We happened upon this little group of women weaving at the Saga City Cultural Museum today. They were weaving on tiny box looms with gilded paper strips for warps and colored silk wefts. The effect looked a bit like gold brocade. You could imagine it used for a fine evening purse. [click photos to enlarge]
This shows a bit of the weaving and the warps made of paper coated with gold. In the traditional way it would be gold leaf but I’m not sure if these are. One year Cathy and I visited a gold leaf artist. Traditionally the gold leaf paper would then be cut into fine strips for wefts for obi.
One beautiful pattern had 12 pattern heddles. It’s a shame I couldn’t get a good enough photo.
Here is the 12-shed pattern. It is much more beautiful but you can see it is a complicated design.
One of the warps was made of paper coated with lacquer. The women said the paper warp strips came from Kyoto when I asked if they cut them themselves.
The weavers. They were so gracious even though we crashed their afternoon.
We took 5 trains today. The sake in our hotel bar was heavenly along with pizza (the best) and French fries. We are now close to Hiroshima. Back on the main island of Japan.
Thank you so dearly for the opportunity to ‘travel’ with you in Japan. The textiles are exquisite and fascinating!
Safe travels!
Love following you on your journey. Thank you for sharing so much. Fascinating and beautiful.
I also want to thank you for sharing your travels. Paper warp. Must be very delicate.