SUPPLEMENTARY WARP
Decoration can be incorporated into a ground weave with the use of extra, or supplementary, warps which play no part in the basic structure.
Technique
In Indonesia the ground warp threads are laid out on two-heddle, continuously warped body-tension loom and the supplementary warp threads which are thicker and lighter in color are laid over them. The weaver then places a bamboo stick between the ground and extra-warps, near the warp beam, to ensure that two sets of warps do not entangle. A small model of the pattern made of string and sticks is used as guide to be setting out the extra-warp pattern. Many small wooden splints are then set into place, picking up the appropriate supplementary warp threads to form a pattern as the weft is introduced. As weaving progress, the splints are lifted in sequence the form a supplementary pattern in twill weave. Where the splints are lifted, the extra-warp thread will appear on the surface to form the pattern in twill weave. Where the splints are lifted, the extra-warp threads will appear on the surface to form the pattern, otherwise they appear on the underside as a continuous float. Weaving with extra warps causes problems with tensioning, so constant adjustments have to be ground and supplementary warps.
Distribution
Supplementary-warp textiles are woven in very few parts of the world They are most prevalent Eastern Indonesia, particularly on the islands of Bali, Timor and the Moluccas, and most notably in Sumba. In east Sumba, noblewomen weave a sarong known as Lau pahudu. Its lower border has mythological motifs worked in a supplementary warp of heavy, light colored yarn against a dark background weave. Long sashes are also woven in the same technique. The tourist demand for these pieces is now so high that, breaking with tradition, young men as well as young women weave them on back-strap looms with very long warps.
SUPPLEMENTARY WEFT (CONTINUOUS)
Extra or supplementary wefts can be introduced into a weave to add decoration to an otherwise plain cloth. As with supplementary warps. these are decorative and are not an essential part of the structure The supplementary weft is usually of a different colour and thicker than the yarn used for the ground weft. A continuous supplementary weft is one that passes right across the weave from selvedge to selvedge.
Technique
To build up a pattern an extra-weft thread must be made to appear or disappear by floating across several warp strands at strategic points. This type of weave is called a weft float. The supplementary weft when it does not appear on face of the cloth. floats on the reverse and is periodically bound into the ground weave to maintain the integrity of the structure.
With elaborate continuous supplementary weft designs the decorative motifs characteristically appear as a dark pattern against a lighter ground, whereas on the reverse the design will appear in negative, a light pattern against a dark background A supplementary weft may be woven in with the ground weft or by the opening of a separate shed.
Distribution
Elaborate and beautiful continuous supplementary weft cloths are woven in many parts of world. Weavers in Europe, Asia, North Africa and Latin America are the producers of almost all of curtain these fabrics. Probably the most beautiful are those woven in the remote hills of Sam Neua in Northern Laos for use as sashes, stoles and curtains.
Above right; an Itneg mantle from Luzon in the Philippines.
Below left; cotton curtain, form central Laos , decorated with supplementary waft threads.
Below right; a woven cotton square, form Lombok , Indonesia with a simple pattern of supplementary wefts.
Inset, a girl, form Mixan, in 1920s. Her cotton blouse with supplementary weft patterns, is of a type that can still see Guatemala today.
Right; A Kach’s in women’s apron , from Myanmar, worn with the wefts, and therefore the bands of patterns, running vertically.
SUPPLEMENTARY WEFT (DISCONTINUOUS)
Just like a continuous supplementary weft thread, a discontinuous wen thread is decorative and not an essential part of the textile’s structure, but is woven into selected places only, as in tapestry weave, and not into the full width ofthe cloth from selvedge to selvedge.
Technique
The most effective way of employing discont’nuous supplementary wefts is with the use of floats, introducing them eithcr into the same shed as the ground weft or into one of their own. They are not entered at the selvedge, but at the point at which the pattern is to be begun, unlike continuous supplementary wefts which must traverse the full wldth of the fabric.
For a different effect weft inlay may be employed. This consists of a supplementary weft that is laid in with the ground weave. As it docs not float the effect is more subtle, although stronger as it is less likely to snag.
Distribution
Textiles with a pattern woven with a discontinuous supplementary weft are found all over the world, often in combination with continuous supple mentary wefts. Weft inlay is used with particular vigour for working the mot’fs of animals and domestic objects in the stripweaves of the Ashanti and Ewe people-s of Ghana.
