Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Help Needed! Moving a Loom

During all the very VERY cold weather we have been having, the pipes to our laundry room froze.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that a few years ago we renovated our 1967 ranch house, opening it up and getting rid of painted faux paneling and covering up the old black industrial type tile on the floor with beautiful bamboo flooring and painting everything a lovely MOMA white (yes, we used the same color as MOMA in NYC).  Well, I went to take my daughter to art class and pick up my son from school at 4, and everything was fine, and at 6 when we got back there was water flowing out the back door.  We had a burst pipe in the ceiling of our laundry room.  I panicked, we finally got the water shut off, my 13 year old son stepped up to the crisis and ran to the barn and came back with a large push broom and swept 2 inches of water out of the house (who knew so much water could come from one small pipe?) , and I called the plumber and the insurance company.

Now what?  After a week and a half, the house is dried out, and 1/3 of our flooring is torn out.  Which leads me to my request for help.  The flooring in my studio is totaled.  They pulled out the worst, but it will have to be replaced.  I moved my loom so they could get the worst of it out, but now I have to empty my studio.


My question is this.  I have a Macomber loom with two tapestries on it.   One is finished and one is 1/3 of the way done.  I cannot get the loom through the door without folding it up which is going to seriously release the tension.  Is it possible for me to move the loom without losing the unfinished tapestry on the loom?  Has anyone done this?  Got any tips?  I am not sure where I will be moving the loom since most of the floors in the main spaces of the house are going to be replaced, but first I need to get it out of the studio.

I would appreciate any insights or thoughts.



1 comment:

K Spoering said...

I have moved a loom with a tapestry on it, but it was an upright loom. I released the tension but put something (can't remember what) to keep the tapestry somewhat in place on the lower beam, and moved the loom, then kind of held the woven tapestry in place while I retensioned it. As I recall, it did not re-tension exactly as it had been before, probably due to uneven floors in my old house. Also, I think I had snagged some warp as I moved it, because I had a number of warp threads break when the weaving began again. If I had it to do over again, I would clamp the tapestry to the lower (or front) beam, and would use packing or sturdy masking tape across the warp at the top (or back beam) to secure it all in place before I loosened the tension. Good Luck!