A flying shuttle – a corruption of a pure craft

I am surfing the web looking on how to weave with a flying shuttle.  A theoretical interest at the moment, but will become a practical one.  One day.

So, anyway, I googled, watched the YouTube videos, and googled a bit more.  And found a priceless statement that I cannot keep to myself (Master Weaver, Nov-Dec 1961):

Flying shuttle.  This is not only a piece of weaving equipment, but also one of the most controversial issues among handweavers.  There are many who consider the flying shuttle as a symbol of corruption of the purity of our craft.

Invented in 1733.  Jump-started the Industrial revolution.  Almost killed the handweaving industry as industrial looms marched on.  Now it is an obsolescence in the automatic machine looms.  And I don’t know a single weaver that weaves with it on their hand-operated looms.  283 years after its invention, and still a novelty.

We weavers are a conservative bunch, I tell ya.

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One thought on “A flying shuttle – a corruption of a pure craft

  1. We were in Ireland last year and spoke to two professional weavers–one at Avoca and one in his own shop in Ardara–who both use flying shuttles. They laughed at us when they heard we just threw the shuttle–SO slow and inefficient, they said!

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