From Uzbekistan, a bag made from what appears to be tribal weaving - I am not sure if its warp or weft faced.

Yes, that is a bit of velcro! The side walls of the bag are from a different fabric. The trim and shoulder strap is actually quite coarse too.

Warp is grey/brown kempy yarn, probably goat ( it bears no resemblance to mohair as we know it) and weft is red/grey yarn. The pattern threads are singles, very tightly spun, and from a different beast from the ground, as appears to have no kemp and is much softer to touch. Some appear to be supplementary warps ( ?) like the red and brown threads, and others, the yellow and grey, are inserted when they are needed, perhaps embroidered? Could this actually be a weft-faced piece woven on its side? The side pieces seem to have come from a weft-faced piece, will try and get close-ups later.

 

Comments

Sun, 10/18/2009 - 14:08

Virag (not verified)

It looks like an older piece of carpet that has been cut and repurposed for a bag.  A lot of that has been hitting the market lately:>.  It's so cute!

Sun, 10/18/2009 - 15:05

Caroline (not verified)

Yes, there is a workshop in Tashkent doing this sort of thing, so I had no doubt this was recycled, but I liked it and its the nearest I shall ever get to owning an original tribal weaving. I have another couple of pieces coming from the same guy - bags also, so it will be interesting to see what turns up. It works in well with my Indian recycled sari bag. And its better than the fabric gets totally lost.

Sun, 10/18/2009 - 16:07

bolivian warmi

My ''guess'' is that we are looking at it sideways and that all the colours-the red, yellow, brown ,white, blueish-grey are supplementary wefts on the goat-like ground weave. It's lovely.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:22

MaryMartha

I agree  we are looking at the wrong orientation and that the bag was woven weft-faced as a continuous piece and then folded sideways to make the bag.. The yellow, gray and white pattern areas are recognizable as brocading (supplementary weft , as Bolivian warmi puts it) rather than embroidery.  That is, they were done as a hand-controlled technique on the loom rather than added later with a needle. 

The  red and brown pattern areas also look like brocading, but may have some soumak wrapping thrown in.   In wrapping, the pattern floats are diagonal rather than horizontal although the diagonal can be slight if the float is very short.  At this point, my eyesight  fails me.  A mix of techniques is not uncommon. 

I seriously doubt the warp is goat hair, just coarse, kempy undyed wool good enough for warp in a weft-faced piece.  some carpet sheep have double coats -- one kempy, one smooth.  Frankly, using goat hair for warp doesn't sound economically  feasible.  When I have seen goathair and hoursehair used in central asian weaving, it has always been sparingly, as edge finishes and bag closures.  But, yes, I still have lots to learn. 

By the way, a photography technique I've seen used with cut pile is to do a "direct scan" of a small section of front and back. That is, lay the textile on a scanner, if you have one.  This is tedious but gives a lot more information for analysis than we are likely to achieve via cameras.

 

Mon, 01/11/2010 - 16:12

bolivian warmi

i just wanted to show this off-my brother just sent me these pictures as apparently this now belongs to me!

There is a story behind it. My brother recently bought a dining table with inlay work much the same as the work seen on this frame loom, from a store owned by an Indian couple. He bought a table and one chair hoping to add slowly to the set as funds became available. Well the next time he went to get another couple of chairs, the store had closed. My brother was very upset and tracked down the Indian couple. They had gone out of business and there were no more chairs to be had and so they gave my brother his knotted pile weaving as a gift. My brother says it is mine whenever i can get to Australia to pick it up. It seems to be a very fine piece of work done by someone who was feeling very patriotic at the time!

i am hoping that it was made by the store owners so that I can have them teach me when I go back for my next visit to Australia.

Laverne

                             

Fri, 01/15/2010 - 07:57

sgt_majorette (not verified)

That's a gorgeous piece! It looks kind of like what we were learning to do at the Oriental rug class I took, except with a string heddle rod like a Navajo loom. We used an ordinary frame loom and, ignoring the pegs, wound the warp in a figure-eight.

We alternated one plain weft row and with a row of knots.

(I can't stop looking at that frame! I wonder if a young person made it from wood left over from the making of the furniture?)

Mon, 01/25/2010 - 02:28

Virag (not verified)

That loom is too awesome!