Wanting to build a loom and learn to weave. I want to learn all the textile arts that I can.

I looked at hundreds or maybe thousands of pictures, and then i set out to build a small table loom. I made everything myself. I just wanted to see what weaving was like. I learned so much about looms and weaving while doing this. There is still so much I need to learn about a floor loom, no one takes pictures of the things that I need to see. My goal is to build a large floor countermarch loom, maybe a 16 or 32 shaft. I would like to make everything myself, but I will have to buy some parts.

I have never seen a loom before in person, or do I know anyone who has one. If someone would help me I would greatly appreciate it. I know on a countermarch loom that you have rising and falling shafts. The rising shafts are easy enough to figure out. On the falling shafts, what takes them back to the neutral(? is that the correct term?) position? Do the wrap threads have enough tension to pull them back up? Do you have shafts that my rise at one time and fall at another, or are they strictly either rising or falling? I may sound dumb, but this is something that I have not been able to find out. My only experience is with the small table loom that I built.

I injured my back several years ago and had surgery. While I was recovering at home, I had to have something to do. I started with cross stitch. After that I learned to crochet. I had seen my mother and my wife do that before. Then I learned tatting, and that was my passion. I joined a local tatting guild, and everyone was eager to teach me. Well all good things must come to an end, and I had to go school and learn a new trade. Then back to work. At my new job, there are some ladies that have taught me to knit a little. Everyone has been so helpful. Weaving is my new passion and I want to learn everything that I can.

Where I grew up, there was once cotton mills everywhere. When I was in high school, there were a lot of my friends that worked in the mills at night. The boys were loom mechanics and the girls were loom operators. I had other jobs, and have never seen a loom or the inside of a mill.