When we lived on the Isle of Lewis one of my jobs was as a Harris Tweed weaver, weaving is very seasonal so it was only one of my jobs, however when its busy its really busy. A lot of people on Lewis have more than one job due historically its been fishing, crofting and weaving, for me it was Nursing, Ambulance Service and working for a Linux company along with Weaving.
I trained at Lews Castle college first on the Hattersley single width loom, the one i bought was quite old but it was a Mk2, there were plenty of Mk1 Hattersley looms about, some even from 1919 when they first came to the Hebrides. A credit to Geo Hattersley of Keighley.
I did like the Hattersley but it did have a temperament, some days it simply did not want to work and would throw the shuttle. I never understood why, maybe it was something to do with the weather, who knows!
Along then came Griffith from Sunderland, they invented a double width loom which was lightweight and used a rapier rather than a shuttle.
I attended a second course at the college on how to weave on it, as its very different and then bought one.
Weaving Harris Tweed has to be hand woven or its not stamped, it also has to be woven in a home environment, the warp, in the case of the Hattersley loom and the beam in the case of the Griffith loom is delivered to the weaving shed then you load the warp on the beam, in the case of the Hattersley loom or lift the beam onto the Griffith loom.
Next you tie in the warp - this bit is back breaking and you follow the pattern supplied, get this wrong and its ruined.
Once the warp is pulled through and the pattern cards are set on the loom the weaving can begin.
When the cloth is complete its uplifted by the mill, checked, if there are any mistakes then you are fined and the amount deducted from your pay.
When we lived there we received a slip through the post and presented it to the mobile bank.
Below is a video we produced to show the 2 types of looms.
I hope you enjoy the video, it is rather long but it covers most aspects of weaving on the different looms.
Some people are noticing that the above video is breaking, it was with me but its due to a slow broadband connection - if the same is happening with you then please try the Youtube link below, unfortunately the Youtube one doesn't have the music at the end.
I trained at Lews Castle college first on the Hattersley single width loom, the one i bought was quite old but it was a Mk2, there were plenty of Mk1 Hattersley looms about, some even from 1919 when they first came to the Hebrides. A credit to Geo Hattersley of Keighley.
I did like the Hattersley but it did have a temperament, some days it simply did not want to work and would throw the shuttle. I never understood why, maybe it was something to do with the weather, who knows!
Along then came Griffith from Sunderland, they invented a double width loom which was lightweight and used a rapier rather than a shuttle.
I attended a second course at the college on how to weave on it, as its very different and then bought one.
Weaving Harris Tweed has to be hand woven or its not stamped, it also has to be woven in a home environment, the warp, in the case of the Hattersley loom and the beam in the case of the Griffith loom is delivered to the weaving shed then you load the warp on the beam, in the case of the Hattersley loom or lift the beam onto the Griffith loom.
Next you tie in the warp - this bit is back breaking and you follow the pattern supplied, get this wrong and its ruined.
Once the warp is pulled through and the pattern cards are set on the loom the weaving can begin.
When the cloth is complete its uplifted by the mill, checked, if there are any mistakes then you are fined and the amount deducted from your pay.
When we lived there we received a slip through the post and presented it to the mobile bank.
Below is a video we produced to show the 2 types of looms.
I hope you enjoy the video, it is rather long but it covers most aspects of weaving on the different looms.
Some people are noticing that the above video is breaking, it was with me but its due to a slow broadband connection - if the same is happening with you then please try the Youtube link below, unfortunately the Youtube one doesn't have the music at the end.
