H. Ling Roth

“ We know how closely analogous to ‘darning’ was the early weaving; and in our days it is not unusual to find stockings not darned at right angles, and it may be the women weavers of old sometimes put in the weft more or less out of true right angle. In the childhood of weaving we should expect different methods, and it may be, seeing that we have no selvedged cloth until very long after this time, that they experimented with a diagonal weft to see if it would not reduce the tendency to fray out at the sides.” The amount the warp and weft are out of the right angle is stated to be about 20°. ”

“ The artist has not dared to draw a back view of their heads, but has turned each man’s head to the right to show a profile. They are holding a heavy looking rod which looks like a ‘beater-in.’ One would expect to see a shuttle but perhaps this was too small an object for so rough a picture—perhaps the man at the smaller loom holds an exaggerated shuttle L in his right hand. ”

“ In so far as we can gather from the small amount of information at our disposal, in the earlier days the women were the weavers, and later on with the introduction of the upright loom the men were the weavers with an occasional female weaver. In the Egyptian Desert and in Seistan in the present day with horizontal looms the weavers appear to be males, but among the nomads of Persia who likewise use horizontal looms the weavers are females. In the use of either form of loom the Egyptian weavers beat the weft downwards or towards themselves and not upwards or away from themselves. ”

“ In the above classical illustrations which are after all only rough diagrams, the warp weights appear to hang from a single thread only, but this can not have been correct. The warp threads must have been bunched, because a single suspended thread with a tension weight immediately begins to unravel, and so loses the advantage of its having been spun, as any one can ascertain for oneself. As regards the same point on the Lake Dwellers looms, Cohausen was the first to surmise that the warp threads were bunched to receive the weight, and Messikommer proved it by practical experiment. ”

“ It is possible to arrange the warp threads diagonally from beam to beam, but with continuous weft (that is in weaving so as to get selvedges) the weft has the tendency to slip up on one side and down on the other, hence the weaving is made laborious. With a separate weft for each pick, i.e., for every once the shed is opened, there is naturally not this tendency, but this alleged diagonally woven cloth frays just as easily as any other piece of cloth without selvedge, so in either case there is not only no advantage but distinct disadvantage taking the diagonal “beaming” into consideration. ”

“ The vertical loom is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, and is, probably, ethnically as old if not older than the horizontal loom. [E] But this Egyptian upright loom differs from another, the Greek, or Central European, or Scandinavian form of the upright loom, in having an upper and a lower beam so that the warp is made taut between two beams, while in the Greek loom there is only one beam. The warp hangs from this beam, the warp threads being made taut by means of weights attached at the lower ends. ”

“ It may not be out of place here to point out that in primitive weaving laze rods serve two purposes, or one more than in the later somewhat more advanced looms. They serve throughout to keep the warp threads in place, and they serve to separate the odd threads from the even (1, 3, 5, 7 from 2, 4, 6, 8, &c.) , and in so doing take the place of the fingers in making the “shed,” i.e., the opening through which the “weft (or woof) ” is passed, a function which in turn is usurped by the “heald (or heddle) .” ”

“ It is not at all uncommon to meet with illustrations showing the warp stretched at an incline, and apart from the fact that in many the weavers are posing for illustration, and therefore, are most probably not exactly in their natural positions, the tilted arrangement has this advantage, namely, that the work of beating-in is improved by the [Pg 31] fall given to the “sword” which, with less exertion by the weaver, drives the weft home more effectively. ”

“ As regards the large number of warp threads to the inch which Mr. Lee puts down as 272-340 (107-134 per cm.) , this does not by any means indicate a complicated piece of machinery for the weaving of this belt or any other fabric. The greater the number of threads to the inch the finer must the threads be in order to get them into the allotted space, and in the weaving there will be so many more threads to raise and lower in order to make the shed opening. It means multiplying the work but does not necessarily mean that a more complicated loom must be used in the weaving. ”

“ Others are more irregular in form and will not stand upright. This latter type is, as far as I am aware, the more usual in this part of the country. They are commonly cut out of the hard chalk, and weigh about 3 or 4 lbs. (1·5-2 Kilos) . We think these weights are loom weights because we find them with Romano-British remains, as at Westbury, and late Celtic remains on our chalk uplands, far from water where fishing could have been carried on. With the same remains we find weaving combs, numerous spindle whorls and other tools of bone that were also probably used in weaving operations. ”

“ The individual warp threads were not weighted; they were bunched and then weighted. The pyramidal shaped clay warp weights found in Egypt are I understand considered by Egyptologists to belong to the Roman period, but in the Manchester University Museum there is a mud article which Miss M. A. Murray describes as a warp weight, Fig. 17, so that it is possible vertical looms with warp weights may yet be forthcoming as an Egyptian and not a foreign industrial tool. ”

“ But this kind of work implies cloth or other textile substance already woven, on which patterns are worked in, whereas in both vase paintings the textile is obviously in course of construction.” He is right in so far as he goes, but both representations are those of [Pg 33] tapestry looms which fact is indicated by the warp threads in both cases, and by the design marked on the warp threads of Fig. 29b—a method of preparing their work in use to this day by tapestry weavers. Some authorities consider that tapestry weaving is more closely related to mat making than to true weaving. ”

“ Apparent diagonal weaving can be produced by anyone taking an ordinary piece of linen or cotton cloth, cutting off the selvedge and [Pg 24] stretching the cloth in a direction diagonally to the direction of the warp and weft, and a piece of diagonally woven cloth is the result! ”

“ The probability is that the specimen of cloth, without a selvedge, having been stretched over the body for a long period of time, has, in the course of that time lost its nature and when removed it has retained its altered form and gives us the impression of having been woven diagonally. ”

“ The weaver on the left holds a spool in her hand, evidently a piece of stick with the weft thread wound round it, which she is pushing through with her fingers. The weaver on the right holds a beater-in as shown in the Beni Hasan drawing. The breast beam is held in position by two pegs near the right one of which there is a curved article of indeterminate use.
Fig. 12.—Study of a Bedawin Arab weaving, from a sketch taken in the Forties of last Century, by Frank Goodall, R.A. The original sketch is in Bankfield Museum. The weaver appears to be provided with one heddle and a beater-in. ”

“ All the drawings but Wilkinson’s show the warp threads converging towards the breast beam; Wilkinson shows them parallel and in Lepsius their convergence is excessive. There should be a slight convergence shown, as in the course of weaving the threads get drawn in, and in later forms of looms in semi-civilised countries we find an [Pg 8] endeavour to counteract this tendency by the use of a tool known as a “temple.”
The cross sticks D1, D2, look like laze rods. ”

“ The result is shown in the accompanying illustration, Fig. 36, conclusively proving that weaving on such a frame is quite [Pg 39] feasible, and practically proving that Olafsson’s and the Copenhagen warp weighted looms are properly constructed workable looms.
Fig. 36.—A warp weighted loom made at Bankfield Museum, to show the possibility of weaving by this method. There is no heddle nor shuttle used. The weaver made the “shed” and pushed the weft through with his fingers. He naturally worked downwards. ”

“ Fig. 35.—“Chalk weight, 6" × 4" × 2" (15·2 cm. × 10·2 × 5·1) , similar to those found in pits, at Mount Caburn and Cissbury near Worthing, Sussex. Found with eighteen more in the filling of pit 7, Winkelbury Hill.” Excavations in Winkelbury Camp, by Lieut.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers (Excavations in Cranbourne Chase, Vol. II., 1888) . As Pitt-Rivers also found at Winkelbury the fragment of a comb and a chalk spindle whorl, which are textile tools, we may safely presume these fashioned pieces of chalk are warp weights. ”

“ Upright looms with a lower beam instead of with warp weights and furnished [Pg 36] with heddles, are not uncommon. There are the well known Indian and Persian rug looms, and Du Chaillu figures one in his Journey to Ashango Land, London, 1867, plate facing p. 291. Randall-Maciver and Wilkin illustrate a vertical loom in use among the Kabyles, Libyan Notes, London, 1901, Pl. IX., and although the details of the illustration are not clear the text indicates the existence of one heddle: “The warp is decussated by means of a horizontal rod and leashes.” Dr. ”

“ Both forms of looms were simple, without harness or other complicated pieces of mechanism. The Egyptians accomplished fairly good work and judging these people from their looms alone we must conclude they were a progressive race. ”

“ That these were found in a limited quantity, I believe about seventeen in number, tends to show that they are warp weights, for only a few are required for every loom, in spite of the considerable number shown in the non-technical illustration of Penelope’s loom. Not being able to find any other use for these pieces of chalk, and judging that they are suitable for the purpose, I should say they are warp weights. In this case the weaver has made the most of what nature has given him; in other parts of England he has had to fashion the weight out of the rough chalk, Fig. ”

“ I should add that in making my examination of this girdle I was kindly assisted by Mr. C. A. Trigg, a well known Halifax mill manager and designer. We made the examination independently and on comparing notes afterwards found that we agreed in all essential points. ”