New World Technology Meets Old World Weaving in Cairo

by Sheila O’Hara © 11/22/06

Inspiration for me to weave a new design started after being invited to participate in an exhibit titled “Banishing Boundaries – Weaving Digitally” at the Grand Rapids Art Museum coinciding with the Handweavers Guild of America’s Convergence 2006. The wonderful exhibition catalog was sponsored by TC-1 Digital Weaving Norway since all eleven invited artists use the TC-1 hand jacquard loom to produce their artwork. I do not own a TC-1 but I was very lucky to be able to rent time on Nina Jacobs TC-1 loom in Berkeley, CA, from November 2000 until she moved to Canada in early 2006. I am so glad that Vibeke Vestby has persevered and succeeded in the development of this loom since I met her in 1986!

In December 2005 I designed and wove two hand jacquard tapestries as memorials for our dogs, Scooby and Rosie. Scooby would often sit in a position similar to the Sphinx: paws stretched out together in front of him with his head held high but his tail was up and wagging. I expanded on the Egyptian theme and included palm trees, 3 pyramids, and the Nile. I added a ball for him to play with that echoed the shape of the disk in the sky. Then followed a building on the horizon with columns in the shape of dog bones. A row of stylized dogs prancing along the riverbank added the last touch of whimsy. Of course, the title needed to be “King Pup.” After I finished the design I realized that Scooby need a partner, so I came up with “Queen Cleopetra” depicting Rosie. I kept the same basic composition but reversed the image and changed the colors around from King of the Day to Queen of the Night.

To my complete amazement, two weeks after I wove these Egyptian themed pieces, I received an e-mail from Peter Straus at AVL Looms in Chico, CA, January 4^th, 2006. Subject: “Training far afield: Hey Sheila, How would you like to go to Egypt (no kidding) to train someone on a small 336 hook jacquard? PS.”

My eloquent reply was: “Huh? Look what I just wove!” I e-mailed him pictures of “King Pup” and “Queen Cleopetra”. Peter forwarded my jacquard tapestry images to Cairo and said it was my destiny to go there along with a recommendation. After several e-mail exchanges from me and other weavers who gave quotes, Michael and Sevinch Deman invited me to travel to Egypt to help them with their AVL hand jacquard loom to weave prototype copies of antique ribbons. My husband, Bill Fredriksson, was also invited to come along. We renewed our passports and booked our tickets. On February 13, 2006, we flew to Cairo, Egypt!

Michael and Sevinch, a British couple living in Cairo for 14 years, own a company that employs 42 Egyptian artisans who are involved in the creation of passementerie: fancy tassles and trim for the interior design trade. www.passementerie.org There are four passementerie looms that use a system of draw harnesses to lift various groups of warps to tie down the weft yarns as they create elaborate patterns on warps 1-4 inches wide. There are 16 pedals on the loom. The warp beams are large bobbins that are drag weighted with bricks. The artisans weave at lightning speed and use up to 16 shuttles at once!

To keep the production going it requires the rest of the workers doing supporting tasks. In various rooms they custom dye very fine rayon yarn, unskein the yarn onto spools and make the “lines” or cords that they weave with by wrapping this rayon yarn around a cotton core thread. This is done by securing a long cotton cord at one end of the long room and then securing it to a motor at the other end about 30 yards away. Next a worker takes a 1 foot long ¼ inch thick metal rod and puts 2-3 spools of rayon yarn on it. After the rayon yarn is secured to the core yarn at one end, the worker walks very slowly, hand-guiding the rayon yarn as it is pulled off the spools by the spinning core yarn. This is done with extreme accuracy! Next the weavers use these lines or cords for weft usually using three on one bobbin. The bobbin winder is a giant bicycle wheel! More dyed fine rayon yarn is used for warp at a warp-faced sett. On some trims the weft yarn is caught around thin metal rods that come through the reed while weaving to make loops on the selvedges. After the trim is woven, other workers add the tassels, flowers, or ply the long weft loops in perfectly twisted fringe depending on the particular order. The workshop goes through 50-100 pounds of yarn a day!

One day’s yarn drying overnight. Tassels are added after band is woven.

Note the weft yarn has been carried out beyond the warp width.

Passementerie samples Tassel samples with wooden cores

In another room a worker carves the wooden forms on a lathe that are used inside some of the tassel shapes. The products are exquisite thanks to the skill of the artisans and Sevinch’s eye for gorgeous colors and designs. All the workers are men except for one woman who is allowed to work because her husband passed away. Only men do the weaving. They did let me try to weave for an inch or so on the last day!

Sheila weaving on Passementerie loom Close-up on Passementerie loom

After viewing all the amazing passementerie wonders, Michael and Sevinch brought out samples of antique “tapes” or ribbons. They had e-mailed me images of these ribbons but seeing them in person was so much better, of course! The first job was to set up the AVL hand jacquard 336 hook loom to get a high density. We rearranged the comber strips and then the spacer bars to get the heddle eyes all at the same height. The AVL loom is different from the TC-1 loom in that the density is changed by moving the comber strips closer together or farther apart. We were able to go from 23epi to 138 epi using a 23 dent reed.

AVL hand jacquard 336 hook loom Detail showing cord arrangement

The first sample I analyzed was a classic Greek Key. I had woven a sample on Nina Jacobs TC-1 hand jacquard loom before I went to Egypt, using various weaves – double weave, two sided twills, single warp and weft weaves so I had a small library of weaves when I arrived. Once in Cairo, I started using a one inch magnification lense, to figure out the exact weave structures and added them to the weave library in the jacquard software. AVL uses ArahWeave written by Dusan Peterc in Slovenia. http://www.arahne.si The software is quite user friendly and has many fantastic features.

Detail of sample woven on TC-1 hand jacquard loom

Michael knew how to use Photoshop so even though there is a graphic part of the ArahWeave called ArahPaint, Michael preferred to use Photoshop to start and then bring it into ArahPaint. I explained about making a different flat color for each different weave structure - sort of like weave by number. The number of pixels has to match the number of warp threads, etc. So while Michael was preparing the graphic files I was figuring out weave structures, yarn sizes, densities and sett. Then I created a weave file by combining the image with the weaves in a giant “graph paper” that tells the loom what hooks (heddles) to lift on each pick using the loom driver software JacqPoint. With the help of two weavers a cotton warp was put on the loom and we wove the first sample! We all were happy to see ribbon coming off the loom. After weaving it with a single shuttle we then tried the Greek Key with a double weave just to get an idea of a reversible ribbon. On this warp we also tried a few more designs of graphic images from a Dover Book of patterns.

Greek Key –original in green – new ones with brown in single and doubleweaves, fronts and backs.

Next we started on a beautiful ribbon made with gold thread. It has a combination of a Celtic motif with a stylized flower. We used a lurex yarn to get the gold effect and wound the next warp with black and grey rayon at 92epi. These weaves required some double weave areas, some single weave areas in twills and plain weaves, some weft floats. It appeared that in the original, one of the warps was on a second beam to allow greater take-up but we couldn’t do that. A second beam could be added in the future but for now I created weaves that would not make one third of the threads get tighter and tighter as we wove. When this one came off the loom Sevinch said “It’s the most beautiful tape in the word!” She was thrilled that the loom was being used. I was very relieved. It was like magic seeing the designs come out on loom.

Celtic knot originals on the top of both pictures – prototypes on the bottom – front on left, back on right.

Next we started on a diamond pattern with some colors in it. It was obvious that this was designed a long time ago on point paper. I imagined the designer laboriously filling in the squares! We changed out some of the grey warp yarns for blue and silver ones– leaving the same sett to make things go faster. I needed another weave to accommodate the warp floats. These pictures show the original ribbon in the top of the picture and the one we wove at the bottom: first the two fronts and then the two backs. I redesigned the back so that there were no floats so it would be more practical. Again when this one came off the loom Sevinch said “This is the most beautiful tape in the world!” This was going to be hard to keep up! J

Front sides of original on top and prototype. Back sides of original on top and prototype.

The next batch of ribbons were sett at 138epi with a very fine rayon yarn. The idea was to do a fine detailed image in two colors. With the warp sett so closely it was hard to get many picks in. These designs ended up coming out elongated but could be modified. This sett almost looked too commercial. We had also woven a sample with Michael and Sevinch’s names on it (see below on the right) for the idea of custom ribbons along with several other designs - too many to include them all in this article!

A few of the samples woven at 138 epi. Group of samples with pen for scale.

Next we moved onto the last design with an oriental theme. This one was similar in weaves to the other black and gold pieces and fun to do. If the warp color sequence on the loom was off by one thread from the weave file it would throw the weaves off by placing the grey and black threads in the wrong place! Again Sevinch and Michael were very pleased. We had covered a lot of ground!

Original oriental theme ribbon. Original oriental theme ribbon.

Prototype of oriental theme ribbon. Prototype of oriental theme ribbon.

Twelve days had passed by quickly and I was sorry to leave. The weavers had gotten used to me coming and going every day. We had developed a bit of a rapport with the help of Mona, the translator. Sevinch, myself and some workers are pictured below on the right. On the last day, the workers made me the tassel pictured above with the colors of Egypt as a small gift. I was touched. I had given them reproductions of some of my tapestries. Even though I worked 6 days a week 9:00am to 7:30, I loved it. It was quite a challenge but very rewarding. I hope that they will eventually be able to add a line of handwoven jacquard tapes to their line of fine products.

While we were in the workshop, Bill wandered around the streets of Cairo and had many adventures. He also ended up making us delicious lunches and dinners that we all enjoyed as we got to know each other. We met some of Michael and Sevinch’s friends who gave us a new light on international politics. On my first day off we went to see the Pyramids and Sphinx in the morning and then toured the Wissa Wassef Tapestry studio in the afternoon! I was recharged to go back to work for another 6 days. Bill was able to write a journal of part of the trip that includes a description of what happened inside the Great Pyramid. Anyone that would like to read it can contact me at sheila@sheilaohara.com

Bill & Sheila, the Sphinx & the Great Pyramid Karnak Column Karnak Obelisk

At the end of the twelve days in the workshop, Bill and I were able to travel south up the Nile to see the temples of Luxor and Karnak. The architecture is unbelievable! One day we spent going to see the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut’s temple. Words can’t describe the wonder and awe we experienced when descending into tombs still colorful after 4,000 years! I feel very fortunate that my weaving skills took us on a great adventure. Hmmmm….what shall I weave next?