Looms have been used for weaving cloth and tapestry for centuries. But as you already know, looms are also used in beadwork to speed up the assembly of a beaded piece. 

There are all kinds of jewelry looms - most are designed for typical bracelet widths. But what if you want to bead weave a wider piece for wall art or perhaps a bag? Or you have trouble accurately sewing your needle through many beads in a regular beading loom? A tapestry shedding device might just be the tool for you.  

A shedding device lifts half the warp threads from the rest. The v- shaped space (shed) between these groups of warp threads allows beads or threads to pass through easily.  

Otherwise with tapestry weaving, the fiber must be woven over and under the warp threads.  With shedding device bead weaving,  the beads are secured by changing the shed (turning a handle) after the end of each row. You do not have to sew through those beads. 




This video shows how to weave a wide beaded piece. How wide a piece you can work on will depend on the length of the beading needle.  Elena, the instructor, had to reach well into the shed to retrieve the needle being passed in from the other side.  Perhaps a tool like pliers can facilitate that.  You can read more about using a shedding device in this blog post


This video shows the warping for beadweaving with and without a shedding device. There are bars which go across the loom for heddle attachment. Heddles are simple loops which connect the warp threads to the shedding device.  Warping up a shedding device is definitely more time consuming.   


Personally, I prefer a smaller and more portable loom which is less time consuming to set up. But if you are keen on fiber work and bead weaving larger projects, these shedding devices might be worth looking at. 

H/T to Aims of Big Blue Barn Designs for this find. 

Before You Go:

Disclosure 

This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM