Pochi is a grassroots studio and collective of women, in Myanmar, bound together by a shared dream to regenerate and reimagine the ancient Myanmar craft of hand-loomed weaving.
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth.
In general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp runs longitudinally and the weft crosses it. The warp is the thread that is strung over the loom vertically and holds the tension whilst you weave. The weft is the thread that you weave through, around, and over the warp threads by using a shuttle. It creates the patterns and design in the weave.
The reed is a metal comb that holds the warp threads at an equal distance and allows you to press the weft threads together. The treadle is a lever worked by the foot and gives motion to a machine.
As part of the methodological approach in this British Council-funded project, Khin Lin Naing, of Pochi, shares their weaving processes (below) in both English and Myanmar and the processes are accompanied by illustrations by artist Angela Huang. There are small edits by Dr Britta Boyer.
Weaving Process
ရက်ကန်းခတ်ခြင်း အဆင့်ဆင့် (အခြေခံ
Step 1. Reeling by using the winding machine ( to transfer the skein threads onto the bobbins that are used in warp & weft setting).
ချည်ချခုံကို အသုံးပြု၍ ချည်ချခြင်း
Step 2. Sectional warping to set up warps, and base colour, with desired width & length.
ချားဆွဲခြင်း၊ အတိုင်ချည်ပြင်ဆင်ခြင်း
Step 3. Putting the warps (threads) into the heddle eyes at the fixed heddles. Warps are running in the fixed heddles for weaving and making a pattern or desired fabric.
နှတ်ကော်ခြင်း၊အတိုင်ချည်ပင်များကို နှတ်ပေါက်ထဲသွင်းခြင်း
Step 4. Putting the threads into the reed (to get the equal distances between each warp).
ယဉ်သွားပေါက်ခြင်း၊ ယဉ်သွားပေါက်ထဲ့သို့ အတိုင်ချည်ပင်များ ထည့်ခြင်း
Step 5. Put the weft thread on the spool that is inside the shuttle.
ရက်ဖောက်ယောက်ခြင်း၊ လွန်းထဲထည့်သုံးရန် အဖောက်ချည်ပြင်ဆင်ခြင်း
Step 6. Now, we can start the weaving.
ရက်ကန်းခတ်ခြင်း ၊ အထည်ရက်လုပ်ခြင်း
Plain fabric
the loom set-up takes between 5 -7 days depending on production quantities
To weave 1 meter plain and/or stripe weave: this takes between 1 - 2 days depending on thread sizes that we (Pochi Silk) use.
Pattern fabric
the loom set up takes between 5 - 7 days depending on production quantities
To weaving 1 meter with pattern weave : this takes between 2 - 15 days depending on thread sizes & pattern (complex or simple) that we (Pochi Silk) use.
Mocking-up the pattern [for the looms] takes between 6 - 20 days depending on the pattern. The process is as follows:
1. Draw the graph pattern draft.
2. Draw the graph pattern detail with the dimensions.
3. Make the design set up by using pattern set up equipment.
4. Put the thread with the desired colour on the spool that is inside the shuttle.