For those interested, there are a TON of these yurt bands on eBay right now--not saying go buy, saying go LOOK. Some fascinating techniques I can guess at and others just leave me wondering how they did that! Neat patterns, too. Laverne, if you get a chance, I'd love to hear your opinion. :)

Comments

Sat, 07/24/2010 - 08:29

Caroline (not verified)

I analysed the band I own, that has a triple warp, that is, three warp threads in 3 different colours, instead of the usual pairs of warps. The technique is very similar to the one in Bolivian Highland Weaving on page 100. I wrote it up as a tutorial here:

http://www.spinningdownunder.com/id37.html

and there is a photo of the original and my copy here:

http://www.weavolution.com/node/14049

This band is double sided and repeats the design on the back. Its not as spectacular as some of the other patterns the UZbeks use, but it is possible to adapt this to make your own single sided patterns up as you go along. All you have to watch out for are the long floats on the back. You can also do a mirror image of your motif on the back.  Cahlander has a series of these similar techniques in her book, from Band 13, page 100, onwards, and once you have the hang of which colour comes to the fore and which one needs to be dropped, its straightforward and moves a long quite fast. Its fun to play with.

Many of the others seem to be a doubled warp technique with long floats on the back, and I have no doubt there are the equivalent techniques in South American weaving. Even some of the motifs are very similar! Its interesting to compare and see how the techniques are sometimes slightly different, but so nearly the same that the difference is almost imperceptible, unless you have the actual bands in front of you to clearly see what the weaver was doing.

 

 

Sat, 07/24/2010 - 13:45

bolivian warmi

Could you give some links please? I would love to see them. I have been reproducing the simple warp float ones but am interested in all kinds. This is the latest one I did...

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 01:31

onafixedincome (not verified)

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=tent+band&_sacat=0&_odkw=yurt+band&_osacat=0&bkBtn=&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313 That should give you quite a few, plus some Persian ones for variety..> :)
Mon, 07/26/2010 - 05:53

bolivian warmi

Oh boy oh boy! Thank you so much for the great link. lots of great designs and color combos!

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 06:41

Caroline (not verified)

There are some lovely bands there!

Some of the sellers are really good and have beautiful closeup shots of the backs as well as the fronts of the bands, so you can see whether they are woven or embroidered. The embroidery is very fine and usually chain stitch or satin stitch. I notice not many sellers have real close-ups of the backs like they did a year ago, which is a pity.

Some of the bands I have seen use a supplementary warp technique with what appears to be a single weft so there are long floats on the back of the bands. I suppose it all depends on what the bands are being used for. I do have some close-up photos if you want to PM me.

They must be very popular because the prices have shot up quite a bit,;-)!