros), as well as many other beautiful animals, birds, trees, and flowers.

I have posted a short video on UTube of some lionesses we watched lounging in the hot South African sun. Check it out!

weaving in the produce

We left Simonstown, South Africa on January 26th. Here is an photo of my "weaving" the produce into a shelf to prevent it from flying around the cabin while we were under sail!

Land Ho! Approaching St Helena

Since we were East of The Cape of Good Hope, we had to scoot around this point and we now know why this point used to be called "Cape of Tempests". The waves, the wind and the current all combined to give our boat, Bahati, a rousing entrance to the South Atlantic. After about a week the seas calmed down and we had a lovely 2 week passage to St. Helena. This little rock of an island is where Napoleon was exiled and died. Here is a photo of our approach to St Helena and Longwood House, the estate where Napoleon lived during his exile.


From St Helena, we sailed for seven days to arrive at Ascension Island. This small island is mostly a military and communication outpost on a volcanic rock. The landscape on Ascension was a strange combination of red dirt hills, white sandy beaches, grey volcanic rubble and green lush jungle. This tiny island is where green sea turtles swim from Brazil to lay their eggs. We were there during egg laying season and watched these giant creatures lumber up on shore to dig a nest in the sand and deposit their eggs. You can see more images of this bizarre landscape by checking out the Ascension Island website.

Mars-like Ascension Island

We departed from Ascension Island and sailed

for 24 days to reach Barbados. I will continue to share images and stories of this amazing trans-Atlantic voyage.

Thanks to all of you who continued to place orders for Macomber looms and parts in my absence. Kudos to my dear husband Ben who learned more about this stuff than he bargained for!

Harriet Tidball threading her loom.
Notice the front beam is dropped down to allow easy threading.

So just like Harriet Tidball who is threading her loom, I continue to believe in the power of weaving to keep me grounded in the present moment.

And I continue to discover the beauty thread by thread, warp and weft.

Happy Spring from coastal Maine ~
Sarah

All things old and new

One people, many Woven Voices

The close of each year is a time for reflection. On the dusk of 2010, I find myself feeling BIG gratitude for the weaving community. In two days I will be leaving for Cape Town South Africa. While there I will be sharing the 130 community woven prayer flags. Read more about this project on the blog "Woven Voices".

My heart is overflowing with gratitude for all you wonderful weavers out there who have sent such kind words for my efforts with this Macomber Looms blog.

1937 Midget portable loom

So this month, here's a little treat for you..some Macomber memorabilia for you!

1954 24" 8H CP loom

This is an early photo of the CP loom. 1937! As you can see today's CP is not a whole lot different!









The Macomber-Hart family kindly shared the company photo album with me. So I have a whole pictorial history of the development of these looms.

Harriet Tidball 1953 threading her Macomber

Not only does the photo album contain images of early looms and the loom builders, but of the famous and not-so famous weavers who used them.















Look at this photo of Harriet Tidball, well known weaver and author of several books and monographs.

1937 56" B4 Loom with Rotary Fly Shuttle

Along with the photos there are several newspaper clippings. Here's my favorite ~

So sit down, weave yourself a suit...find some peace of mind, some joy and personal satisfaction. The world will be a  better place.

I will be away from my phone and my computer until late February. If there are any Macomber parts or loom orders that cannot wait, please call my house and my husband will help you connect with the shop to place your orders. 

The house number is 207-351-1985.  Thanks to all of you for your orders!

There may be smidgens of time that I have Internet capability, but I am not counting on it. So here's wishing each of you a prosperous and peace-filled New Year!

Peace ~ Sarah

Meet Mac

"Mac"

"Hi Sarah!
 I read your last post and wanted to tell you about my loom. First of all, it's definitely male. I'm not really sure why but I've always thought of it as a boy. His name is Mac. (Probably not very original) But I love my loom very much.

"Mac from the back"

I bought Mac used from a man in KY (I am in TN) for $400! He's a B4-D model. At first I had issues getting used to how Macs work. I had only woven on Leclerc Niluses at school and so adjusting to a different make of loom was a bit of a challenge. I can't imagine how I ever wove happily on a Leclerc now. I've had Mac for almost two years now and I am SO happy that I decided to buy a Macomber. The man I bought him from also had a Leclerc for sale and I had considered buying that instead. I'm glad I listened to my weaving instructor and bought a Macomber! Mac is an older loom (I believe when I sent you the serial number you said it was made around 1970) but he's just as rugged and wonderful I'm sure as when he was first made.

I attached pictures of Mac and of the table runner I just took of my loom last week. :) I'm so glad to know that other weavers love their looms just as much as I do. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my story."

JoAnna's table runner

JoAnna in TN

A time for gratitude

Fall  colors ~ Acadia National Park

It is four days post Thanksgiving. The table that was expanded to seat 11 has been contracted; the gorgeous center piece of decorative corn and gourds still remains. The serving dishes and fancy glassware have all been put away. There is still some leftover turkey, waiting for the soup pot. The yard work is really all done...the leaves that have been raked into the woods will hopefully stay there! And I find myself in a sweet time ....the lull right after one holiday and just prior to the rush of another. Perfect time to gather news and tidbits for the Macomber Blog!

Dirty dusty lamms and jacks on a CP loom

About a month ago I had a conversation with a weaver who was cleaning a used loom. Apparently several of the parts were gummed up and difficult to get clean. Here is a photo of the grimy and sticky lamms and jacks.

In a consultation with Eddie, we discerned that the most likely culprit was someone had sprayed WD-40 on the lamms and jacks. This is a BAD thing to do to a Macomber Loom!

DO NOT USE WD-40 ON YOUR LOOM. So to begin...this sticky stuff needs to be removed. Mineral spirits or acetone will remove the WD-40.

Lovingly restored CP loom

The cleaned parts will need a coating of Vaseline wherever the brass jacks meet the steel rods or wires. Where the aluminum lamms slide in the wood grooves will need a spray of silicon.

Here's the same loom after much TLC by her owner. Nice job Sue!



With so many of you purchasing used looms, I get dozens of questions about cleaning the looms. In past posts I have gone over cleaning steps...so in case you missed that check out "Spiffing up your Loom" and another post on how to Vaseline the jacks.

Keith with his new loom

I had this curious thought the other day...I wonder how many of us name our looms? Or even think of our loom having a gender?? Although I have never named any of my looms, I definitely consider them "gals". How about you? If you are inspired send me a photo of your loom with his/her name or gender and a brief sentence about what inspired this christening. I think this might be and interesting reflection on how attached we are to these machines. I will post the images and stories that I receive.

South Africa this winter!!

Looking ahead....I will be off for another GRAND adventure this winter. December 29th I will be flying to Cape Town, South Africa.


I will spend a couple of weeks being a tourist and then about January 17th, I will cast off and sail back to the Caribbean, arriving approximately February 28th. We are planning stops at St Helena and Ascension Island . 

Sperry Rock, St Helena

In the meantime, keep those questions and orders coming. I am grateful for all your kind words of support as well as you business.

Prayer Flags woven in memory of a friend

Happy weaving!

 ~ Sarah