In July this year the universe conspired to nudge me firmly into my path as a full time weaver. Having spent a couple months first with a small homemade frame loom, then a borrowed Inkle (Band weaving) Loom, and then a rented four shaft sample loom, I knew that I was consumed and that my future would be woven. After playing around with the 30cm weaving width table top loom for only a couple of weeks, I was presented with the incredible opportunity to buy an Ulla Cyrus Countermarch floor loom, which would quickly take over my studio space and my heart.
The story goes that the loom was made by A.K:s Snickeriverstad in Oxaback, Sweden, although it does not have the stamp identification stamp which could help determine the year in which it was produced. I t then went on to the University of Pretoria’s Weaving department, accessioned in June 1973. When the weaving department was shut down around the end of the 90s the looms were broken down and went into storage. When the university’s storage capacity for them came to an end, a couple of these looms were saved by a woman with a vision for creating a community based weaving studio. Another decade or so passed with the looms in storage and then with the shifting and downsizing of the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown, it became time for the looms to once again find new homes. I was lucky enough to be in the right space time continuum that when presented with the opportunity it was less of a decision and more just, the next right step to take.
And so, on a Friday morning in mid July, my partner and I found ourselves sorting through a giant pile of somewhat neglected and yet to be familiarized with bundle of beams, planks, pullies, sticks and ropes in a warehouse. Crosschecking the packing list we bundled all her parts up in old sheets, gently strapped them into and ontop of the car and carried her across town to her new home. We spent the next three days relentlessly scrubbing, sanding and polishing off the years of dust, grime, rust and technical college splatter, replacing it all with a large dose of elbow grease and sweet natural turpentine based furniture wax. She now stands proudly, a relic restored to full functional beauty in my studio in the centre of the CBD where she used daily and much loved and admired always.
