Hi all. My name is Hakim and I live in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. I am very new to actual weaving but have a long standing interest and 20 years ago even hand-carved a working replica of a wooden shuttle I saw somewhere online or in a book that was used with a backstrap loom.

That is as far as it went until I responded to an ad for a class in Middle Eastern rug weaving last year. The class never happened; cancelled twice because of insufficient numbers; but I persisted and was eventually given the phone number of the teacher, an Afgani man who had gone to Iran as a refugee and from there, a decade later, came to Australia. We started one on one lessons towards the end of last year.

So I have built a medium size vertical loom and am currently 'playing', learning the basics and making lots of mistakes.

Then my school teacher wife came home saying the school wanted to get rid of an old loom: I am now the proud owner of an 8 shaft loom which I learnt last week is a countermarch. Its been reassembled, dusted and oiled but that is about it so far - can't get much greener than that :) I eagerly await delivery of a couple of books on setting up and warping the countermarch.

Now to the lament part. After hearing that the rug weaving course had been canecelled for the second time I decided to emulate the Little Red Hen in the children's book and 'do it myself!' So I started researching  and found that the state library had a copy of a now unavailable book. So I scanned and printed some relevant bits from which I could build a loom and start weaving. Then, based on instructions in the book, I ordered some 12/6 seine twine and some Tuna wool in a range of colours. I also bought a set of tools which the Craft South had imported from Afghanistan for the planned but cancelled classes.

All ready to go I met my teacher, Ahmad, for the first time. Our first attempt at warping the loom showed my choice of 1" aluminium rod was not up to the job of supporting the warp; back to the drawing board. 1.5" steel pipe at the top and 2.5" stainless steel tubing for the bottom works very well and allows the weaving to be rolled down and around to the back. Hooray, we are away!

Now it's Christmas and we have a break from lessons and I decide to start a new project on the back unused part of the warp. But I want wider spacing for the warp. Ahmad had warped the loom and I had 78 warp threads in 3". So with my existing project now in the centre of the rear of the loom, I spread the warp threads at the bottom and top of the loom as wide as the existing project would allow and end up with 6". I secure and lace as I had seen him do and start weaving and knotting.

All is well until I decide the warp is too loose. I totally forget basic physics and crank the tension up until the warp threads 'sound' the same as Ahmad had them. I sit down to watch tennis with my wife and soon after - twang! A weird sound. The warp is now slack but it is all still intact. Then I see my original project.

Lesson learnt.

Hakim

 

Comments

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 14:08

sally orgren

Most oops can be repaired, but not sure how I would correct this one. So sorry!

Generally speaking, reg weaving requires a high tension, other types of weaving, not as much. 

Maybe next time, remove project #1 completely, and retie the warp before playing with sett (i.e. the spacing of the warp).

And perhaps loosen the tension a crank or two when the loom is at rest. Not sure what your climate was like at the time, but the loom and the threads can change with humidity changes, and if it is cranked to the max, that could cause something to give (probably not the loom!)

So what is next for your woven adventures?

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 15:20

BoyLearner

Thanks Sally. I think this one is not worth the effort to try and fix; though it would probably be possible as Ahmad's main work in rugs in Iran was repair work. His own preferred style is portraits and contemporary scenes, I think in knotted rugs rather than kilims/tapestries.

As for the 'next' project, the one just started will be started again. Initially I was going to try and use the existing bit - 4 rows of knots plus warp - but now I have the opportunity to go wider I will.

I have decided to use one of my wife's scarves as the pattern source:

and drew this, planning dark blue borders, horizontal rows of colour followed by at least 3 repeats of the drawn pattern. This was drawn when I had a 6" total width to play with, each square representing 1 knot.

Now I am thinking 5 knots per square which would give me a rug 2'6" wide and potentially usable. What do you think?

A couple of questions if I may:

I can use the Tuna wool I have but am thinking of getting some Borgs Mattgarn rug wool for the knots; it's currently heavily discounted to $5/100gms at my 'local' mail order source.

Is the 12/6 Seine adequate for the job? Would something heavier be better? 12/9? I know the problem with my last project was not any lack on the part of the warp; it was focussing all the stain on the edges of the existing work by changing the sett.

Thanks for sharing my learning experience :)

Hakim

 

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 18:59

Sara von Tresckow

I am a seller of the little book "How to Make an Oriental Rug" by Noreen Roberts. The price is $27 plus shipping.

The book is complete enough to get you started, including proper recommendations for warp and weft material. The rug I developed from studying her book can be seen on our web site - took 1st place in decorative functional textiles at the 2010 Blue Ridge Show.

We also have plans available for the loom described in the book for $10.

 

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 23:31

Yvonne K

Hi Hakim,I have not woven an oriental rug but have seen my mother make many. She uses 12/6 seine twine and has never had it break. I suspect the hot, dry weather that Adelaide has experienced has been the cause. The little samples you have woven so far look very good. It seems you have a good teacher, so seek his advice.

Yvonne K, Sydney, Aus

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 07:14

BoyLearner

Below are a couple of photos of the tools Ahmad had imported either from  Afghanistan or Iran, not sure which. The technique he has been teaching me doesn't use a heddle, the long piece of metal with the hook and hole at either end is fed through the 'micro-shed' that forms immediately above the knots and acts as a shuttle, pulling the weft threads through. It's very different to anything I have seen in any of the reference material accessed so far.

and side on of the beater and scissors ...

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 09:02

Yvonne K

That's a cunning idea for weaving the ground weft. I assume you only weave one row of weft between each row of knots, or do you have a shedding stick to make a second shed?

I spoke to my mother about your problem - I think she is unlikely to take to blogging. She consulted her reference and found advice that said to check the beater if warp threads break, there may be rough edges on it. My husband made a beater like the one you have shown, using information from a book.

My mother's favourite reference is " an illustrated guide to weaving oriental rugs" by Gordon W Scott.

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 09:16

BoyLearner

Thanks Yvonne. There was a problem early on with a few warp threads breaking and lots of others being obviously damaged. We eventually found that the hook on the knife had a small burr inside the hook and it was tearing the twine. Once that was dealt with there was no further breakages. So the twine had been weakend and where the weaving tore was in that early area.

I have discussed yarns with Ahmad but there are two problems. The first is language; he speaks Farsi and enough English for day to day communication but does not share any technical language regarding weaving. The second is his lack of experience with the limited yarns available in Australia. He is shocked by the expense of wool here. Australia, a major producer of wool, exports the bulk of it unprocessed and then imports the resulting products. He describes the Tuna as 'strange' wool and says he has never seen anything like it; it is 'too strong'.

There is no lack of trust in my teacher and his methods, simply a desire to learn what is available to me here in Australia and to make connections with other weavers. The Spinners and Weavers Guild in Adelaide has just reopened and I will join and, I expect, learn lots about the countermarche floor loom; but when Ahmad and I visited there late last year they were unable to help with information about sources of rug wool apart from Glenora, Petlins and Bendigo Mill.

Sorry about the rant. I'm a bit verbose at times :)

Hakim

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 09:55

BoyLearner

Gordon Scott's book is the one I copied some of the chapters from. It is very useful. I also have a first edition of Marla Mallett's book, 'Woven Structures - a Guide to Oriental Rug and Textile Analysis' and have spent quite a bit of time on her web site.

We use a shed stick and use two weft threads. The first is 3 ply cotton which sits directly on the knots and runs across in a straight line between the warp threads. The stick is then brought down and opens a new shed and a single strand of ordinary sewing cotton is laid in loosely and is gently pushed down with the beater so it loosely wraps around the warp. Then on to the next row of knots. The 3 ply is also what links the selvage to the knotted section.

Many thanks to you and your mum. What an environment to grow up in. I am jealous.

Hakim

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 22:02

Yvonne K

My mother uses 2 ply worsted, about 2/22 count. She makes her knots using 4 or 5 strands at once. There used to be a mill that made it, but, sadly, it has been closed for some time. The yarn can still be found for sale occasionally. It is known usually known as Goulburn 2 ply, manufactured by Ramsfield yarns. Perhaps you could put "wanted to buy" notices in the states' guild newsletters.

I can send you some offcuts if you email me your address using the link on this comment.Yvonne

Thu, 01/17/2013 - 22:13

Andy_SA

 

Here are some leads, which you may well have already explored:

Marion City Council and CraftSouth: if my memory serves correctly, both have organised a series of art and craft workshops in the recent past, which included Persian rugs. I don't have a contact name for the former, but remember that when I met the co-ordinator at a workshop, she was very friendly. The latter were at one point focussing their attention on newly-arrived migrants.

http://www.ausrugcrafters.com/default.html  I remember coming across this site a while ago. They sell rug wool, but it may not be what your friend is looking for. It seems that all the weaving shops in and around Adelaide have closed down one-by-one. A colleague was telling me how she used to go and buy rug yarn by weight, then sit and cut it to length for latch hooking. That shop is long gone! You sometimes come across previously-owned (but unused) supplies at the Guild, and also at op shops, but that of course is very hit and miss.

Regarding the loom, if you're loooking for extra reeds, you can buy them second-hand at the Guild. New ones can be bought from a guy in Daw Park: he sells on Ebay and is a weaver himself.

Bev Bills, a local artist, and weaving teacher, is a Guild member, and may have some leads re yarn.

Have you been to the Oakbank Weaver's studio? He doesn't sell yarn, but may again know of a supllier.

Good luck with all that, and let us know if you find another supplier!