For me, weaving is a way to experience 'real time' where things take the time they take and can't be rushed and don't fit into "reels" and "clips" or schedules. Weaving hours are HOURS and I relish the time it takes to transform thread into cloth, laying down the lines and interlacing them with other lines so that they form a sometimes soft, maybe sturdy or stiff, or sheer and flowing, colored and patterned or plain new material which has many possible uses.
Hand weaving is more like a stroll than a sprint, and proceeds like the sun across the sky steadily. Each warp thread is measured, laid alongside the previous thread and before the next, in a sequence like the passage of days into nights into days. It has a rhythm and an order like the seasons. After measuring out the warp the weaver ties it to a beam on the loom and begins to wind it slowly taking care to spread it out and keep an even tension.
All stages of the weaving process require the weaver to work carefully. This is why so many weavers feel that weaving is a form of meditation, in the way that many slow immersive activities can be. The slowness, the refinement of attention and the absorption in the process can lead to a meditative quality of being.
Threading is the process of drawing each thread, one at a time, through a heddle which has a small hole like a needle for the thread to pass through. Once again each thread passes through the weavers fingers threading a pattern which will be expressed in the weave design. Finally all the threads are gathered and tied to the front beam of the loom and the magic begins ! A loose collection of threads will be transformed into a functional and beautiful piece of cloth to wear, to adorn, to protect, to respect, to sleep with, to pray with.... People have lived with cloth for millennia so much so that you probably cannot imagine your life without cloth !!
A warp is a selection of threads stretched and held under tension on the loom. The color, texture and thickness or thinness of the warp contributes to the overall design of the finished cloth. The threads which cross and interlace with the warp make up the weft. Warp and weft qualities combine to create the look and feel of the cloth. The ways in which weft threads intersect and travel over and under the warp threads creates the structure of the cloth and its specific characteristics.
The simplest and probably the most common cloth is called plain weave. This is the one over, one under pattern which creates a very stable structure and has been used by people since weaving began to make cloth for many everyday purposes. Plain weave is my favorite cloth for the way it lets the qualities of the yarns come forward; a raw silk yarn, a chunky wool, a smooth cotton thread all beautiful.
So, the weaver has many elements to consider at every stage of the design and weave process all of which will combine to create a unique piece of cloth. After many years of weaving I still have a sense of wonder each time I unroll my finished weaving and cut it free - a cloth is born !
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