Ashford 8-Shaft Table Loom

This is a lovely loom. I am new at weaving, I own a ridged heddle loom, but wanted a larger shed, so decided to buy this loom and I love it. The only “con” I found is the company is cheap on its supply of string and they do not give you one extra ounce of supplies. But the string that you attach to the warp rollers, was my biggest gripe, an extra couple of inches per cut, would have been nice. Assembly was time consuming but I did it alone, just took my time and it went together as instructed.

As I can no longer use my legs to treadle, this is the perfect way for me to be able to continue my passion for weaving. It takes a bit to set it up, but once you train your hands to do what your feet used to do it goes along quite smoothly.

My husband bought this loom for me when I balked at the cost of getting a new workshop loom. It was too hard on my back and my loom to move my 24" 8 shaft floor loom to workshops. He bought it blind, basically a lot of guesswork. And it has turned out consistently to be everybody's favorite loom in round robin workshops. I love it. I only wish I'd gotten one that was wider than 16". The only thing that is at all difficult/time consuming is changing the number of heddles on the shafts and I don't have any suggestions on how to make it easier. I keep a fair number of texsolv heddles on each shaft and don't have to move them often. I lent this loom to a friend to use for a zoom workshop while she was moving to a small place and her weaving equipment was in temporary storage. Her comment was that the loom was a pleasure to use and she might switch to this loom and sell her floor room to save space. I highly recommend this loom.

I haven't yet woven anything on this loom, but it's very pretty to look at. The wood is smooth to the touch and a beautiful color. It went together easily. I've never used a loom with Texsol heddles, so this will be a new experience. I plan on weaving a few samples at first to get a "feel" for how the loom works, but I like the way the reed swings and is attached to the loom with 2 elastic bands making it unnecessary to push it back when throwing the shuttle. The delivery was almost a week ahead of schedule. A wonderful experience from the ordering to the assembly and I'm sure to the weaving. Thank you GIST Yarn!

This is my first new loom. My previous loom was an older model Dorothy on which I was able to make wonderful things but I wanted more shafts and width. I’ve only begun my first project on my Ashford Table Loom but I LOVE it!! Assembly instructions were clear and easily (if not quickly) completed. And it’s beautiful and elegant. The string heddles and the lever mechanisms are so quiet! And the overhead beater allows a longer reach creating more weaving space in front of the reed. The rubber feet keep it from slipping on the table top. And if needed I can fold it and stash it with my project in place!
Also, my order was placed just as Covid-19 was getting a good start. The ladies at Gist were wonderful about staying in touch with Ashford and keeping me informed.
I highly recommend this Ashford loom purchased through Gist.