Hobby looms in weaver s backyard
Staff reporter
With spools of yarn of many colors and textures, he sits in his patio building and weaves.
Similar to Silas Marner, Jack Swain is the weaver of Marion, instead of Raveloe.
Jack was taught more than 10 years ago by Luci Helmer, rural Marion, at Butler Community College.
Luci taught the classes from 1993 to 1996 at the Marion campus.
"Jack was my one and only male student," Luci said with a smile.
The self-taught teacher previously had quilted and decided to try something new.
Rebecca Kuntz, who at that time was the director of the Marion campus, owned several looms and let Luci and her students use them.
With four looms at home, Luci has made wall hangings, rugs, purses, table rugs, and placemats.
"I'd like to try to make clothing," Luci said, "but I just haven't had time."
Luci and daughter Amy are owners of The Big Scoop, which makes time limited for other interests, she said.
"I have always been interested in weaving," said Jack.
As a high school student in Oklahoma City, Jack remembered a teacher reading the book "Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe" by George Eliot.
The novel is about an English man in the 1860s who sat in his small cottage and wove.
It all started when Jack's wife saw an ad in the newspaper.
"Ella saw that Luci was teaching a weaving class and I decided 'What the heck,' and I took it," Jack said.
From that class, Jack developed a love for weaving.
A small, concrete block building in the Swains' backyard houses Jack's tools and materials for weaving.
Skeins of yarn are neatly stacked in boxes and organized by color. Plastic water jugs keep strips of material sorted and organized.
When Jack and Ella travel, they keep their eyes open for inexpensive, discontinued bolts of material and yarn.
"Most of my yarn comes from knitting mills in Oklahoma," said Jack.
A large floor loom consumes most of the small building.
Constructed by Jack in 1996, it was built from a set of plans.
Materials for the loom came from remodeling projects at their home and their daughter's home.
"I used a banister rail from my daughter's home and French doors from our home," Jack said. A power saw blade is used as a ratchet.
A treadle on the floor opens the loom.
It took Jack about two months, working on it part-time, to build it.
Looms can be purchased, said Jack, but he wanted to build a unique weaving device.
He also has a smaller loom called an "inkle" that is used for projects that require a more narrow design.
When a project is started, yarn is threaded through numerous narrow metal tines.
"The yarn has to be threaded through the tines in a specific order," Luci explained.
A wooden shuttle containing yarn is slid between the strands to hold the design in place. Periodically, strips of material are inserted crosswise to add texture and design.
On a shelf near the loom are numerous books that provide Jack with ideas and instructions for projects.
The small room is well-lighted and ventilated with numerous windows.
During the past 10 years, Jack has made numerous rugs, runners, wall hangings, and placemats. He also makes special orders for friends and family.
His artwork can be seen daily at Marion Historical Museum because his mats are used to display artifacts in the museum.
And so he sits at his loom, in his backyard cottage, and weaves another masterpiece.
