Terms

(Java) A man’s and woman’s ceremonial hip wrapper, typically a large cloth made from two separately woven pieces joined together along their long edges.

Supplementary weft that extends from selvedge to selvedge.

A group of warps or wefts that belong to a set; they are part of the interlacing for the ground weave (thus they are not supplementary) and also used to create patterns. Weave structures with complementary elements can be warp-faced or weft-faced. See samit, taqueté, and jin.

See reed.

A warp that is wound in a circular fashion between a warp beam and a cloth beam, and then woven in the same fashion to make a tubular piece of cloth (usually with a short section of unwoven warp). The cloth must normally be cut after removing it from the loom, but on occasions it…

(French) A fancy word for “process”, such as the process for making a textile.

A textile designed as a floor covering. Carpets may use knotting techniques to create pile or they may be “flatwoven” using techniques such as tapestry. Synonym: rug.

A technique for weaving narrow bands and strips, and starting borders for some kinds of weaving. Warps pass through a pack of plates or cards with holes in that lie parallel to the warp. The cards are rotated to move warps up and down, to open and close sheds for weft insertion. Card looms are…

A small tool used for ‘drawing’ on cloth with hot wax. A reservoir made of copper holds the hot wax, which flows onto the fabric via a copper nib. This tool is used for applying fine detail to cloth during the batik process.

(Piper betle) is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The leaf of is usually combined with areca nut (‘betel nut’, Areca catechu), together with slaked lime and other flavourings, and is consumed as a mild stimulant throughout Southeast Asia, often as an integral part of social ritual.