Weaving

• 1. Fundamental Mechanics And Terminology

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  The process begins with two distinct sets of threads crossing at right angles to form a fabric. The longitudinal threads are called the warp, while the lateral threads are known as the weft or filling. A loom holds these warp threads in place so that filling threads can be woven through them. This device creates a fabric band where one thread winds between another. One specific warp thread is called an end, and one weft thread is called a pick. The method by which these threads interlace determines the characteristics of the final cloth.

  Weaving involves three primary motions repeated to create a mesh. Shedding separates the warp threads by raising or lowering heald frames to form a clear space called the shed. Picking propels the weft across the loom using hand, air-jet, rapier, or shuttle mechanisms. Beating-up pushes the weft against the fell of the cloth using a reed. Without beating-up, the distance between adjacent wefts would remain irregular and far too large. Secondary motions include let-off and take-up systems that regulate speed and density. Tertiary stop motions halt the loom if a thread breaks.

• 2. Archaeological Origins And Ancient Civilizations

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  Evidence suggests weaving existed as early as 27,000 years ago during the Paleolithic Era. An indistinct textile impression was found at the Dolní Věstonice site. Weavers from this period manufactured cordage types, plaited basketry, and sophisticated twined plain woven cloth. Artifacts included imprints in clay and burned remnants of fabric. The oldest known textiles in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru. These six finely woven textiles and cordage date between 10,100 and 9080 BCE.

  A piece of hemp cloth appeared in burial F. 7121 at the Çatalhöyük site around 7000 BCE. Neolithic civilisation preserved pile dwellings in Switzerland contained further evidence. Another fragment from Fayum dated to about 5000 BCE showed a weave of 12 threads by 9 threads per centimetre. Flax dominated Egyptian fibre use until wool became primary around 2000 BCE. Windover Archaeological Site in Florida yielded fabrics from 4900 to 6500 BCE made from plant fibres. Eighty-seven pieces of fabric associated with 37 burials revealed seven different weaves. One fabric type had 26 strands per inch.

• 3. Regional Traditions Across Continents

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  Meroë reached a high level of cotton cultivation and weaving knowledge by the 4th century BCE. Export of textiles formed one of the main sources of wealth for Kush. Aksumite King Ezana claimed he destroyed large cotton plantations during his conquest. Indigenous people of the Americas wove cotton throughout tropical regions and South American Andes used wool from domesticated llamas and alpacas. Both were domesticated by about 4,000 BCE.

  In the Inca Empire, women mostly used backstrap looms for small cloth while men operated upright looms for larger pieces. The elite valued cumbi tapestries produced on upright looms as gifts of reciprocity. European cloth-making added ornamentation through embroidery or dyeing after weaving. Pre-Columbian Andean weavers created elaborate cloth using structural designs involving warp and weft manipulation. Silk weaving in China dates back to 3500 BCE with intricate examples found in tombs from 2700 BCE. Sericulture spread to Korea by 200 BCE and Japan around 300 CE. Southeast Asia utilized abacá banana fibres and buri palm for traditional weaving.

• 4. The Industrial Revolution And Mechanization

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  Before the Industrial Revolution, weaving was a manual craft where wool served as the principal staple. John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733 which sped up the process. The opening of the Bridgewater Canal in June 1761 allowed cotton into Manchester. Edmund Cartwright proposed building a weaving machine in 1784 that functioned like cotton-spinning mills. He built a factory at Doncaster and obtained patents between 1785 and 1792. His brother Major John Cartwight built Revolution Mill at Retford.

  Power-weaving took hold during the two decades after about 1805 when 250,000 hand weavers existed in the UK. The loom became semi-automatic in 1842 with Kenworthy and Bulloughs Lancashire Loom. Firms such as Howard & Bullough produced large metal manufacturing industries for these looms. Richard Guest compared productivity in 1823 showing a steam loom weaver could produce seven pieces while a hand weaver made only two. Well-known protests movements like the Luddites included handloom weavers among their leaders. A Jacquard loom patented in France in 1804 enabled complicated patterned cloths using punched cards.

• 5. Modern Art Movements And Contemporary Practice

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  The Bauhaus design school in Germany aimed to raise weaving from craft to fine art in the 1920s. Under Gunta Stölzl, the workshop experimented with unorthodox materials including cellophane, fibreglass, and metal. Former student Anni Albers published On Weaving in 1965 which became a seminal text. Other notable figures included Otti Berger, Margaretha Reichardt, and Benita Koch-Otte. The workshop developed soundproofing and light-reflective fabrics.

  Arts and Crafts originated in England between 1860 and 1910 instigated by William Morris. It advocated traditional craftsmanship using simple forms often medieval or romantic styles of decoration. Handweaving was taken up as a decorative art during this period. Modern initiatives address poverty through programs like Maybank Women Eco-Weavers operating in Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Lihang Studio and S'uraw Education were founded by Yuma Taru to revive Atayal weaving culture in Taiwan. The Kyyangan Weavers Association in Ifugao Province collaborates with academic institutions on research and product development.

• 6. Gender Dynamics And Social Status

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  Sigmund Freud wrote that one technique women may have invented is plaiting and weaving. Women's work is often not recorded as central activity building Western history and culture. In the Bauhaus, the weaving workshop was considered the women's department where many joined against wishes to study other art forms. Helene Nonné-Schmidt believed women could only produce work in two dimensions lacking spatial imagination. Power loom workers were usually girls and young women who had security of fixed hours but lower social value than male counterparts.

  Art critic Clement Greenberg presented ideas about high and low art in 1939 which correlated decoration with femininity. Only recently has the art world begun to recognize weaving as an art form. Exhibitions such as With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972, 1985 affirmed importance of textiles. Women weavers like Anni Albers, Lenore Tawney, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Olga de Amaral, and Sheila Hicks are now subject of major retrospectives across the world. Historically there has been a hierarchy between artists considered craftspeople and those working in traditional painting or sculpture mediums.