[rustyme]

Hello,
      I have started to collect the bits and bobs needed to make a loom . I have 3 different sets of plans and I am not sure, as yet , which loom I will be making. Whichever one it is , they are all fairly simple things to make , so it shouldn't offer too much in the way of hard work to do.  Once made I will use it to weave cotton , linnen , hemp , wool and silk . The linen and hemp I will be growing on the land and retting etc. myself , and then spinning the different grades of fibre for different things ie: rope, string ,yarn and then weaving the best/finest into fabric. The wool I will get from local sheep owners till I get a few of my own . The silk I will obtain by rearing silkworms fed on Mulberry leaves grown on the land . I will only be making relatively small amounts of silk as I only really want it as a yarn . The cotton I shall be growing on the land too , if I can find some drawings that I can work from, I may make a cotton gin to clean the cotton bolls with , rather than do it all by hand. Why do I want to do these things ? ...god knows , I just do  . They were all done on cottage industry scale in years gone by , and I see no reason why they shouldn't be done now ( they still are in other countries !!).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zIqPPOlxFOg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f1RTqAWKenM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tZtZ90iqja8&feature=related
 Just a few clips of the many that I have , a picture paints a thousand words. These things added to growing my own veg and rearing my own animals plus the food to rear them with , will make it possible to live a fairly simple but enjoyable life and allow me to be quite self sufficient in most things.  I know it isn't for everyone , but I like doing these things and I am sure that at least some things that I do will become more the norm ( like they used to be ) over the next few years. Just thought as I have few minutes to spare I would show how mad I am .

cheers

Russ

[willingtonweaver]

Wow, Russ, that's a tall order! 

I can see the growing of linen and hemp being fine, but will you really manage cotton?  Do we have the right climate?  With regard to growing silk, sorry rearing silk worms, have you seen the Wormspit website?  There's everything you need to know about silk worms.  I reared Japanese Oak silk moths about 20 years ago and got some lovely tussah silk.  It was quite simple to do because they fed on oak leaves which grow easily throughout the Uk, but mulberry is not so easy to grow.  I have a friend in Devon who manages to grow mulberry to feed her silk worms, but mostly rears Oak silk moths and moon moths.

Good luck with the loom building and your fibre plans.  By the way, do you have a spinning wheel for all your spinning?

Regards

Alison

[rustyme]

Hello Alison,
              yes , as you say linen and hemp are easy to grow ( a bit of hard work to ret and process ) but ok otherwise. Cotton will grow fine over here , there are a few different types of cotton bush/tree and it may be a matter of finding the right one. I have a couple of hundred Gossypium Herbaceum , so I hope they will grow here ok , if not I will have to try some other types. I hadn't seen the Wormspit site , thanks for that ..it looks very interesting . I had read hardly anything on Tussah, I must do a lot more  reading on that subject . Mulberry is quite common in the UK . There was one next to Canterbury Cathedral ( probably still there ) that was over 600 years old. I think it got blown down a few years ago in strong winds. Not sure if they kept it going or if it was lost . I have also known a few places where they have grown , some into fair sized trees. I have got plenty of seeds ready to sow , so I will let you know how they get on . I will look into the Oak silk moths as well though .
         The loom should be easy to make , just one or two fiddly bits , but nothing to hard . I already have a spinning wheel nearly done. It was started in about 1984 ...lol... just the wheel and a couple of other bits to do to complete it. I used my mums one for a while and the one I am making got left in the shed for years . Still I have it back out now ...and I should be able to make the rest of it soon .. I used to use a drop spindle a lot as well so I can do a fair bit with those if need be. 
    I was going to try to grow Jute as well ... but I couldn't get hold of any seeds , and it is one thing that really only grows in the tropics. So that was that idea out the window. No worries though I don't need it . I don't need any of them really !!! I can buy all the yarns I want and weave those . I most likely will do just that , and then use the stuff I grow/rear once I have got better at it.  I used a table loom to make some fabric years ago and have made simple ones here and there , but I just fancy a really big one ( no jokes there please.... ) I think I can make the loom for about 50 quid so no need to worry to much on that score, famous last words !!!!

cheers
 
Russ

[Fluffywelshsheep]

lol if you find it's to much you can also buy them (give me a bell if you want to get hold of one my dad makes them, lol)

Make sure you get the write type of mulberry and silk worms only like one type, A famous king imported a load of mulberry's and silk worms and found that the silk worms didn't like the variety of mulberry

[rustyme]

Hello Linz,
             cheers mate....I would probably buy one if I had any money ? but as I am permanently skint , not knowing where the next few quid are going to come from , making one myself is the only option . Also, I do like making things myself , just as well really !!!.
         I have read a few web sites on silk worms and have a book about rearing them , and I got the type of mulberry that was recomended by all of them ...so fingers crossed I have the right ones, if not I will just end up force feeding the little buggers....The silk worms that eat oak leaves sound like a good way to go , although I am not too sure on how I would harvest all the leaves..I can't stand heights!!!! Plus I haven't found any eggs for sale so far . The ordinary ones I can get easily enough .
Back to surfing the web   

Russ

[Fluffywelshsheep]

I totally understand about making your own, have no idea about silk worms either so can't help you on that side.

My Dad recently make an inkle loam and they seam to be very popular with weavers.

[rustyme]

We did rear/grow silk worms when I was a kid at school . I remember all of us pulling out the silk across the playground. So if 30 or so 7/8 year olds can rear them , I think I should be able too ?
 http://themothman.easywebstore.co.uk/SILKMOTHS_B21I40.aspx
 The above looks like a handy site for different types of silk moth .
 
   It was an Inkle loom that I made first, 20-30 years ago. No idea what happened to that though ..? What I will be making now though is a big floor loom :
 http://www.cvmt.com/construireUS.htm
 That may well be the one I make, not sure yet ? It looks simple enough for me to cope with  .

[woollyval]

mmmmn..........interesting.....and not an easy undertaking..... Have you applied for yor hemp growing licence? I believe you need one for industrial hemp and it has to be grown away from public view

[rustyme]

you did need to have a licence , I phoned the police to ask what the situation was! . But now you just need to inform the local police station that you intend to grow it and where , and away you go . That was direct from the police , so hopefully they know the law...lol... All my land is away from public view and no footpaths, so that shouldn't be a problem either . Mind you they are changing the law AGAIN, regarding the illegal stuff, so that may mean a change in the licences again ? The thing is no matter what , I am only growing plain hemp , which has no drug content at all . I won't be growing acres of the stuff , so it is just a matter of chuck a few seeds in and let them get on with it till harvest time. The retting is just a matter of letting it lay in water for a week or so , and then seperating the fibre . So , in the quantity I am doing it won't be that much work . Even if it was too much work to do , for what ever reason , it can always just go on the compost heap anyway.... The same with the linseed really . An interesting little project I thought ? with a useful product at the end .
      I got another set of loom plans as well . So I have 4 different ones now. This last set may be the one to do first as I can set it up indoors , it is only about 30" wide and very very cheap to make. I will buy the first lot of cotton/linen to weave  . I will most likely make some simple cotton cloth and then a small rug or something.

cheers

Russ

[Fluffywelshsheep]

well you'll have to show us the pictures when you do.