Following my visit with the Montagnard backstrap weavers, I have been dabbling in weft twining. Ju and Nach showed me their warp faced backstrap woven blankets which they had edged in weft twining off the loom. They twine wefts around the warp ends to create patterns, add beads and then leave the rest of the warp ends hanging as fringe. Although the Montagnard weavers work this off the loom, Bedouin weavers often do it while their piece is on the loom. An image of this can be seen here.
I have been practicing it with heavy yarns. I used a cotton string for warp as i thought that something a little stiffer would help while learning the technique and Sugar and Cream cotton as weft (this is around 12wpi) along with other 12wpi cotton I buy here in Bolivia. The technique is very simple but it takes a while to get the moves coordinated so that you can maintain an even tension. No tools are required and it would make a great fiber activity for the car.
So far I have only used two colors at a time as the Montagnard weavers do but hope to add more colors as I gain more experience and perhaps weave some of the gorgeous Bedouin designs I have here in books.You can see one row in progress. The wefts are twisted around each warp. When working with two colors single and double twists are used to bring the desired color to the surface to form the pattern.
Here is one of the Montagnard motifs that I twined.
There is more information including links, photos of the gorgeous Montagnard pieces and book recommendations on my blog.