Navajo weavers | Page 6

unwoven
portion straightened as the work progresses. Fig. 44 and Plate XXXVIII
show these cords. The coarse blankets do not have them. (Fig 42.)
Navajo blankets are single-ply, with designs the same on both sides, no
matter how elaborate these designs may be. To produce their varigated
patterns they have a separate skein, shuttle, or thread for each
component of the pattern. Take, for instance, the blanket depicted in
Fig. 49. Across this blanket, between the points a--b, we have two
serrated borders, two white spaces, a small diamond in the center, and
twenty-four serrated stripes, making in all twenty-nine component parts
of the pattern. Now, when the weaver was working in this place,
twenty-nine different threads of weft might have been seen hanging
from the face of the web at one time. In the girth pictured in Fig. 44
five different threads of woof are shown depending from the loom.

[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Weaving of saddle-girth.]
When the web is so nearly finished that the batten can no longer be
inserted in the warp, slender rods are placed in the shed, while the weft
is passed with increased difficulty on the end of a delicate splinter and
the reed-fork alone presses the warp home. Later it becomes necessary
to remove even the rod and the shed; then the alternate threads are
separated by a slender stick worked in tediously between them, and two
threads of woof are inserted--one above and the other below the stick.
The very last thread is sometimes put in with a darning needle. The
weaving of the last three inches requires more labor than any foot of the
previous work.
In Figs. 49, 50, 51, 52, and 53 it will be seen that there are small fringes
or tassels at the corners of the blankets; these are made of the redundant
ends of the four border-cords (i.e., the portions of the cord by which
they were tied to the beams), either simply tied together or secured in
the web with a few stitches.
The above is a description of the simplest mechanism by which the
Navajos make their blankets; but in manufacturing diagonals, sashes,
garters, and hair-bands the mechanism is much more complicated.
§ VII. For making diagonals the warp is divided into four sheds; the
uppermost one of these is provided with a shed-rod, the others are
supplied with healds. I will number the healds and sheds from below
upwards. The following diagram shows how the threads of the warp are
arranged in the healds and on the rod.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Diagram showing arrangement of threads of the
warp in the healds and on the rod.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Weaving of saddle-girth.]
When the weaver wishes the diagonal ridges to run upwards from right
to left, she opens the sheds in regular order from below upwards thus:
First, second, third, fourth, first, second, third, fourth, &c. When she
wishes the ridges to trend in the contrary direction she opens the sheds

in the inverse order. I found it convenient to take my illustrations of
this mode of weaving from a girth. In Figs. 44 and 46 the mechanism is
plainly shown. The lowest (first) shed is opened and the first set of
healds drawn forward. The rings of the girth take the place of the
beams of the loom.
There is a variety of diagonal weaving practiced by the Navajos which
produces diamond figures; for this the mechanism is the same as that
just described, except that the healds are arranged differently on the
warp. The following diagram will explain this arrangement.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Diagram showing arrangement of helds in
diagonal weaving.]
To make the most approved series of diamonds the sheds are opened
twice in the direct order (i.e., from below upwards) and twice in the
inverse order, thus: First, second, third, fourth, first, second, third,
fourth, third, second, first, fourth, third, second, first, fourth, and so on.
If this order is departed from the figures become irregular. If the
weaver continues more than twice consecutively in either order, a row
of V-shaped figures is formed, thus: VVVV. Plate XXXV represents a
woman weaving a blanket of this pattern, and Fig. 48 shows a portion
of a blanket which is part plain diagonal and part diamond.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Diagonal cloth.]
§ VIII. I have heretofore spoken of the Navajo weavers always as of the
feminine gender because the large majority of them are women. There
are, however, a few men who practice the textile art, and among them
are to found the best artisans in the tribe.
[Illustration: PL. XXXVI.--NAVAJO WOMAN WEAVING A BELT.]
§ IX. Navajo blankets represent a wide range in quality and finish and
an endless variety in design, notwithstanding that all their figures
consist of straight lines and angles, no curves being used.