Loom genealogies
Sure, the floor loom seems like a discrete object. It stands on four legs and has a belly full of metal teeth. But where does it really begin? Where does it end? Does it begin in the cotton fields that grow the fibers that stretch across its body? Does it begin in diagrammatic techniques used for planning and designing a project? Does it begin in a carpenters studio, thinking about the ergonomic weighting required to keep it from retiring a weaver too early? (Let’s not confuse this question with the different, though also profound question of Where does weaving begin?)
What relationship exists between a frame loom and a Thread Controller 2?
Ways in which a loom never ends: When it’s linked up to a warping system of threads. When a weft traverses left to right and back continuously, coming to the surface as image, pattern, texture, structure. When you beat the dust particles into the air with each pass. When a string breaks and you weight it down, adding a new technical element to the loom. When you spin fibers into an infinite strand of yarn. When you add a string heddle to a harness. Looms in the studio are constantly modified and hacked. Different techniques require the development of new tools and patterns.