![]() Brown, from 1952, includes a clear example of a rigid heddle loom as a kind of 2 shaft loom - it refers to it as a “heddle-reed combination”, and refers to "longs and shorts" instead of slots and holes. Hand Weaving for Pleasure and Profit: A Guide to Two Harness Weaving, by Harriette J. Diagram of Loom with a Heddle Frame from The Joy of Hand Weaving ![]() “Heddle-Frame” also seems to be used in other sources to refer to a shaft or harness, including in patents for power looms. The diagrams don’t quite show a full loom set up with supports etc., but the other diagrams in the book are often missing that kind of detail. The Joy of Hand Weaving (first edition is from 1950 photos are from the 1964 second edition) includes details of how to make a “Heddle-Frame” also known as a “Slot-and-Hole Heddle”, and how it can be a good choice if you’re making your own loom. What I’ve learned from that article and from various vintage weaving books from the 50s-70s is that there are various terms used to refer to rigid heddles and rigid heddle looms in older books, which may be why others have concluded they likely developed post WWII with looms like the Spear's looms. This is a couple decades before the 1953 Spear's example which is the oldest Liz Gipson mentions in a footnote on her post on When if ever do I need a floor loom? So if the Kircher looms are the first true rigid heddle looms, that puts the origins likely in the late 1920s, as one could expect it takes some time for the loom to make it from Germany to the US and for the article to be written and published. Kircher is still around and their history (German) says they were founded in 1924 and “within a few years” expanded to include “large weaving frames”, which is how they refer to their rigid heddle looms, which they still sell in the German market. The loom is described as coming in 3 sizes, from 14 to 30 inches, and that they can take about 8 warp threads to the inch, and the reed was made of wood. The article is part 2 of a 4 part series, but the archive doesn’t seem to have the issues with the other parts (and the numbering of volumes is very confusing!). ![]() This loom is very clearly a rigid heddle loom (though it might be warped backwards in that photo!). The relatively low cost of this useful little apparatus will recommend it to the use of craft teachers in schools and camps, to mature students making their first efforts in weaving with or without a teacher, and to persons who pursue craft work for it’s beneficial effects.” Kircher Loom The Kircher loom is distinguished by its adaptability to the production of a 2- or 3-yard length of fabric and by mechanical features usually found in more expensive looms. “The Kircher Loom is the second loom in this group, and devotees of the craft of weaving will welcome with great enthusiasm the introduction of this new loom fitted to the needs of beginners and yet so well constructed as to be far removed from the class of a toy. The earliest dated reference I’ve come across (thanks to a Reddit thread!) for what is clearly what I’d call a rigid heddle loom is an article "Handweaving on Loom Frames" by Cecelia Cleveland Willard, published in Bernat Handicrafter, November-December 1931, which details how to assemble and use a then new loom by Kircher. These looms are particularly associated with the American colonial era, though I have also seen references to medieval box looms.īut rigid heddle looms similar to what’s on the market today, suitable for weaving wider fabric and with supports for the heddle(s), are probably less than 100 years old. I've seen examples of both styles of loom with both names. Wider rigid heddles used with a backstrap setup were also used in the Americas, such as by the Zuni.Ī more direct precursor to rigid heddle looms are are “ box” and “ tape” looms, which are also used for narrow bands - in some of these the heddle is fixed in place while the woven end of the band is held in the weavers hands, in others it is a free floating rigid heddle on a small loom not unlike a small rigid heddle loom without heddle blocks. These could have been used with a backstrap setup, suspended between posts, or any number of simple setups. Small Rigid heddles for band weaving, go back to at least Roman times. ![]() Rigid heddles are ancient, but rigid heddle looms as I define them in my post on What is a rigid heddle loom? are a much more more modern invention. ![]()
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