Posted by Marla Mallett on July 14, 1999 at 19:07:23:
In Reply to: A technical peculiarity of the "ak mafrash" posted by Steve Price on July 14, 1999 at 14:25:20:
: Dear Folks,
: The little mafrash pictured on the main page has a peculiarity that might interest some of you. The narrow white ground stripes with the red decoration (the form of the decoration is seen much more clearly on the image of the khorjin) is done as a pile decoration on a flatwoven ground, similar to many Turkmen tentbands. I've seen one other Turkmen bag with pile decoration on a white ground (I don't remember exactly when or where; probably at a dealer fair at one of the ACOR or ICOC conventions). Have any of you seen others?
: Steve Price
Dear Steve,
Do you mean ANY kind of Turkmen bag with a banded design combining knotted pile and a flat-weave ground? I have a detail photo of such an elem from an ak cuval in my book on page 57. The piece belongs to a friend, and I was not aware that these were uncommon, although it does make sense that they should be. Unlike the warp-faced structures of the tent bands, this ak cuval is, of course, weft-faced. This combination of knotting and weft-faced weave (done without any compensating discontinuous wefts) within a pattern band was an extremely difficult way to produce a well-crafted, product. The tent-band structures, with their knotting on alternate warps, gave the weaver a lot more flexibility... That construction was much more friendly and accommodating. Now I also am interested in knowing if anyone else has come across examples of this weave combination.
Marla