I am reading a wonderful book, Traditional Textiles of Central Asia,
by Janet Harvey (Thames & Hudson, 1996). On p. 95, there is a black
& white photo with the caption "A rare example of a silk velvet
tablet-woven belt." I have both read about (in this book & others)
and seen the gorgeous silk velvet ikat textiles from Central
Asia. These are all warp velvet construction, with two different
warps, one of which (the silk) gets drawn up onto a grooved rod, the
other of which forms a plain weave ground cloth (often--maybe
always--not silk). When the pick that's been raised over the rod is
sufficiently locked in by the ground cloth picks, a sharp instrument
(presumably a razor blade nowadays) is run along the groove in the
rod, and the pile is cut.
I just don't see how that technique could be applied to TW. Might
this have been some kind of weft velvet? I checked in Peter's TTW,
but find no references to TW velvet. The technique is not explained
in running text in Traditional Textiles of Central Asia, either. The
only reference in running text to TW velvet is in the context of the
tape borders on the khalat, described as a "loose, thin, long-sleeved
overcoat of cotton or perhaps ikat-dyed silk. Several are often worn
at a time, thrown cloak-like over the shoulders." In the context of
the tape edging of the khalat, the text reads, "This might be
embroidered or tablet-woven. . . The height of technical achievement
were the exquisite patterned tablet-woven bands of velvet."
Does anyone know how this might have been done? Peter?
Ruth
