F I B R E - A R T S

What is fibre arts?

Fibre arts prioritizes aesthetic value over utility. Well, while it is the essence of fibre arts, we guess anything with aesthetic value will find its utility too!

Anything to do with fibres, yarns & fabric- basketry, crochet, knitting, macramé, felting, spinning, weaving, quilting, lace making, hand embroidery, dyeing, printing- all come under fibre arts as long as the ‘art’ element is the priority. Our focus at the studio is Hand weaving, Hand spinning & Felting. We also carry gorgeous yarns for knitting, crochet, weaving & other fibre arts.

W E A V I N G

weaving

‘Man has been a weaver ever since he has been a man!’ – Mary Atwater

The basics of weaving remains the same since ancient times which is interlacement of warp & weft yarns, though the mechanisms may be very many.

The modern hand looms are designed keeping in mind the functionality and ergonomics and giving great importance to aesthetics as a thing of beauty is a joy forever. The modern hand looms are for everyone to try their hand without learning the skills the hard way. Spend less time preparing to weave and more time on creativity.

The interesting part is you don’t need to know anything about weaving but still can get started with just a little initiation. We have the Rigid heddle looms & Inkle looms for amateurs & hobbyists who want to weave something quick and gift it to their dear ones. We even have a ‘mobile rigid heddle loom’ called Knitters loom which you can fold and carry in a bag! A great companion for travellers.

While the Rigid heddle looms can be used for weaving lovely neck scarves, stoles, table runners, cushion covers or even panels for making your dresses, the Inkle looms are great for making narrow bands like fashion belts, camera straps, dress trims, yoga belts, key chains and even saree borders.

There are multi-shaft table looms for the ones who love patterns & textures in weaving and the mathematically oriented. Saori looms for the zen weavers and seekers. Computerised Hand looms for tech-savvy creators and textile designers.

A hand loom for everyone. Have we missed anyone?!

TYPES OF WEAVING

BEGINNER LOOMS

rigid heddle loom

Rigid heddle weaving

Rigid-heddle loom is a nice beginner’s loom. Easy to set up and very portable. Weave at the comfort of your dining or living room or carry the loom to your garden (remember to carry the thermos filled with some good tea!) It also offers a lot of patterning scope as you gain experience. You can weave intricate patterns by using hand manipulation techniques, pick up sticks and by adding another heddle to the loom. You can even weave double width cloths  & tubular fabrics with these looms.

frame loom

TAPESTRY WEAVING

Tapestries are ‘woven paintings’. A great art form, tapestry weaving can be practised by beginners as well as by artists. Though tapestry was used earlier for utilities like tunics & table covers too, they are now used mainly for wall hangings. You can weave anything from portraits to abstracts & create stunning pieces with dramatic textures. Weaving frames are good for beginners to explore tapestry weaving and create small wall hangings. Large Tapestry looms are excellent for professional use.

inkle loom weaving workshop

INKLE WEAVING

Websters says Inkle is a ‘colourful tape woven on very narrow loom’. Easy to set up and learn. You can weave narrow bands of upto 3” width in these lovely Inkle looms. Intricate patterns with hand manipulation techniques & ‘Tablet weaving’ to make decorative bands take it to the next level as you gain experience. Inkle tapes looms can be used as belts, camera/ guitar straps, bag handles, head/ arm bands, key chains, book marks, dress trims, saree borders…The list goes on & on.

Welcome to the world of pattern weaving

ADVANCED / PROFESSIONAL LOOMS

8 shaft table loom

Table loom

While a 4 shaft Table loom is good for a beginner weaver who wants to explore pattern weaving including plain weaves, twills & the like, the experienced ones and the textile designers & design colleges opt for 8 shaft Table looms & 16 shaft Table looms. Typical width of Table loom is 24" while narrower versions at 16" are also available for select models.

There is also a folding 8-shaft loom (Ashford Katie loom). 12” in width and about 6 kgs, this loom is supplied with a carry bag. Ideal for design & sample development. For Textile Designers who want to carry the work or for conducting workshops. Ashford Table looms carry Texsolv heddles which are very friendly to your fingers! No more rusting of heddles! The reed is made from rust proof stainless steel. The specially designed Top swing beater with bounce back mechanism ensures even & firm beating every time.

Variety of accessories are available - Warping frames, Warping mills, Raddle kits, additional reeds, second warp beams, bobbin winders and loom stands too.

jack loom

FLOOR LOOM

Floor looms are larger versions of table looms and more sturdily built. Instead of lifting the shafts by hand levers as in table looms, the floor loom shafts are operated by foot operated treadles. The big advantage of floor looms is that you can tie multiple shafts to one treadle according to the pattern. Press the treadle by foot for lifting one or more shafts, throw the shuttle and beat up. So, it is much quicker to weave on these looms compared to table looms.

Among floor looms, Jack looms are easy to set up.  They come with 8 shafts and 10 treadles, so you can use 8 treadles for tie-up and 2 treadles for plain weave.

Boon for designers as it can accommodate longer warps, has larger shed and enables quicker weaving. At 39” width, the Ashford Jack looms can be used for short production run too. They are space friendly even at 39" weaving width, thanks to the folding back beam. You can move the loom from one room to another without dismantling the loom. 

dobby loom

COMPUTER CONTROLLED LOOMS

Ideal marriage of computers & hand weaving technology! You are still treadling, throwing the weft pick and beating up manually like in any hand loom but the shaft selection is done with the help of electronics & solenoids and controlled by your design in the computer. You can change the weave design on the go at the touch of a button and keep weaving different designs from the same warp with ease.

Some versions have digital warp let-off, digital pick density control & automatic cloth take-up too for every beat-up. So, you can be assured of even pick density through out the fabric just like in an automatic loom.

Create your design using the computer software or even download from the web, weave a couple of inches, see if you like what you see otherwise tweak it in the computer and weave immediately with the new design. Compatible with major industry leading design software.

Great tool for Sample & design development and for short runs as well. Amazingly fast. Imagine the power of creating completely different pattern swatches from the same warp without much ado. The beauty is anyone can weave on these looms-  you can weave even on a 40 shaft loom or a jacquard loom without learning the skills of multi-shaft loom weaving as there are only 2 treadles on these looms- one for selecting the shafts and another for lifting the selected shafts. The computer & the electronics fill up for the skill part.

Strongly recommended for Design studios, Design schools and for boutiques who specialise in weaving One-Of-A-Kind products and limited edition accessories.

Fantastic loom for textile colleges to teach weaving structures and for research on technical textiles as well.

computerised dobby loom

COMPUTER CONTROLLED DOBBY LOOMS

Complex weaving made easy. Leverage the power of computers and create lovely woven dobby designs be it home textiles, apparels or technical textiles.

Available in different configurations & widths- 8 shafts/ 16 shafts/ 24 shafts/ 32 shafts & even 40 shafts!

You can customise the loom with second back beam, beater options, sectional warping beams, the list is long.

Interestingly AVL Dobby looms can be equipped with on-the loom sectional warping system too.

Connect your laptop over Wi-Fi or USB and start weaving!

rug loom dobby loom

Computer controlled Dobby Rug looms

For weaving rugs, you need a real heavy duty loom engineered to withstand all the warp tension.

Computerised Dobby helps Rug weavers create interesting patterns on Rugs with ease.

We bring AVL Rug looms which are available in 8 shafts & 16 shaft versions with compu-dobby. AVL makes looms for weaving 4ft wide rugs & carpets upto 20ft wide ones. Real monsters!

The 4ft ones are good for design/ sample development at Design studios & Design institutes, the wider ones are great for production of hand woven carpets & rugs. 

computerised jacquard loom

Computerised Jacquard looms

Computerised jacquard looms are any textile designer’s fantasty tool! Easy to set up, no need for punched cards. Individual thread control provides myriad of design opportunities from the same warp. AVL jacquard looms are available in different sizes & hook configurations- right from 30” wide looms with 360 hooks to 72" wide & upto 2160 hooks. Modular constructions allow jacquard hook addition in future too. Accordion loom structure enables adjustment of warp density too without re-warping!

Recommended for Design studios, Design schools, Textile colleges and Textile research institutions for structural & technical textiles research.

SAORI WEAVING

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S P I N N I N G

SPINNING

Hand spinning is magical! It gives you freedom to make endless varieties of yarns & total control on what you do. It is very rhythmic & meditative.

India is the land of charkha. While it is a good thing to learn the traditional way, we guess it is easier and cooler to spin with the modern spinning wheels!

The learning curve is quicker and you can spin many interesting yarns like boucle, coiled yarns, core spun yarns, wrapper yarns and a whole range of art yarns with the modern spinning wheels. You can also upcycle papers, tea bags, plastic bags, old sarees and a whole lot of other things, spin them into art yarns and use for weaving or your art work.

With the aid of drum carder or hand carder or blending board, you are presented with a wide possibility of blending different fibres like wools, silks, cottons, linens and even metallic Angelina fibres and make your own hand spun yarn in gorgeous colours. Experience the pleasure of knitting or crocheting or weaving with your own hand spun yarn.

We carry a range of spinning wheels from Ashford New Zealand. Traditional spinning wheels & the beautiful Elizabeth wheels for the people who love aesthetics of it, the Joy & Kiwi for the travellers and the Country Spinner for the Art yarn aficionados and experimental spinners. We even have a e-Spinner which is forgiving for an absolute beginner and a versatile companion for the advanced spinner. We carry a variety of Drop spindles including the Turkish drop spindle for people who love to spin on the move.

drop spindle spinning

DROP SPINDLE

spinning wheel

SPINNING WHEEL

spinning wheel

E-SPINNER

F E L T I N G

FELTING

Felting perhaps is the oldest known textile making technique. Animal hairs like wool entangle with each other when you apply appropriate heat, moisture and mechanical action like rubbing thus creating a ‘felted sheet’. Broadly, there are 3 ways of felting.

Wet felting: You can felt the wools with wet felting, a fun process of sprinkling soap & water onto wool and keep rolling & rubbing till it felts. Good exercise for the arms & shoulders too! You can make hand bags, slinger bags, beautiful wall arts and even 3 dimensional felts including lamp shades and the like.

Needle felting: With needle felting, just keep pricking the wool with specially profiled felting needles and shape the wools into anything you like including dolls, flowers, your favourite comic characters and a whole big dinosaur too if you have the time & patience!

Nuno-felting: A relatively new technique developed by fibre artist Polly Stirling in early 1990s, nuno-felting is great for creating light weight felts which can be used even as dresses & stoles. It involves felting the wool fibres onto silk fabrics to make some stunning pieces.

nuno felting workshop

Nuno felting

needle felting workshop

NEEDLE FELTING

wet felting workshop

WET FELTING