If you love doing loom work, you know there are some essentials that you need for every project. If you are new to loom making, it can be a bit overwhelming figuring out what those essentials are. In this blog we will try to simplify things so that those wanting to try loom work can do so easily. These recommendations are the personal preferences of our designers who love to loom!
The first thing you need is of course a loom. There are several different ones to choose from but a great basic starting loom is the Jewel Loom. It's compact, durable, and doesn't require much set up. It comes with a handy instruction manual and also a needle. Even seasoned pros love the Jewel Loom as much as beginners.
If you are purchasing a loom without a needle or need extra needles, great option ares Tulip brand loom needles. These needles are sturdy and long, and most importantly, they keep their shape after multiple uses.
Now you have your loom and needle. Next up is thread. There are two really good choices for threads for your loom projects: Nymo and Toho One-G. Both offer a wonderful selection of colors to choose from and you get so much thread on one spool, that you can make oodles of loom projects!
Don't forget the beads! One of the most fun parts of looming is creating a pattern and picking the beads. One of the easiest and most commonly used beads are Toho rounds size 11/0. These beads are very easy to use with loom work, they are nice and uniform, and their holes are clean and easy to pass through. If you want to make your own pattern, we have free loom paper to download and print. If you want a pattern that is already made, a little trick is that you can click on most of our loom projects and then click on Printer Friendly PDF. This will pop up the instructions and the FREE pattern.
Clasps are what finish off your design and turn it into a wearable piece of art. There are many clasps to choose from but a good one to start with is a slider connector clasp that gives you the slide findings to go over the ends of your loom work and already has an extension chain and clasp attached. These all in one clasps/connector sets make finishing loom work very easy. It's also nice because they come in a variety of sizes to accommodate various widths of loom pieces.
To learn more about loom essentials, check out our Bead Looming 101 page. We also have complete loom bracelet kits in a variety of patterns that provide you all the supplies you need to make a loom bracelet—including the tools. Below is a video for them; even if you don't want or need a kit, the video will show you how to do bead looming from setting up your loom to beading and finishing your bracelet with the clasp!
I love the idea of creating these beautiful designs on a loom, but I’m interested in making hat bands. Do you have recommendations/patterns for a bigger design length?
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