When Weaver and Loom Are One
“Through the process of weaving, we also learn the process of living.”
—Anne Lane Hedlund,
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University
From a review of Navajo Weaving Way: The Path from Fleece to Rug
Most of the weavers I know wish they had more time to weave. I think that too often we allow ourselves the "indulgence" of weaving only when our other work is done. It is an add-on to our busy lives.
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Navajo weaver and author Tiana Bighorse
removing the batten from her loom to
change sheds
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In our quest for weaving time and space, it is empowering to learn about other ways to weave and other ways to be. The weaver, life, and the loom can all be one. In the first chapter of Navajo Weaving Way, author, teacher, and weaver Noël Bennett observes that the necessities of life are a full-time pursuit for Navajo weavers: raising sheep for wool and food, gathering plants for dyeing, gathering firewood for the winter. She says: “Considering the slowness of the craft itself and the amount of time given to life basics . . . it’s a bit of a miracle that Navajo weaving exists at all.” But weaving continues to exist because for Navajo weavers, it is a way of life. It is life.
Noël told me recently that the Navajo word for "to teach" literally means, "to show." A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Navajo weaver Sarah Natani, and I experienced the Navajo way of teaching firsthand. My friend Laura had organized a class with Sarah here in Oregon, and Sarah had agreed to be videotaped while demonstrating the Navajo spinning technique. I set up a video camera and sat quietly on the floor for 40 minutes or so as Sarah “taught,” spinning the wool smoothly and effortlessly as she told how her people raise sheep, how children are taught spinning and weaving, how she spins a warp thread, stories of Spider Woman, what is good to do when weaving and what is not. Technique and life, taught as one.
Noël’s co-author Tiana Bighorse remembered the stories of her people as she wove, so that she could pass them on for future generations. Noël herself says that time at her loom is a gift, that life takes unexpected turns, but the comfort of the loom remains, the pattern unfolding. Noël’s book is intended to offer us the same gift, teaching Navajo weaving technique as a way of life, inviting us to “embark on a poignant and creative journey into a mysterious and profoundly nourishing universe.” When I read Noël’s books, I’m reminded that the loom is there all the time, waiting for me to return, centering my dreams and aspirations when I am away. Centering my life.
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Dear Readers,
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"Keep it Simple" towel on the loom |
Several weavers have written to me (and posted this question on the 4-Shaft Weaving Facebook group) that they were having trouble weaving the "Keep It Simple Towels" from the eBook Best of Handwoven: Top Ten Towels on Four Shafts. (The "Keep It Simple Towels" by Mary Ann Geer are on pages 1 and 2 of the eBook.)
If this had been only one weaver, I would not have taken as much notice, but it was several. What they found was that they could not beat the yarn at the picks per inch recommended in the project instructions (24 picks per inch). The yarn for the project is 8/2 ummercerized cotton, and the warp sett is 20 ends per inch. If the cloth were plain weave, the expected weft sett for 8/2 cotton would be 20 picks per inch. But the weft floats in this variation of Marguerite Davison's "huck-a-back" weave structure subtract from the number of warp/weft intersections, making it possible for the weft sett to be closer than the warp sett.
I ordered the particular 8/2 cotton they were using to see if the yarn itself was a factor. It is not, so I think my observations would be true of any 8/2 cotton. The towel itself is 25" wide, a fairly wide weaving width. Unmercerized cotton is not a slippery yarn; in fact it has a somewhat textured surface. Both of these factors (warp width and yarn texture) mean that more force is required when you are beating in the weft to create a firm fabric. Force is not muscle. It is mass (beater weight) times acceleration. (My few weeks as a physics major taught me that.) So it is important for the beater to be moving fast as it hits the fell. Beater speed requires minimal friction from the warp as the reed moves through it. If the warp is sett with 2 ends per dent in a 10-dent reed, there will not be much friction supplied by the density of the reed's teeth (as there would be if you actually used 1/dent in a 20-dent reed). The main source of friction is likely to be draw-in; that is, if the edge threads are crowded inward, they will rub against the reed as the beater moves, slowing it down.
So, to beat this fabric firmly: use a temple to spread the warp to the width in the reed. If you don't use a temple, weave carefully to be sure there is no draw-in. And then make the beater move quickly. I do this by sort of flicking it with my wrist, making it fly.
—Madelyn |
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Anita Osterhaug
is the editor of
Handwoven and
Weaving Today. |
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| Beweave It! You may have heard someone say that weaving is in their blood, but what about their veins? It’s not a metaphor; scientists are now able to weave human blood vessels in the laboratory.
In 2000, Nicolas L’Heureux and Todd McAllister founded Cytograft Tissue Engineering (CTE) and began work on trying to grow human-derived blood vessels to replace the synthetic ones in use for dialysis patients. After over a decade of research, the team has developed a way to take cells from a patient’s hand and turn them into thin threads, which can then be woven into a tube, using a small sterile loom. The tubes become new veins for a dialysis or bypass patient.
Each vessel takes only a few months to grow and weave in the lab, and because they are derived from the patient’s own cells, so far none of the test patients’ bodies have rejected these transplants. These human textiles are also extremely durable, seamless, and appear to be puncture resistant, exactly what you want in a vein.
CTE's findings are still in the early stages of development, and more testing needs to be done to determine the safety of this procedure. Still, the results so far are positive, and the scientists in charge expect woven veins to be available for widespread use in 5–10 years. |
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May 2, 2012
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