Dressing the Floor Loom for Weaving

Most of the clothing we wear is comprised of woven cloth. But few people know much about the process by which thread becomes cloth. In 2012, I began weaving on an 8-harness floor loom. I was impressed by how much time it took to prepare the loom before weaving can ever begin. It has several processes done in sequence to lead up to the eventual task of weaving. “Dressing” a loom is not difficult, but it is complicated. It requires a tremendous amount of patience. And perhaps 5 hours of one's time for an expert. Significantly more for me. Yet for some, that can also be a meditative process because of the repetitive nature. In 2012, equipped with my iPhone 4 and a time lapse app, I set out to document the many steps and incredible time it takes to dress a floor loom for weaving. I believe this was a period of 12-16 hours, in total. This was my first time lapse project and I am no documentarian. It would be great to see the visual progression of the fabric and pattern developing during weaving. But, I just wanted to enjoy the weaving at that point so the video does not include me weaving.