Tuesday, March 11, 2014

AVL Loom Update: An Aha Moment

My 60" AVL Modular loom
I have listed and re-listed this beautiful loom and even lowered the asking price. I even recently contacted AVL about the possibility of a buyback and got a polite "thanks but no thanks" and advice to try selling it elsewhere. I resisted sending a detailed reply to their advice. I have been trying to sell this loom, on and off, for the past 5 years or so.
As I sat pondering what to do next, I kept thinking in "if only's". If only I had a place to set it up, if only it was smaller, if only...
Then it hit me. If I was prepared to make it into furniture at one point, why couldn't I just make it smaller, say a 36" width instead of 60"? I jumped online and did a bit of research. I found manuals on AVL's website for some of their home looms. Looking through manuals and thinking outside of the box, my conviction grew. Yes I can!
So, I have a summer project! I will resize the loom and restructure my studio. I really do miss weaving. I won't have a lot of time to devote to the fiber arts as painting and fine art takes up the biggest chunk but I have an hour a day I can sew, spin, or weave. I just have to organize and make sure things are easy to get to and I can jump in and out of the fiber projects quickly.
One of the reasons I did so well with this loom, even though I had never woven on a loom when I bought it, is because I love to tinker. I am in for a major tinker on this one! At this point I feel I have nothing to lose.

I plan to start in June and will be posting the progress!

-Renee