Posted by Wendel Swan on July 26, 1999 at 09:32:12:
In Reply to: Re: Weft ease...or lack of posted by Marla Mallett on July 26, 1999 at 08:10:50:
Dear Marla,
In introducing me to the term "weft ease" (which I shall hereafter use) you wrote:
: My natural "weaver's reaction" is to dislike the expression "sinuous warps," as any rug loom holds the warps under very high tension--of necessity--and very straight. It's the way the WEFT yarns are handled that produces the wavy warp characteristic you've described.
I picked up the term "sinous warps" from conversations with Parviz Tanavoli. It seemed descriptive of the warps themselves, although it certainly does not describe, as you have, how they get that way.
In the Textile Museum's collection is an extraordinaly fine Senneh with an overall Herati pattern, about seven feet in length. As the Herati are repeated up the rug, they become increasingly taller or longer along the warps. One also notices that the wefts are more noticable at the top of the rug than they are at the bottom.
As a non-weaver, it seems to me that the tension on the warps was not adjusted as the rug progressed and the weaver found it more difficult to compact the rows of knots and wefts without breaking the warps. It also seems that there was no "loom take-up" or this situation would not exist.
This Senneh is a very sophisticated urban weaving, obviously a high-end workshop piece.
Marla, perhaps you can explain why "loom take-up" would be utilized on a village or nomadic rug such as the yellow ground piece under discussion and not on an urban rug such as the Senneh.
I am intrigued by your thoughts about these structural features "as a sign of a tradition without much history." Let's pursue that in another thread.
Thanks for your input.
Wendel