loom weaving and willow heddles

Jess and I decided a few months ago to build a loom at Stave Hill Ecological Park – see The Fabric of Stave Hill . We’ve now made a couple of rigid heddles (pictured above) which will be used to build a loom and weave fibres and plants harvested in the park.

The round heddle followed a project in Practical Basketry Techniques, inspired by the Catalan platter. The other heddle was made using willow in combination with a couple of bow saw handles. To finish this heddle willow bark and twine will eventually be plaited across both ends of the handles to replace the cable ties now used to fasten these together.

We tried various methods for constructing the heddles and will soon find out how efficient these are when we put them to the test in a couple of days. I'll keep you updated on the outcome of this in my next post.

While making these we couldn’t resist making a few of these plaited cones with the freshly cut willow we were using, inspired by another plaiting project included in Practical Basketry Techniques. While thinking these might be used as bird feeders and hung from trees, Jess clearly had some other ideas, as you can see below! Working with others does wonders for creative inspiration!