I’m Jess, a hand weaver living in the Southern Highlands of Australia (lovely Gundungurra Country).
When I’m at my loom, the worries of the world fall away from my shoulders, and I can lose myself in the texture of natural yarns, and vibrant colours.
I’m happiest when teasing my brain with new weave structures and sampling, sampling, sampling. As a weaver, there’s always something to learn!
I’ve long been attracted to weaving, in many different forms.
I think I first tried weaving at an inkle loom class at a medieval festival. From there I discovered tablet weaving (another type of woven braid) and was thoroughly hooked. I’ve added tablet weaving onto all sorts of historical costumes, and I’m still making braids with more and more complexity.
During 2014 I discovered Laverne Waddington’s wonderful blog on back strap weaving and made my own simple loom from a couple of sticks I found in my backyard. This is another great way to make warp-faced weaving without an expensive set up!
However, weaving really took off for me when I borrowed a friend’s table loom and managed by some stroke of luck to produce four twill tea towels before I needed to give it back. I was hooked!
My looms
My first shaft loom is a mystery Jack-style loom that came with four shafts.
Unfortunately this loom was so unpleasant to use that my weaving languished for a number of years.
In 2022 I converted it to a counter balance action, sacrificing two shafts in the process, but making it so much more pleasant to weave!
This is my Louët Spring II loom, and I love every second of weaving on this beauty.
This is a counter-march loom with twelve shafts and fourteen treadles, giving me access to all kinds of weave structures.
My favourite thing about this loom is the incredibly even tension provided by the movable front beam.
I loved the Spring loom so much that I bought an eight-shaft Jane table loom for demonstrations.
Whilst it’s portable, I don’t actually lug this loom around too often because it’s a little too wide. I regret not going for the 50 cm width. 🤷🏼♀️
The Glimåkra Standard is another incredible, reliable, loom. I now have two of these!
The first is a giant: 150 cm wide. I use the Dräll pulley system (a type of counter-balance action) with up to ten shafts (usually four).
The second is a little narrower at 120 cm. Still enormous! This loom has a Toika Computer Dobby unit mounted on top, along with twenty-four shafts.
My dream is to convert the biggest loom into a draw loom, adding a second harness to create complicated patterns. I’ll need to build a separate studio for that!
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2026 “Unthinking”, Gallery on Track, Goulburn, Australia
2024 “Studies in Colour and Weave”, Gallery on Track, Goulburn, Australia
Group exhibitions
2025 Member exhibitions, Gallery on Track, Goulburn, Australia
2023 Member exhibitions, Gallery on Track, Goulburn, Australia