Marla Mallett's Articles

[Filiberto Boncompagni Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Filiberto Boncompagni]

Marla Mallett's name is well known among rugs and textiles collectors.

For those who still doesn't know her, she is an author, ethnographic textile researcher, lecturer, fiber artist and former university teacher.

Marla has traveled extensively in the Middle East to search for outstanding textiles and to study nomadic and village weaving practices. More recently her textile searches have taken her to Southeast Asia.

She has published a guidebook on Oriental rug and flat weave construction, Woven Structures, "hoping to increase understanding of basic weaving techniques among collectors, curators and dealers".

She owns a commercial website

http://www.marlamallett.com/

that deals with "Ethnographic" tetiles. On that website she published structural questions that have surfaced, since the publishing of her book, in the WOVEN STRUCTURES UPDATE pages. Besides that, she added a few more informative articles.

Now it seems that Marla has to migrate her website to a cloud-based web development service and in doing so most of that informative material will be lost.
That's why we volunteered to host some of here informative articles here on Turkotek, as PDF files.


First, a general information about the basic Tribal weaves

The Basic Tribal Weaves

The "Updates" section"

Updates

Update2

Update3

Updates4 - END FINISHES PROJECT

subfolders of the above:

HeadingCords

Warp Loops

Bands of Oblique Interlacing

Bands of Two-Pick Oblique Interlacing

Looped Wrapping

Bands of Oblique Wrapping

Twining

Half-HitchBands

Knotted Meshwork

Weft-Substitution Borders

Brocaded Borders

Complementary-Weft Borders

Assorted Twill Patterns


Updates5 loom


Update6
(Kurdish Twill-Tapestry )


Updates7.A - Offset Knotting Where and Why

Updates7.B - Turkmen Offset Knotting

Updates7.C - Early Examples of Offset Knotting

Updates7.D - Offset Knotting Feedback

Updates8 - Turkmen Tent Band Knotting


More on Tent Bands

Kazak Tent Bands

A few more articles:

Tracking the Archetype:
Technique-Generated Designs and their Mutant Offspring

Tracking the Archetype

Tracking the Archetype Part 2 - Design Disintegration.pdf



A Weaver's View of the Catal Huyuk Controversy

A Weaver's View

The Goddess from Anatolia
An Updated View of the Catal Huyuk Controversy

The Goddess from Anatolia

The Terminology Tangle: Another View

The Terminology Tangle Another View

Enjoy,

Filiberto Boncompagni

[Guest Close Guest]

Hi, a lot of thanks to Turkotek for hoisting Marla Mallett’s invaluable Updates.
Unfortunately, Woven structures is out of print. Do you know if by chance a reprint is planned?
Many thanks for your reply and many greetings
Catherine Schaffner

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Hi Catherine,

It looks to still be available from Marla at https://www.marlamallett.com/book-how-to-order

Joel Greifinger

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi Catherine

I emailed Marla with this question; no reponse yet. She travels a lot and catches up on emails when she returns.

Chuck

[Guest Close Guest]

Hi, Joel and Chuck,
Many thanks for your replies, I appreciate a lot! Hopefully I will get a copy.
In any case, I think that Woven Structures should be reprinted, along with Marla's Updates in a separate Appendix. No other book about oriental textiles is more precise and useful.
Turkotek is great too!

[Steve Price Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Steve Price]

Hi All

I'm saddened to report that Marla passed away last night (December 13, 2024) after a long illness. She was a fine person and I feel privileged to have known her.

Steve Price