Pineapple Plants to Cloth: Part Three—Warping

Here is the warping reel. The woman sits in the middle and reaches out to the pegs on either side. In the middle are the pegs for the cross. Children grow up with these processes so it’s in their bones.


Two threads are taken as one on the warping reel. You can barely see them against the man’s blue shirt.


The threads come from the “pancakes” that came from the bowls from the knot-tying people.


Two pancakes sit in the box. What looks like kitty litter is sprinkled on top to weight down the pancakes so the threads can be drawn off without tangling. This idea could be used by other weavers, I think.


Here is a photo of me wearing a gorgeous pina cloth dyed in indigo. This is the photo we used the photo for my blog—a rare good picture. I can’t remember who the other woman was but I remember the lovely evening vividly.


Here is what I did with the cloth when I got home. I have bars on my bedroom walls for hanging textiles. I love looking at that piece.


Pineapple Plants to Cloth: Part Two: Making Threads

Pineapple fibers are too short to be threads for weaving. They are joined with a specific knot to make the long threads needed.


This group of people are knotting the fibers to make long threads.


This woman has been tying for a long time.


This young girl is showing the joined fibers she has knotted together.


The threads fall into a bowl as they are tied. Later they are draw out of the bowls for warp threads in this studio—without any snarls!


This “pancake” came from one of the bowls. The threads will be drawn from it for warping. I brought one home just because it was beautiful and fascinated me. The end of the top thread was marked so one knows where to start.