My peas, beans, and corn (choclo) lunch.Don´t expect me to eat that at home when it isn´t fresh, mom
Matilda cleaning ponchos
The pinecone brush
The wool pulled from the pinecone brush (which was pulled from the poncho). See how it can be spun into yarn again?
Preparing the loom to weave
The hand-embroidered shirt Matilda made
The hand-embroidered shirt sleeve
Fixing a broken string after showing me how to weave
Spinning more yarn so I could weave
See that smile? It´s because I don´t know what I´m doing...
But I can fake it, right?
Look at me go. Yea, um, no. I weave very slowly...
G&G say hi to you and glad that you are having a nice time.We enjoyed the pictures,etc. Keep up the good work! See you soon. Love, Grandpa Grandma-I was wondering if you would have to use your feet and then you did!The embroidering was beautiful!!Love, Grandma
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteI will comment on what you are doing and try to keep it in order with the photos. When you were washing and "Stomping" the ponchos in the water you were "fulling" the cloth. Once the ponchos were dry and you hung them up and using what you called a "pinecone" tool - You were raising the nap on the fabric. Napping is another finishing technique used to make the cloth softer, fluffier, and nicer to feel. The tool you are using is called a napping tool - they've been around for thousands of years - but they are NOT pinecones. They are the empty seed heads from the teazel plant (teasel alternate spelling). They are put into the wooden frame. They are scratchy and they catch on to things -that is why they raise a nap. Teasel grows here in Western NY too. A plant about 3 or 4 feet high. Has lovely light purple flowers - one in each hole. Then the seeds form in the holes. They dry well and are sometimes used in dried flower arrangements - you've probably seen them spray painted gold. I can show them to you when you get back or take a look around you in Ecuador- I am sure they are growing there too. They like to grow in weedy fields and along road sides. The farmers hate them - mess up the hay and they catch on clothes and animals hair - especially sheep and cats and dogs.
I am glad you learned how to use a napping tool. I've never used one.
On to the weaving -- where do I start ! You are using a counter balanced loom. A more ancient and easier to build type of loom. The shafts(harnesses) are hung from round dowels with cords. They are in pairs so when you depress a foot treadle one goes up while the other goes down. Looks like you are using a 4 harness counter balanced loom. All the looms at Crook Farm are counter balanced. All of my looms are jack looms - each shaft(harness) is separate and they are raised with an independent treadle (foot pedal). It looks like the shafts have metal heddles on them. One thread goes through each heddle. They are the metal things with the "eye" in them that have a thread going through them. A weaver uses a draft (blue print) that tells them where each thread goes either through 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 etc. to get the pattern you want. The big thing you pull to beat the weft thread in is called a beater (isn't that a surprise). In the beater is a reed ( called a reed because it used to be made out of actual reed- now they are metal but look at theirs ! ). Reeds come in different sizes (dents) - actually spacing. They can have 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 etc. spaces per inch or centimeter. The reed spaces out the warp ( vertical threads on the loom). The closer the dents in the reed the closer the threads will be and the tighter and finer the fabric. Thick thread you use a wider reed. The space that you are putting the shuttle through is called the "Shed" in English. Your description of the sequence of pushing the treadles is called "walking the treadles". They tie up the foot pedals into a pattern. You push them in the proper order and you get the weaving pattern you want. Notice they had you alternating feet. Smart ladies ! If you are weaving 12 hours per day you want to keep your body in balance and not use just one side all the time. They are obviously not doing just plain weave ( over and under). I suspect the stripes are in twill or something like that if they are raised higher than the background weaving. Take a look at it. The young lady is using the winder to also wind bobbins for your shuttle - I suspected they could use it for that also. I am still wondering about the spinning ??? Are they acutally spinning any yarn? Are they using the bicycle winder to actually spin. They could use it like a Great or Wool wheel if they have a spindle on it also and not just the attachments to fit the bobbin and the cones on.
Regina
Katie - had to do this in two posts as I was too long winded !
ReplyDeleteOn to the embroidery. I notice there is not a "foot" on the machine. They are actually doing free hand embroidery where they are moving the fabric instead of letting the "feed dogs" on the machine do it. They must have a cover for the feed dogs or they can drop them but most old machines never had that option. Quilters do that too when they are quilting in designs on something. You said there are two machines? Does one of them actually do what we call a zig zag stitch where the needle goes from side to side instead of just forward and backward. I assume it is also a treadle machine? I bow to those ladies - I have top of the line sewing machines and I wouldn't even try the embroidery they are doing.
Please find out who is doing the spinning. There may be another family that is doing the spinning. They seem to have a division of labor. Oftentimes families will specialize in one aspect of the textile production. Are there any sheep around??? Take some photos of them. Of course they may buy their yarns for weaving. Do they use any cotton for weaving.
Are they doing any backstrap weaving where they tie the loom to their waist? I thought I saw some intricate weavings in the market photos. Those are usually done on a backstrap loom with pick up weaving as opposed to the counter balanced looms. If they are making 10 ponchos in a day they are weaving fast and are set up for production. Looks like they have different colored warp threads and are using just one color in the weft ( horizontal threads you are weaving with). Not having to change weft color would speed things up considerably. You only use one shuttle and can get up some speed that way. A plain stripe is easier and quicker than doing tartan plaids ! I'll bet they put a single different colored thread to show where to cut the ponchos apart ? That is what weavers do here when weaving a series of items on the same warp. How are they measuring how much to weave ? Are they using tape measures or do they have a guide of some sort - piece of fabric, cord ? They'd have to have several for the different sizes of ponchos.
I will keep checking to see if you have posted other photos.
Hope I've given you some things to look for and questions to ask. When you get back you are going to have to learn even more about spinning and weaving !
Continue having a great time. I sure hope you are going to bring some ponchos and embroidery back with you for me to see !
Regina