Maryhill Museum of Art |
TECHNIQUE
Twined bags are traditionally woven by hand without the use of looms or any other special equipment. Instead, the weaver (who is invariably a woman) sits on the ground and holds the raw materials in her lap as she patiently intertwines the warps (vertical cords) and wefts (horizontal cords) that give the bag its structure and its shape. Although this process may be done entirely freehand, weavers sometimes use a slat or stick at the bottom of the bag in order to prevent the warps from twisting and distorting the textile�s final shape. |
Many
Columbia River twined bags employ a decorative technique known as false
embroidery.
In this technique, supplementary wefts beyond those needed to form the
bag�s basic structure are woven into the fabric to create a decorative design.
The number and direction of these supplementary wefts directly affects
the complexity and pattern of the final design.
Besides false embroidery, the other major decorative technique employed
in Columbia River bags is beading. Beaded
bags are made by stringing together rows of beads onto very fine threads, which
are in turn sewn onto the bag�s foundation structure.
Because beading is an extremely time-consuming process, and because the
resulting bags are so delicate and fragile, this technique has historically been
employed much less frequently than false embroidery.