NISHIJIN TEXTILE CENTRE
I
made the most of my time in Kyoto seeing many aspects of the city's charm.
I took the subway to the Nishijin area where weavers reside. There I visited
the Nishijin Textile Centre which has a working display area mainly for
tourists, as much weaving and textile work is done in craftsmen's homes.
The tapestry weaver there gave me a shuttle when she learned that I am
also a weaver.
I was most interested in the mechanism used in Kasuri, the Japanese style of ikat weaving, for preparation of the warp. After the warp yarn has been resist dyed, it is wound on a large drum and fed through a frame that changes the position of the dyed areas. There are many fine rods at different heights within the frame that the yarn passes over. That provides the possibility of a great amount of fine design detail by enabling small increments of shifting colour placement. I had made a shifting frame at home to create Kasuri years ago, but had never seen such an impressive frame.
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