Schacht Loves Rigid Heddle Weaving

August 17, 2010

Liz Gipson here for Jane who is off riding her bike in Quebec to celebrate the release of her new book, The Weaver’s Idea Book: Creative Cloth on the Rigid Heddle Loom. Jane has been a champion of the rigid heddle loom for decades. This book is a result of Jane’s years of teaching, making, and promoting the creation of creative cloth. So where else would she spend her days, but here at the Schacht factory where we make tools for the crafts we love? Pictured here are some of the folks responsible for making our rigid heddle loom line. From left to right are: Cindy Lair our production manager who was one of the first Matchless wheel builders and is still with us after nearly two decades (that’s Georgie at her feet—Cindy is active in the Basset Hound rescue community); Will Robertson who programs and oversees our CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines; Shoua Yang our production manager whose title doesn’t even begin to describe the contributions that she has made to Schacht over the years (and my walking buddy at lunch); Martha Zamora Rios who assembles our rigid heddle reeds among other tools often while singing songs from her native Mexico; Bill Hewes who keeps the CNC machines loaded; Maria Tejada who assembles all of our Crickets and Flips with the utmost care; and Adan Morales-Trigeros who tends to a lot of the finishing work on the loom parts. (In the background is the Schacht community garden.) To work with such a skilled team makes coming to the factory each day a pleasure. We take as much satisfaction in making looms as we do cheering on the weavers who use them. We hope that Jane’s book will inspire you to weave more. Send us a photo of what you make!

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