Busy, but (still) not weaving

What with going up and down to Town (aka Stockholm) a lot, and getting the Glass museum ready for the tourist season, I haven't had much time for textiles.

(but the Glass museum site is now "on par" - ie all pages exist in both Swedish and English - and there is a g**le translate option both on the website and on the blog - feel free to visit!)
(EDIT: I just checked the translation of today's blog post... ACKKK! g**le translate isn't very helpful when it comes to oddities... is there a way I can convince you that it IS intelligible in Swe?!?)

However, this morning I found this:

which shows that that (the not-weaving) is not necessarily a problem...

(a few comments:
- "damastduk"? ok, so it says "paper" in a sort-of-backwards way, but... How will non-textile-y ppl understand what a damask (table)cloth can be, in some years time?

- "damast"? the pattern (not visible in the picture) shows a typical 4-block (possibly only 2-block... didn't open the package) true dräll* - for Swe weavers, damask is a considerably more complex pattern, usually achieved with the help of a drawloom...)

* "about dräll and other patterns"

Another mangle (and some damask)

Today we went to a renowned damask weaver, Elsa Persson.
She had (and used, of course!) a very old mangle, probably as old as the house itself (that was mid-1800 - I did not pay attention....)

The type is basically the same as mine (ie "box mangle"), but hand operated. I did not get a good overview picture, but here is one from a museum site. (This one lacks the top roller, though)

This type was "home-made" (probably by some local furniture maker). The beds (boards) are not stone (as in mine), but wood. The box has an open top, and stones are added for pressure. Originally it was operated by two persons - it has handles at both ends - pushing and pulling the top back and forth. By about 1900 a crank was added (or perhaps the whole windlass - Laura tells me that is what the contraption is called), so now it can be operated by one person.
The rope is tied to one handle, taken round the top roller several turns, and then tied to the other handle.

Here is an overview of the left side:

(I especially like that it is pegged together, just as our looms always are!)

The rope is tied to the nearest handle (not seen), goes over the roller:

To tip it (to get the rollers which hold the cloth in and out), it is just cranked to one extreme, and the box will tip by itself. I tried to get a picture of that, but could not find an angle where the mechanism/function could be seen.

Elsa has found a way to mangle wide fabrics without a fold: she got this sturdy steel tube, rolls the whole cloth around it and puts it in "halfway" - mangles. Takes the tube out, turns it and mangles the other side. The whole width stays on the tube, but only half the width gets mangled per "pass".
 - this, of course, requires an "open-sided" mangle - but mine is! Pity it is Sunday, or I would go to the hardware store immediately... :-)

Laura has posted some pictures of both looms and finished pieces, here - so I will only add one more picture:

 

A detail of a tablecloth depictiong the story of Elsa's home: the house in the middle, some of the farm's animals (and some wildlife, too - deer of several sorts, typical trees and flowers...) on the borders. This was woven with a single-draw loom.

(Click all pictures to biggify)