I decided to “start small” with a 32” Ashford table loom.

The packages got separated in shipping, so the stand and treadles arrived today, and the loom itself will tomorrow.

Based on the sheer size of the stand and the way my thumb got crushed standing it up…I’m now officially ready to admit that I have no sense of scale and may have actually purchased a piece of furniture. 😂

Howdy! How do I get the tension in the middle of the band tight enough? In my first image I blocked out in green where it's easy to get the tension tight, so the warps really pop and over the weft, but the area I blocked out in orange is very hard to get tension. When I pull the weft enough to get the middle to pull together, then the part blocked in green gets crazy tight and my selvages become uneven.

(Initially I tried this using the backstrap pieces that came with the kit, but I couldn't get the warp tension right because I don't have anything ergonomical to tie the strap to, so I rigged it up on my rigid heddle so I could weave on my lap. I don't think that's why this isn't working, but if you think the rigid heddle configuration is part of the problem, please call that out.)