Glossary

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  • A narrow strip of cellulosic or proteinaceous material, serving as a substrate for gold or silver leaf; see also metallic yarns.
  • A compound weave structure employing two sets of warps and wefts. One set forms the interlacing for the ground weave, the other for the pattern. Lampas textiles display contrasting surfaces, most often with the ground weave being warp-faced and the weave for the pattern weft-faced.
  • A fine rattan mat often featuring solar, lunar, bird, boat and tree motifs burned in with a hot poker (see pokerwork), often paired with a tampan during ceremonial occasions.
  • Fibers extracted from leaves, such as banana, abaca and raffia. Compare bast. In the Indonesian and the Philippine archipelago these include abaca (a type of banana), lemba and lontar palms. Such fibers were probably important throughout the region before the advent of cotton but are now confined to a few regions.
  • A rod, sometimes a pair of rods, usually inserted during warping and used to maintain a warp crossing. Generally found close to the warp beam.
  • See heddle string.
  • A bast fiber obtained from flax (Linum usitatissimim).
  • See body-tensioned loom.

  • A device for weaving, containing a means of lifting selected warp yarns above other warp yarns, forming a space called a shed through which the weft is passed. Such devices cannot function unless the warp is under tension, so all looms also contain a means for stretching the warp. The invention of the loom greatly increased the speed at which cloth could be made of spun yarns. There are many different methods of stretching the warp and of forming sheds, ranging from the very simple to the very complex.

  • A type of heddle that consists of loops of string (leashes) that enclose warps.

  • A technique using a single element or yarn in which the free end and full length of the yarn is pulled through previous work at the edge of a fabric to form each new loop. The element crosses over itself in proceeding to make the next loop. Looping is an ancient technique that existed before the domestication of fiber sources and the invention of the loom. The technique is still practiced in areas with less European influence such as the Amazon rainforest and New Guinea. Frequently, long plant fibers are used that can be twisted into yarn as the work proceeds.