The Glimåkra Tapestry Loom, Finally in Action

Thank you, Rebecca Mezoff, for a great weaving workshop, valuable in so many ways.  I practiced various hatching techniques.  Between weaving, closely observing Rebecca’s samples, and absorbing the language of hatching in all of the wonderful tapestries she showed in her slide presentations, it was a very inspiring weekend.

It was also so useful to take this class because it prompted me to warp my vintage Glimåkra tapestry loom for the first time.  When it came as a donation to the Weavers Guild, in the fall of 2014, it was covered in dusty, and probably mildewed, wool warp. I bought it as an extra, and didn’t even know it was such a wonderful find.

I took off the bad warp and took photos of how everything was tied on.  I contacted Joanne Hall and she was nice enough to send me a pdf of warping instructions. (A link is at the end of this post.) I also took photos of a warped loom just like it, which was used as a demonstration at the fabulous Contemporary International Tapestry exhibit at the Hunterdon Art Museum in 2015.

With the Glimåkra, you can choose to use the posts on the top as a raddle, or hang a reed.  Here’s my warped loom.  I was pleased with the tension and weaving experience.

Today I wove all day, adding yarn to my warped-and-waiting Norwegian Hagen tapestry loom that has sat neglected and guilt-inducing, for months.  The image I am weaving is my great-uncle Edwin in a gas mask, home from World War I.  I intended to weave it during the centenary of the beginning of WWI, but 2014 sneaked by.  The weaving is going well, although I spent the afternoon weaving and un-weaving one arm, three times.  My image is quite abstracted…. you’ll see, hopefully soon.