What we know as the “standard loomed beadwork” has not always been the case. Today most people when they think of loomed beadwork automatically think “tension loom”. In the early days of loom beadwork, looms that employed a fixed heddle were much more common. During the 1940’s and 1950’s Ben Hunt and Buck Burshears taught much tension loom technique to youth groups throughout the Midwest. At the same time John Lotter was working just as hard to keep the heddle loom technique alive. Mr. Lotter kept up his effort until his death in 1994. Shortly before his death I promised that the technique would not be lost again as long as I could do anything about it. For this reason today I continue John Lotter’s work teaching “Loomed Beadwork with Fixed Heddle”. The basic difference between the two techniques are: Tension is done single warp double weft.

TENSION LOOM WEAVING You can see in the illustration that the needle has to pass through the beads twice! So if you are working with a wide piece or very small beads this is a real problem. Also you can only string one line of beads at a time. Since you have to put the needle back through the beads a second time. Some people use a two needle technique that changes the above statement slightly but there is still a needle passing through each bead twice.

HEDDLE LOOM WEAVING   When you use a fixed heddle on a loom it is done “double warp single weft”. The needle passes through the beads only once and the beads are “woven” into place by the action of the heddle. This allows you to string as many beads on your weft thread as you can count for your pattern!

The heddle used for beadwork is basically a flat piece of wood with alternating holes and slots.

Of the double warp threads, one goes through a hole and the other goes through a slot. This allows you to move the threads in the holes up and down for the weaving action. The difference in looms are a tension loom can be a box or rigid frame with warp threads of a single length, without needing and tension adjustments. A loom on which you will use a heddle should be able to have the tension of warp threads adjusted while the work progresses.

For a more detailed description of the technique there are two resources available: David Dean’s book “Beading in the Native American Tradition” and “Whispering Wind’s Craft Annual #7” both can be purchased at www.whisperingwind.com. If you have questions please email me at ellis@brerfox.com and by all means check out my website at: www.loombeadwork.com Written by Ellis Taylor, Master Beadworker, and Heddle Maker

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