I-Loominating! Scrapwood frame loom for under $2

The Idea

Weaving seems like a fun, low commitment, low pressure hobby. No deadlines, lots of potential yarns and fibers to experiment with. Let's build a frame loom! Even better, let's build a frame loom for almost free using scrapwood, some screws already on hand, and a box of wire brads that cost less than $2. Yeah.

The Creation

I had some easy-to-handle sized scrapwood pieces, so I laid them out on the floor to see how big my loom would be if I didn't make any cuts.  I thought it might be nice to have a wider piece across the bottom, so I just went with these pieces as they were and decided to make a 'vertical' (portrait orientation) loom.

Loom pieces

Not pictured in this post, but I happened to have a vat of indigo blue dye already on hand when building the loom, so I dipped the pieces in the dye bath just for funsies.  After the wood had dried for a few days I gave it a coat or two of shellac (already on hand from another project) because I wanted a smooth surface to minimize any yarn snagging.

Next step was the placement of small brad nails to hold weaving warp.  This stage is where I confirmed that I wanted to make a 'vertical' loom rather than a 'horizontal' loom. I laid out a piece of painters tape on each of the short pieces to make a straight edge and then measured 1 cm increments.  I then nailed in each brad at the marked increment.  I chose to use brad nails because they have a small head which seemed like it would make warping the loom, and later removing the warp, easier.

Tape measurements and nailed in warp supports

Tip: Do not nail your nails through the painters tape, nail it NEXT to the painters tape edge. The small space between each nail can make removing any stuck tape a bit tedious. I think I used tweezers at some point because I couldn't fit my finger between the nails.

Brads nailed in place

Once the brads were all in place I assembled the 4 loom pieces together, using two screws at each corner. If you only use one screw there is a possibility that the pieces could get 'out of square' with each other, and nobody wants a wonky loom.

Loom top with warp threads

Conclusion

The loom is heavier than if I had used MDF or some sort of thin plywood, but as far as a scrapwood loom that cost $2 and some time it works juuust fine.  Here it is with a test weaving showing that everything is holding together under the warp tension and (light) weight of the weft fibers.

Loom in action

Happy freestyling, or bargain creating if that is where the wind takes you!

Garden of freestyle delights - removable mini-shelf for a fence

 The Idea For the Mini-Shelf

It is always nice to have a proper spot to place a drink, or in these days, a cell phone.  The proper place is not the floor, especially on a patio or other outdoor place, and sometimes putting a drink on your own chair or lap can be ... dicey. The proper answer is stable shelf or side table, something that was lacking within arm's reach of one patio chair nestled into a corner.  So, given my quantity of scrapwood, I thought about how to make a shelf that would fit into the fence, but not require being fastened to the fence with nails or screws.

Pile of scrapwood, aka inspiration material

The Prototype

The fence has alternating vertical pieces,  these vertical pieces are fastened to horizontal wood pieces running parallel to the ground.  One of the horizontal pieces is approximately 3 ft above the bottom of the fence, making it the perfect height for a mini shelf.  I came up with a T-shaped design for the shelf, with the bottom support provided by a small block of wood.

Mini-shelf, top view.

In the picture ABOVE you can see how the narrow side arms of the 'T' shape had to be no thicker (when laid horizontally) than the space between the  vertical fence posts, which is roughly equal to the thickness of a 2x4.   The screw near the top is what held the small supporting block on the base. In the picture BELOW you can see the nail from the bottom of the shelf, on this prototype the small supporting block of wood split in half when I screwed through it - which is actually kind of helpful for showing the cross-section here.

Mini-shelf, bottom-view.

The IMPORTANT part was that my idea worked! The shelf laid flat and stayed put by being braced between the vertical fence posts and was held level by the lower small block.

Mini-shelf, side-view. 

Conclusion

After finalizing the measurements on the prototype mini-shelf I made another version of the shelf, with slightly neater cuts and maybe even some sanding to smooth the edges.  I then used a stencil to apply a purple floral mandala-type design.  After the paint was dry I coated the entire mini-shelf piece with polyurethane for protection from the elements.

Completed mini-shelf

You can see that this mini-shelf is the perfect size to hold a drink, a phone, or as one might expect in a patio space -- some gardening supplies.

Completed mini-shelf holding pruning scissors and twine.

Happy freestyling, prototyping, and gardening!