@maxmosscrop

This is my new warp beam being made on Mike Wood’s lathe in Bedfordshire (I like to build my own equipment but this was beyond me). It’s modelled on the traditional ‘cane roller’ as described by Luther Hopper, and it’s a good example of two good principles of engineering: 1. the fewer components the better (less to go wrong) and: 2. the old solutions, evolved over generations, are hard to beat. The cane roller is a single piece of wood like a big rolling pin with a slot running its length to accept the rod at the end of the warp. The way the rod is held in the slot by another rod and the warp itself is really nice. No axle, no apron, no cords, no knots, just a simple smooth cylinder to roll the warp onto.
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(Photo by Mike, drawings from Luther Hooper’s Hand-Loom Weaving Plain & Ornamental 1920)
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#caneroller #technicalevolution #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom #lutherhooper

Linen yarn wound on a stick ready for warping. Sme

Linen yarn wound on a stick ready for warping. Smells like a freshly mown meadow. Destined for another length of huckaback linen.

Huckaback linen just off the loom, and weaver’s

Huckaback linen just off the loom, and weaver’s draft of the same c1750, North Yorkshire.

I finally managed to squeeze in a visit to the Nor

I finally managed to squeeze in a visit to the North Yorkshire County Records Office to see the real thing: Z371: The Weavers’ Guide: Linen Designs by Ralph Watson of Aiskew, 18th cent. I hadn’t realised before but these patterns for damask diaper are drawn life size: the smallest grid unit measures about 1/16th of an inch and represents 5 ends and picks of woven linen, equivalent to a sett of about 80 ends per inch.
For more info see my blog, link in bio.
#DamaskDiaper #linen #YorkshireHistory#TextileHistory #RalphWatsonOfAiskew

Clickety-clack. New fly shuttle assembly. #huckab

Clickety-clack. New fly shuttle assembly.

#huckaback #linen #flyshuttle

Bits for new fly-shuttle boxes and race. This will

Bits for new fly-shuttle boxes and race. This will be the third and hopefully final version. The race that the shuttle travels along slopes down towards the reed at an angle to coincide with the bottom of the warp when the shed is open and the batten is swung forward. My last one was 10 degrees, which turned out too shallow. This is 15. Beech, steel and shoe leather!
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#flyshuttle #flyingshuttle #JohnKay #1733

That huckaback linen from my last post, now washed

That huckaback linen from my last post, now washed, ironed & hemmed for hand towels.
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#huckaback #handwoven #linen

I’ve been making huckaback, inspired by examples

I’ve been making huckaback, inspired by examples of Lopham linen in the collection of Norfolk Museums.

According to the OED: huckaback / huckaback / huckaback / hugaback / hag-a-bag / hagabag / huggaback / huck-a-back: “A stout linen fabric, with the weft threads thrown alternately up so as to form a rough surface, used for towelling and the like.” “A noted product of the North of England.”
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The origins of the name are obscure but there may be a connection to the Low German hukkebak, a way of carrying something on the back, suggesting cloth carried on a pedlar’s back; or perhaps referring to the long warp and weft floats carried on a plain weave background.

1696: “A sort of Diaper made in England, and is very strong, called Huckaback.”
1707: “One Huckaback Table Cloth.”
1721: “Warrington has a particular Market every week for the linen called huckaback, the manufacture of its neighbourhood.”
1725: “Clean hag-a-bag I'll spread upon his board.”
1748: “Darlington… particularly excels in Huggabags of Ten Quarters wide, which are made no-where else in England.” (ten quarters = seven feet six inches!)

Undated, from the Shropshire Word Book: “The waiver’s maden a nice piece o’ ‘uckaback of the ‘erden yorn – it’ll do mighty well for the men’s tablecloths.” (‘erden = herden, sometimes ‘harden’, made of ‘herdes’ – coarse or refuse flax or hemp.)

Huckaback was still being manufactured on handlooms in Lopham, Norfolk until the early 1900’s.

#huckaback #huggaback #linenweaving #linen #hemp #hempen #herden #LophamLinen

Another detail of Timmy Feather’s loom: an unusu

Another detail of Timmy Feather’s loom: an unusual variant of a counterbalanced shedding mechanism, especially the pulley wheels on the treadles. Looks to be tied up to make a 2/2 twill.

#handloomweaving #textilehistory #cliffecastlemuseum #yorkshirehistory

This is the picker on Timmy Feather’s loom in Cl

This is the picker on Timmy Feather’s loom in Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley. The picker propels the shuttle from side to side and needs to withstand some serious bashing. This one matches the description in Luther Hooper’s Handloom Weaving Plain & Ornamental: “The picker is usually made from two pieces of buffalo hide joined together by a piece of hard wood strengthened with twisted wire.” Coincidentally, Hooper’s book was published the same year that Timmy Feather died - 1910. Timmy lived in Buckley Green near Stanbury in West Yorkshire and was reputedly the last professional hand loom weaver in the Bradford area.

“He uses the ‘salwend’ to smooth the selvedg

“He uses the ‘salwend’ to smooth the selvedges. This prevents the edge from becoming frayed or uneven.”

(“Mit dem Salwend glättet er die Tuchkanten. Dadurch verhindert er, daß der Rand uneben wird oder ausfranst.”)

Anyone ever come across this device, or know of an English term for it?

I recently finished translating the German commentary from the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei 4: Herstellen von Leinwand, the fourth in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/9, produced by Landschaftsverband Rheinland. The transcription is available on the blog section of my website, link in bio.

Film & audio courtesy Landschaftsverband Rheinland

#BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

“Once Wilhelm Mosel has woven about 10 cm of clo

“Once Wilhelm Mosel has woven about 10 cm of cloth he can insert the temple (den Breithalter). This consists of two slightly curved, flat pieces of wood that fit together. They have metal teeth at the ends, which the weaver hooks into the edges of the fabric. The temple keeps the working area of the cloth taut during weaving. The lay beats well and the shuttle can be thrown easily through the shed. The loom is working.”

I recently finished translating the German commentary from the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei 4: Herstellen von Leinwand, the fourth in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/9, produced by Landschaftsverband Rheinland. The transcription is available on the blog section of my website, link in bio.

Film & audio courtesy Landschaftsverband Rheinland

#BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom #breithalter

#temple #tenterhooks #selvedge

#temple #tenterhooks #selvedge

“Wilhelm Mosel now fits the bobbin, made from an

“Wilhelm Mosel now fits the bobbin, made from an elder branch, onto the wicker spindle of the little boat-shuttle. The weft yarn is guided through the side opening of the shuttle and unwinds easily as the shuttle slides through the shed.”

I have just finished translating the German commentary from the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei 4: Herstellen von Leinwand, the fourth in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/9, produced by Landschaftsverband Rheinland. The transcription is available on the blog section of my website, link in bio.

Film & audio courtesy of Landschaftsverband Rheinland.

#BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

“Otto Klos hangs the ‘donkey’, an octagonal

“Otto Klos hangs the ‘donkey’, an octagonal wooden weight, on the cross sticks in the middle of the warp. This is also weighted with a horseshoe. This pulls the cross sticks backwards towards the warp beam during weaving.”

I have just finished translating the German commentary from the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei 4: Herstellen von Leinwand, the fourth in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/9, produced by Landschaftsverband Rheinland. The transcription is available on the blog section of my website, link in bio.

#BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

I’ve been working on this new flying shuttle mec

I’ve been working on this new flying shuttle mechanism for a couple of months, on and off. Problem is, I’ve built it around my 11” Bluster Bay end-feed shuttle, only to discover that the man who makes them has recently stopped production. If anyone out there happens to have a spare one I’d love to hear from you! I like to build my own equipment but the tensioning system in these beautiful shuttles is beyond me.

#BlusterBay #EndFeedShuttle #FlyingShuttle

Details of loom in the Ferme Ecomusée du Clos Par

Details of loom in the Ferme Ecomusée du Clos Parchet. Principal joints look like dovetailed & wedged tenons, marked up with letters & numbers to help reassembly.

#handloom #TissageÀBras #Chanvre #ClosParchet

Loom, dated 1868, in the Ferme Ecomusée du Clos P

Loom, dated 1868, in the Ferme Ecomusée du Clos Parchet, near Samoëns.

The star exhibit of the Ecomusée du Clos Parchet is the building itself, situated on a mountainside in the Haute Savoie, built in 1815 and now preserved as a typical example of a Savoyard farmhouse. The form of these farmhouses evolved over centuries to be exquisitely fit for purpose. The stone-built bottom storey is divided into two, with a byre for cattle, sheep & pigs on the north side, and living quarters on the south. A tapering chimney, large enough at the bottom for smoking hams, runs up from the kitchen through the timber built barn which comprises the upper story and where winter feed was stored. The building now houses an astonishing array of old tools and household items, including this old loom probably used for weaving hemp.

#handloom #TissageÀBras #Chanvre #ClosParchet

Linen huckaback towelling in the collection of Nor

Linen huckaback towelling in the collection of Norfolk Museums. Made in North or South Lopham, Norfolk, probably early 1900’s.

A note on the box this was stored in reads:
“Lopham linen; cream coloured, fairly fine, with diaper pattern; one of three patterns cut from long lengths now owned by Ipswich Museum.”

The pattern is based on a four end unit with 24 ends or 6 units in one repeat. This four-end structure has variously been called called four-end-huck, barley-corn, Bronson or spot weave.

One of the reasons I’m interested is because the c.1800 manuscript by Yorkshire linen weaver Ralph Watson contains a draft that uses the same 4-end structure, but in a more complex pattern. Watson calls it Huckaback.

#huckaback #barleycorn #Bronson #NorthLopham #SouthLopham #BuckenhamLinen #LophamLinen #NorfolkMuseums #NorwichCastle #NorfolkLife

“one green oasis in the vast desert of disconten

“one green oasis in the vast desert of discontent”
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The exact date of this painting is unknown, but William seems to have joined forces with his brother Thomas of North Lopham before their firm of T.W & J. Buckenham acquired the Royal Warrant in 1837.

The 1841 Parliamentary Report on the Condition of the Handloom Weavers described North Lopham as “one green oasis in the vast desert of discontent.” Handloom weavers elsewhere in Britain were in dire economic straits. Wages in Ireland, Scotland and the counties of Lancashire & Warwickshire had fallen 60% between 1815 and 1834.

According to the report, the weavers of Lopham “were engaged in making shirting, sheeting and table-linen. They stated that their wages, after deducting expenses, were on the average 10s. a week. The hours of labour are twelve hours, out of which two are to be deducted for meals, leaving ten hours in the loom. This length of time they declared to be the utmost that men in general could endure for a permanency.”

Perhaps the success of the Buckenham business was partly due to their enterprising delivery service?
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#huckaback #NorthLopham #SouthLopham #BuckenhamLinen #LophamLinen #NorfolkMuseums #Gressenhall #NorfolkLife

Photograph of Albert Tyler, linen weaver at North

Photograph of Albert Tyler, linen weaver at North Lopham, taken around 1900. Albert was the last in a line of Tylers who had worked the Lopham looms since 1851 or earlier. He worked for the firm of T.W & J. Buckenham and may have woven the cloth in my previous post. The photograph is in the collection in the Museum of Norfolk Life in Gressenhall.
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#huckaback #NorthLopham #SouthLopham #BuckenhamLinen #LophamLinen #NorfolkMuseums #Gressenhall #NorfolkLife

Linen Huckaback towelling in the collection of Nor

Linen Huckaback towelling in the collection of Norfolk Museums.
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A note on the box in which this was stored reads:
“Kitchen Towel made from Lopham linen for kitchens of Osborne House, Isle of Wight home of Victoria and Albert and family. Men wove the linen in Lopham; women in Lopham hand finished the cloth, particularly by marking ownership in red cross stitch; 1 1/2 d for 12 letters.”

The cloth is about 94cm wide and 36 ends and picks per inch, and appears unwashed.

It was almost certainly made by the firm of T.W & J Buckenham, who had acquired a Royal Warrant in 1837 and prospered until the 1880s by specialising in high quality linen damask. They continued making handwoven huckaback towelling until 1925, when the remaining looms were sold off or given to museums.

A note on the file states that the cloth was made from locally grown flax. Hemp was once more widely used than flax in the manufacture of East Anglian linen, although hemp cultivation had largely ceased a hundred years before it was prohibited under the Dangerous Drugs Act in 1964. But was flax really being locally grown, processed and spun as late as 1899?
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#huckaback #NorthLopham #SouthLopham #BuckenhamLinen #LophamLinen

Four huckaback towels, made in North or South Loph

Four huckaback towels, made in North or South Lopham, Norfolk, c.1900.
Big thanks to the curators at Norfolk Museums for a fascinating day studying their collection of Buckenham linens.
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#Huckaback #NorthLopham #SouthLopham #BuckenhamLinen #LophamLinen

Linen weaving in North Yorkshire, once upon a time

Linen weaving in North Yorkshire, once upon a time.
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No one has written a comprehensive history of linen weaving in Yorkshire, so to get a sense of the context for Ralph Watson and Thomas Jackson, 18th century linen weavers who left manuscripts, I turned to the Women’s Institute North Yorkshire Village Book for some local knowledge. Each red pin locates a village where flax or linen industry is mentioned. The black pin top right is where Thomas Jackson lived, around Wilton, Lazenby or Kirkleatham near the mouth of the Tees. The blue pin is Aiskew, home to Ralph Watson. The picture represented by the Village Book is incomplete - it only covers a third of all villages and the historical accounts are selective - but it’s not a bad start.
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#NorthYorkshire
#NorthYorkshireHistory
#linenweaving
#Allerston
#BishopMonkton
#BishopsThornton
#Borrowby
#Broughton
#Commondale
#Danby
#Crakehall
#Dacre
#Follifoot
#Glasshouses
#GreatAyton
#HirstCourtney
#HuttonRudby
#Killinghall
#Kirbymoorside
#LintonInCraven
#LintonOnOuse
#LowBentham
#Mickley
#Osbaldwick
#PateleyBridge
#Potto
#Scriven
#Summerbridge
#ThorntonLeDale
#Westerlake

This is from the second “hapings” draft on p14

This is from the second “hapings” draft on p144 of the manuscript by linen weaver Ralph Watson of Aiskew c.1800 in the @North_Yorkshire_Archive.
I’m following some advice from Luther Hooper, who suggests the use of doubled ends, warped and entered together, when weaving point draft twills. Warp is 28/1 and weft is a whopping 8/1. I’ve had to re-sley twice from 48 to 56 to 64 epi with various weights of weft to get the pattern to sit up straight with a 45 degree twill line. The cloth comes out very heavy, and the jury’s out on Mr. Hooper on this one. What is a “hapings” anyway?!
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#RalphWatsonOfAiskew #LutherHooper #NorthYorkshireHistory
#linenweaving #RalphWatsonWeaver #handweaving #handloom #transduction #formation

Lark’s head & head of a lark. . Sky-lark illustr

Lark’s head & head of a lark.
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Sky-lark illustration from “Coloured figures of the birds of the British Islands” Lilford, Thomas Littleton Powys, Baron, 1885
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#weavingknots #knots #handweaving #larkshead #skylark

Water wheel at Dunkirk Mill and old handloom (orig

Water wheel at Dunkirk Mill and old handloom (originally from Llangollen c1850) at Gigg Mill, Nailsworth.
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All too brief visit to Stroud and the Nailsworth open mill weekend. Thanks to @StroudTextileTrust for caring for the heritage and informative talks and @Tessa_Molly_Brown @LouisaMinkin & @AndreaEMason for company.
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#stroudtextiletrust #broadcloth #stroudwaterReds #handloom

Thanks @millimetre_site for posting this reminder.

Thanks @millimetre_site for posting this reminder. Great fun working with @adamgillamartist and everyone on this:
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Another from the archive, 2018.
Triggers Broom, curated by Adam Gillam and Max Mosscrop, thanks to you two.

artists: Jo Addison, Adam Gillam, Anna Hughes, Neill Kidgell, Max Mosscrop, Clunie Reid, Alice Walton

Trigger's Broom considers how the paradoxical figure of Trigger’s Broom, from the BBC TV series Only Fools and Horses, can operate as an exemplary conceptual model for thinking critically, productively and collaboratively about the mercurial life and transformational power of objects in contemporary practice.

In an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Trigger tells how he has been awarded a medal for using the same broom for twenty years, before revealing that the broom has had seventeen new heads and fourteen new handles. Wikipedia now lists Trigger’s Broom as a contemporary version of the ancient paradox of identity known variously as Theseus’ Ship, Locke’s Sock, Washington’s Axe, and Jeannot’s Knife: when does something which changes cease to be itself?
@joaddisonartist
@adamgillamartist @_anna_hughes_ @neillkidgell @maxmosscrop @clunie_reid @alicewalton72

“Der Weber verbindet die beiden Schäfte nun mit

“Der Weber verbindet die beiden Schäfte nun mit den Tritten. Damit ist der Webstuhl funktionsfähig aufgestellt.”
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The weaver connects the two shafts to the treadles. The loom is now functional.
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(End of 2nd film: Aufschlagen des Webstuhls)
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Translating BäuerlicheLeinenweberei. Film clip courtesy of Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland.
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#translation #BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

“Die Schäfte bestehen aus Kordellitzen mit klei

“Die Schäfte bestehen aus Kordellitzen mit kleinen Metallaugen in der Mitte, durch die die Kettfäden gezogen werden. Im Geschirr hängt noch der Rest des alten Gewebes. Er erleichtert später das Anknüpfen der neuen Kette.”
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The heddles are made of string with small metal eyes in the middle through which the warp threads are drawn. The remainder of the previous cloth is still hanging in the gear. This makes it easier to attach the new warp later.
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Translating BäuerlicheLeinenweberei. Film clip courtesy of Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland.
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#translation #BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

I’ve just read The Cleveland Village Book, writt

I’ve just read The Cleveland Village Book, written by local WI’s, searching for references to linen weaving in the old days. Is it just a coincidence that the manuscripts by Ralph Watson and Thomas Jackson were written just a few miles apart, or was there an extensive rural linen industry in the North Riding? I’m sorry to say I found only a single brief reference in the whole book, to huckaback weaving in the village of Egglescliffe on the north bank of the River Tees. The North Yorkshire Village Book, which I’ve just started, looks a lot more promising.
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#weavinghistory #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #localhistory #handweaving #yorkshirehistory #northriding #womensinstitute #huckaback #huggaback #egglescliffe

“Auf gleiche Weise befestigen sie auch die Halte

“Auf gleiche Weise befestigen sie auch die Haltevorrichtung für die Schäfte. Diese besitzt zwei Lederriemen, an denen die Schäfte aufgehängt und später bei Weben abwechselnd heruntergezogen werden.”
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In a similar way they also hang the pulley mechanism for the shafts. This has two leather straps on which the shafts are hung so they can be pulled down one after the other during weaving.
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Translating BäuerlicheLeinenweberei. Film clip courtesy of Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland.
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#translation #BäuerlicheLeinenweberei #selfisolation #webstuhl #textilehistory #linenweaving #crafthistory #weavinghistory #handweaving #handloom

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