@maxmosscrop

Time Machine. This spool & pirn winder, just finis

Time Machine.
This spool & pirn winder, just finished, is copied from one gifted to Norfolk Museums by Lopham linen weaver Albert Tyler in 1926, now @gressenhall_fw. A photograph c.1915 in the same collection shows the same winder being used by Ellen Bale, who had inherited the Buckenham linen business in 1905, with Albert Tyler standing next to her. I started work on the wheel in the middle of May and, as usual, it took longer than anticipated. Machines don’t get much simpler than this but it is surprisingly nuanced, with everything in just the right place, and a pleasure to use. The spindle rotates 32 times faster than the big wheel, creating a time differential. After a while I find myself a hundred years ago with a feather in my bonnet and Albert Tyler looking over my shoulder!

Thanks to the curators @gressenhall_fw for generous access to the collection.

#technicalevolution #crafthistory #materialhistory #LophamLinen #norfolkhistory #norfolkmuseums #Gressenhall #linenweaving #timemachine

Putting some finishing touches to my new (old) bob

Putting some finishing touches to my new (old) bobbin winder. I’ve learnt that the drive cord is less inclined to slip if the whorl (small pulley wheel) has a fine, steep sided groove so that the cord is squeezed by the sides rather than sitting at the bottom of the V. I’m copying the winder from a historic example (last pic) from Lopham in Norfolk in the collection @gressenhall_fw

Open studio today. Weaving demonstrations, heritag

Open studio today. Weaving demonstrations, heritage linens and work in progress. @camberwellartsfestival
Coldharbour Studios, 26 Southwell Road, London SE5 9PG. Open 11-6pm.
5 minute walk from Loughborough Junction Rail Station; Buses 35, 45, 345 from Brixton or Camberwell.

Open studio next weekend, Saturday & Sunday 11am -

Open studio next weekend, Saturday & Sunday 11am - 6pm @camberwellartsfestival
Coldharbour Studios, 26 Southwell Road, London SE5 9PG.
5 minute walk from Loughborough Junction Rail Station; Buses 35, 45, 345 from Brixton or Camberwell.

Please join me at my ‘open studio’ next weeken

Please join me at my ‘open studio’ next weekend @camberwellartsfestival :
Coldharbour Studios, 26 Southwell Road, London SE5 9PG.
5 minute walk from Loughborough Junction Rail Station; Buses 35, 45, 345 from Brixton or Camberwell.

Beamed, tied-on & ready to go. I usually beam the

Beamed, tied-on & ready to go.
I usually beam the warp solo, with a system of rollers and weights for tension, but I had some help this time which sped things up: thanks Jasia @shopeasternbloc

Tying-on new warp to old. 864 ends. This is my met

Tying-on new warp to old. 864 ends. This is my method, reliable but none too speedy. It takes me an average of 6 minutes to tie a half-gang of 9 ends. Should be done by the end of the day.

On the way to being a spool & pirn winder, copied

On the way to being a spool & pirn winder, copied from one from North Lopham in the collection of Norfolk Museums @gressenhall_fw (last photo). I’ve spent the last couple of weeks making this drive wheel, learning how to steam bend wood and turn a drill press into a makeshift lathe. Happy to see it spinning nicely on its axle. Thanks to the curators at Norfolk Museums Service for helping me measure up the original. The next stage will have to wait for a few weeks while I put a new warp on the loom in readiness for an open studio 14th & 15th June @camberwellartsfestival .

Making a drive wheel for a spool & pirn winder.

Making a drive wheel for a spool & pirn winder.

Temple. This is a smaller version of the one I mad

Temple. This is a smaller version of the one I made and posted about a few weeks ago, copied from an old linen weaver’s temple originally from Lopham in Norfolk and now in the care of Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse @gressenhall_fw
#industrialarchaeology #NorthLopham #linenweaving #Gressenhall #TraditionalCraft #HeritageCraft #handloomweaving #linenweaving #crafthistory #TextileHistory

I am delighted that the Association for Industrial

I am delighted that the Association for Industrial Archaeology have agreed to fund my project to make an experimental working reconstruction of these historic heddles as part of my ongoing research into traditional linen weaving techniques. The heddles are from a collection of artefacts originally from the linen weaving villages of North & South Lopham, held by Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse. What can they tell us about the techniques used by linen weavers of old? Thank you to the AIA and to the team at Gressenhall for generous support.

Gressenhall (@gressenhall_fw ) is also hosting the exciting Flax and Fleece Project in 2025, working with volunteers to process and spin flax grown on the farm and fleece from Norfolk Horn sheep. They have some forthcoming dates if you want to see folks working with these historic and sustainable fibres all listed on their website – upcoming date is 11 May, included with admission. Last photo is their own grown flax drying in the barn last year.

#industrialarchaeology #NorthLopham #linenweaving #Gressenhall #FlaxAndFleeceProject #FlaxProject #FlaxAndFleece #NorfolkHorn #RareBreedSheep #SustainableFashion #SustainableTextile #Spinners #Weavers #Dyers #TraditionalCraft #HeritageCraft #guildofweaversspinnersanddyers #guildswsd #midnorfolkguild

Following on from my previous post about the set o

I spent Friday @bankfieldmuseum in Halifax inspect

I spent Friday @bankfieldmuseum in Halifax inspecting a set of heddles from an old loom originally from North Lopham in Norfolk, hoping to work out what kind of linen it was used to make. The loom was acquired by the museum in 1925 and was fitted with a witch engine operating 20 leaves. A label on the front shaft indicates the heddles were made for the museum in 1958 by Lund & Son, a Bradford company who still make weaving reeds. Perhaps these beautiful bespoke heddles were replacements of older heddles with the same configuration? Or was the loom being repurposed by the museum for another project? We may never know, but either way they provide some good insight into how heddles used to be made, and I think I can do some reverse engineering to work out the pattern that was being woven. Many thanks to Eli at Bankfield for making this possible. More soon.

Eyeless heddles. I recently went back to Gressenha

Eyeless heddles. I recently went back to Gressenhall to make a detailed inspection of a set of historic weaver’s gear with unusual clasped heddles from the Norfolk linen weaving villages of North & South Lopham. I realise heddles might be something of a niche interest, but if you want to find out more I’ve written a blog about this on my website, link in bio. Thanks to the curator @gressenhall_fw for generous help.

I’m making 9 end huckaback. The very last photo

I’m making 9 end huckaback. The very last photo is a length of this cloth made in Lopham, Norfolk, sometime before 1925, from the small collection of Lopham linen in the care of the village church warden, caught in late afternoon sunlight when I visited last year.
#lophamlinen #northlopham #linenweaving #norfolkhistort #crafthistory #handloomweaving #huckaback

Temples. My copy (above) of an old, probably 19th

Temples. My copy (above) of an old, probably 19th century, weaver’s temple (below) from Lopham in Norfolk, recently rediscovered in the collection @gressenhall_fw . The original is monogrammed “GS” and perhaps belonged to George Shaw, one of the small delegation of linen weavers who met with the Commissioner for the Parliamentary Report on the Condition of the Handloom Weavers, in the Bell public house in North Lopham on 15th February 1839. The film clip of a similar temple in use is from the wonderful “Baüernwerk im Rheinland / Bäuerliche Leinenweberei”, recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in Dickenschied, Germany, 1978-1979, courtesy of LVR Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland. I haven’t yet had a chance to use this as it’s too big for the stuff I’m making right now, but I often find these old style tools have significant advantages over modern counterparts.

Beaming the dressed warp from my last post. The te

Beaming the dressed warp from my last post. The technique of dressing the warp in the chain, instead of on the loom, seems to have worked: at least it hasn’t glued itself together as I feared it might. This is also the first time I have tried beaming without the help of flanges on the beam to prevent the warp collapsing at the ends. This more traditional method involves gradually increasing the angle of the raddle, so decreasing the width of the warp as it winds on, creating a nice taper at the ends (thanks @theburroughsgarret for advice on that). I made a bracket which holds the raddle pivoted in the centre to help me do this single-handed. The proof will be in the pudding.
#handloomweaving #weavingtechnique #linenweaving

Dressing and drying a chained linen warp. The 19th

Dressing and drying a chained linen warp. The 19th century linen weavers of North & South Lopham dressed their warps with flour-paste. Percy Beales wrote about this in a manuscript article @craftsstudycentre and some of the examples of Lopham linen in the collection of Norfolk Museums are unwashed and stiff from the starch dressing. I had assumed the dressing was applied to the warp while it was on the loom, but this interrupts the weaving as it needs time to dry, at least partially, before weaving can recommence. This is hard to reconcile with evidence I found recently indicating they were weaving an impressive 7 or 8 yards a day. Perhaps they were dressing and drying their warps before mounting them in the loom, which is the possibility I’m now exploring.
Thanks to @dovetail_and_shine for sharing his experience.
#linenweaving #weavingmethods #crafthistory #handweaving #handloomweaving

Hemming ‘Queen’s Huck’ linen for hand towels

Hemming ‘Queen’s Huck’ linen for hand towels & napkins.
I recently read, amongst the papers left by Eric Pursehouse, historian and journalist, @norfolk_record_office , a note about an interview in 1961 with Eleanor Baker, née Ludbrook, aged 89, whose mother used to sew hems on towels and sheets in North Lopham for T. W. & J. Buckenham, 48 pairs at a time. Charles, Thomas and Edward Ludbrook all appear as weavers between 1876 and 1911 in the Buckenham’s putting-out ledger preserved @gressenhall_fw
According to Percy Beales: “The hemming was always done by the women of the village, usually the wives of the weavers, and they had a special way of hemming only done by them in this village, but the secret of it I have now forgotten.”
(unpublished manuscript about the Lopham Linen industry, Rita and Percy Beales Archive @craftsstudycentre )

An arrangement of handwoven linens after a photogr

An arrangement of handwoven linens after a photograph of a display by Rita Beales c.1950s (2nd image) from the Rita & Percy Beales archive @craftsstudycentre
The jug holding the daffodils is by @lily.pearmain.ceramics
Rita & Percy Beales were both musicians when they married in 1917. In 1926 they moved to the Norfolk village of North Lopham where Percy’s uncle Stephen Beales had been a linen manufacturer. They bought The Limes, the house previously owned by linen manufacturer Thomas Buckenham, and it was there that they learned the crafts of spinning & weaving.
The linen behind the jug in my photo is my rendition of “Queen’s Huck”, once woven in North Lopham for Queen Victoria.

Cutting Queen’s Huck, for towels and napkins. Th

Cutting Queen’s Huck, for towels and napkins. Three months in the making.
.
#handwovenlinen #huckaback #handtowels

Weaving “Queen’s Huck” linen, last made in t

Weaving “Queen’s Huck” linen, last made in the 1890s in North Lopham, Norfolk, for Queen Victoria’s residence Osborne House. A weaver by the name of William Pain was paid £1 - 16s for weaving 120 yards of this between 28th October and 25th November 1893. The third image is from a putting-out ledger in the collection of Norfolk Museums @gressenhall_fw

Preparing for warp dressing. I recently built thes

Preparing for warp dressing. I recently built these new extensions which allow me to move the yarn beam back a few feet, thereby doubling the length of warp that I can dress in one go. (I posted an experimental version of this a few weeks ago.) I find warp dressing to be essential for weaving singles linen, but it interrupts the rhythm of weaving and the warp takes a while to dry after the starch paste has been brushed on. The more warp I can dress at once, the better. This kind of arrangement for holding the yarn beam a few feet behind its normal position seems once to have been common practice in parts of Europe, although I have found no evidence for its use in this country. The second photo shows the warp after dressing, with extra lease sticks inserted while it dries.
#linen #linenweaving #handweaving #crafthistory #handloomweaving #warpdressing

Close-ups showing structure of “Queen’s Huck” linen currently on the loom.

Two new posts about the old Lopham linen industry

Two new posts about the old Lopham linen industry on my website, link in bio.

Some of the good things @craftsstudycentre today:

Some of the good things @craftsstudycentre today:
1-3: hand spun, handwoven linen serviettes and place-mat by Rita Beales, 1950s
4-5: handwoven, handmade blouse by Elizabeth Peacock, 1930s
6-7: C18th Staffordshire teapot and woven tapestry from the fascinating exhibition “Obsolescence & Renewal” by @neilbrownsword .
(1-5 selected for OPEN by Rising Star @csmithjewellery from @newashgate gallery)

“Queen’s Huck” on the loom. This is a copy o

“Queen’s Huck” on the loom. This is a copy of linen towelling made in the Norfolk village of North Lopham, for Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s residence on the Isle of Wight, in the nineteenth century. The original (4th pic, in the collection of Norfolk Museums @gressenhall_fw) was woven square, with diagonals running roughly 45 degrees, which is what I’m aiming for too.
@englishheritage

This is an experimental mock-up of an extension on

This is an experimental mock-up of an extension on the back of the loom for warp dressing. I find warp dressing to be essential for weaving singles linen, but it interrupts the rhythm of weaving and it takes a while for the warp to dry after the starch paste has been brushed on. The more warp I can dress at once, the better. This kind of arrangement for holding the yarn beam a few feet behind its normal position seems to have been common practice in parts of Europe, as shown in the painting by Van Gogh of a linen weaver in Neunen in the Netherlands from 1883-4 and the illustration from 1724. This set-up seems to work well so I plan to make a more permanent extension that can quickly be erected and taken down. Final image is from “A Treatise concerning the Manner of Fallowing of Ground, Raising of Grass-Seeds, and Training of Lint and Hemp, for the increase and improvement of Linnen-Manufactories in Scotland, by the Honourable Society for Improving in the Knowledge of Agriculture”, sometimes shortened to “Farming in Scotland”! It was published in Edinburgh in 1724 and is attributed to William Mackintosh.

Handwoven linen washed in conker soap. In the aut

Handwoven linen washed in conker soap. In the autumn I posted about a theory that horse chestnuts were once used in Norfolk to bleach linen. I was sceptical. Some of you commented that soap can be made from conkers, which made me wonder. I recently got round to testing this out: the sample on top is washed in soap made from crushed conkers, the lower sample in normal liquid soap. Horse chestnuts do seem to make an effective soap, but so far I haven’t see any additional bleaching effect.
#horsechestnuts #linen #bleachinglinen

I found these photos of the old weaving shed at Th

I found these photos of the old weaving shed at The Limes, North Lopham, in the Journal of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society from 1975. The Limes was once the family home of Thomas Buckenham, manufacturer of the finest linen in England during the 19th century. The weaving shed housed Jacquard looms and warping equipment. The house was bought in 1926 by Percy & Rita Beales who used the old barn as a craft shop in the 1930s. The 4th photo is from Rita & Percy Beales archive @craftsstudycentre . The barn was later used for rearing turkeys.
Photos from: “A Norfolk Linen Centre / ‘The Limes’, North Lopham”. I.M. Manning. Photos by P. Tolley.
Journal of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society, Vol 1 No 9. July 1975.
#industrialarcheology #norfolkhistory #crafthistory
#lophamlinen #linenweaving

Describing linen: “It is a symbol of firmness, i

Describing linen: “It is a symbol of firmness, incorruption and of the clearest splendour. It is made of nothing mortal and becomes brighter and more resembling light the more it is cleansed by washing.” Philo of Alexandria.

From the Quartely News of the Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers No. 20- May, 1937. Collected in the Rita & Percy Beales Archive at the @craftsstudycentre University of the Creative Arts, Farnham.

Pirn winding. I made this winder a few years ago,

Pirn winding. I made this winder a few years ago, with an old sewing machine motor and a drill chuck. One day I might make a nice 19th century style hand winder with a big wheel, but in the meantime this works perfectly well. It makes a difference which way the yarn comes off the spool and winds onto the pirn. Whenever yarn comes off the end of a package, as it does from a pirn in an end-feed shuttle, it acquires twist. This can either add to, or subtract from, the twist already given to the yarn when it was spun. I prefer less twist in my weft, to make it more pliant and turn better at the selvedges.

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