Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador

Glossary

Glossary acrylic. Synthetic fiber that mimics the appearance of wool. alforja (S., from Arabic). Double bag or saddlebags, made by folding each end of a rectangle toward the center. Form introduced by the Spanish during the colonial period but often backstrap-loom woven. See also backstrap loom. anaku (Q.). Originally referred to the Inca-style woman’s full-length rectangular dress, pinned at the shoulders and belted, but by 1980 the term usually referred to a wrapped skirt (half length) made of a rectangle and secured with a belt. The length and width vary regionally (see A. Rowe [ed.] 1998). back beam. A beam at the back of a treadle loom over which the warp passes on its way from the warp beam to the heddles. Not all looms have a back beam, but it helps the warp feed into the heddles more smoothly. See Figs. 8.5, 8.9. See also heddle; treadle loom; warp; warp beam. backstrap loom. Indigenous loom in which tension is maintained by a strap passing around the weaver’s back or hips. The variable tension created by the weaver leaning forward and backward tends to draw the warp yarns closer together. See also warp. bayeta (S.). 1. Coarse treadle-loom woven wool fabric. The equivalent English fabric name is baize. See also treadle loom. 2. Woman’s rectangular shawl pinned on the chest, made from bayeta fabric. boat shuttle. A type of shuttle used in treadle-loom weaving, in which the weft is wound on a spool or bobbin, which is set into a smooth wooden frame such that it can rotate freely. The yarn passes through a hole in the shuttle. As the shuttle skims across the warp, the weft yarn unwinds automatically. See Chap. 8. See also shuttle; treadle loom; warp. bobbin. A spool on which yarn is wound to prepare it for use in making textiles. In treadle-loom weaving, the bobbin is the spool with weft yarn wound on it that is set into the shuttle. See also shuttle; treadle loom; weft. bolsicón (S.). Spanish-style skirt gathered into a waistband, with a series of horizontal pleats near the lower edge. bound-warp resist dyed. A technique in which groups of selected warp yarns have been partially wrapped and bound and then dyed before weaving, in order to create designs in the finished fabric. See Chaps. 2, 3. 290 Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador braiding. Technique of interworking a set of elements fixed at one end by deflecting the free ends. breast beam. A beam at the front of a treadle loom over which the woven fabric passes on its way to the cloth beam. In this way the cloth beam can be placed out of the weaver’s way under the plane of the weaving. See Figs. 8.1, 8.2. See also cloth beam; treadle loom. camelid. A member of the camel family. There are four Andean camelids, the domesticated alpaca and llama, and thewild vicuña and guanaco. In pre-Hispanic Peru the hair of all these animals was used, but only a few llamas were present in central Ecuador in the 1980s. chawar. Fiber from the leaves of Furcraea andina, a plant indigenous to the Andean area. The fiber, which is similar to maguey, is used for binding resist for dyeing, woven food sacks, rope, braided sandal soles, looped bags, etc. The word is of Inca origin. See also Miller et al. 2005. cholo (S.). Term used in Cañar and Azuay provinces for a group of people intermediate between mestizos and whites on the one hand and indigenous people on the other in the social-economic hierarchy, who are distinguishable by their costume. See also mestizo. chumbi (Q.). Cloth belt, usually handwoven. See Chaps. 4, 5, 7. cloth beam. A beam at the front of a treadle loom on which the woven cloth is wound. It is set underneath the plane of the weaving, out of the way of the weaver’s knees. See Figs. 8.1, 8.2. See also treadle loom. cochineal. Red or purple dye from an insect (Dactylopius spp.), indigenous to the Americas, that is parasitic on the prickly-pear cactus. See Chap. 9. coil rod. On a backstrap loom, a rod behind the heddle rod around which the warp yarns take a full turn before reaching the back loom bar. It helps keep the warp yarns in alignment when the warp is not tied to the loom bars...