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The weft-substitution weave
has been used to ornament rugs, bags and other objects in both North Africa and Central
Asia. It appears on some Central Asian Turkmen pieces, but since it does not appear,
to my knowledge, in Anatolia, the technique is likely to have developed, or at least to
have been adopted by Turkmen weavers, AFTER the major westward migrations of Turkic
groups.
Our interest here is in the structure's use for narrow decorative borders on pile rugs, or
as a secondary structure on knotted-pile bags. It appears most commonly in Baluch
work, where it has often been miss-identified as "brocading,"
"supplementary-weft weave," "interlocked tapestry," "dovetailed
tapestry," or even "embroidery." It is none of these! It has also
been called "weft-float weave," which fails to distinguish it from the brocading
that also sometimes appears on Baluch work. Unfortunately there is not a good
popular label for the construction.
The weft-substitution technique has most often been used for intricate
patterning. The structure looks exactly like a weft-faced plain weave on
the fabric's front surface, except for intermittent color changes. (This plain-weave
surface most readily distinguishes it from brocading.) The weaver simply
substitutes one colored weft for another in the plain weave-- thus the name weft
substitution. In Persian, Afghani, Turkmen and other Central Asian work the yarns are
most often left loose on the back, to float between areas where they are used in the
pattern. That is shown in the Baluch border below. |
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Weft-substitution border on a Baluch knotted pile sofreh,
front and back.
Photos: Mark Hopkins
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of pile rugs, the weavers have reversed patterning yarns to avoid floats over wide pattern
areas. The weaver of the bag below has switched methods midstream in her broad orange and
brown chevron pattern: in the lower section she tried floating her brown yarns,
while reversing the orange. Then she tried reversing both orange and brown. It is
the same structure, whether the yarns are reversed or not: weft
substitution. Long floats are obviously impractical, because they can easily
snag. |
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Baluch weft-substitution bag,
back side.
Photo: Daniel Deschuyteneer
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Wrapped and Bound Borders
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Narrow raised borders often
accompany weft-substitution patterning in Baluch weavings. A specialized
kind of soumak, done in two colors, these borders are wrapped and bound. The
detail is often used to edge or enclose the intricately patterned borders. The
narrow edgings look, at a glance, like slightly lop-sided braiding; as the diagram shows,
however, the yarns are wrapped, not braided. Pairs of wrapping yarns are used, and
one binds the other down in a forward position.
This clever technique may prove to have significance in helping to separate groups of
Baluch weavings. Since it has been given virtually no attention, I think it should be
interesting to see in precisely what pieces it is found--and in which it does NOT
appear. There are a couple of early examples below which display simple twining
instead, another which uses soumak. |
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In this detail scan of a modern
Baluch trapping, the lower wrapped and bound border was done as in the diagram
above--with the wrapping yarns enclosing pairs of warps. In the upper row, the
wrapping encloses just single warps, so that the structure is condensed. The lower version
prevails on older weavings--at least those in which the edgings are not twining or soumak
instead.
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Baluch Saddlebag Face
17"x 21½" (43 cm x 54 cm).
PRIMARY STRUCTURE: Asymmetrical knots, open left. H: 7, V: 10, 70 per square inch
(H: 28/dm, V: 39/dm, 1092 per square dm).
Pile inclines upward. No warp depression.
SECONDARY STRUCTURES: Weft-substitution bands, edged
with wrapped and bound borders.
YARN SPIN: Z.
WARP: 2-ply ivory wool.
WEFT: 2 olive green/brown wool singles; 2 shots.
PILE: 2 wool singles.
SELVAGES: 2 warp units (2,2), interlaced by the ground wefts.
UPPER END FINISH: Plain weave hem, 2 wool singles.
LOWER END FINISH: Plain weave, 2 wool singles.
[MM-1087. M. Mallett] |
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The small weft-substitution border design shown here is the most common of all on Baluch
knotted-pile weavings.
Each pair of narrow wrapped and bound borders on this saddlebag is separated by a single
row of asymmetrical knots, either brown or salmon-colored.
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Back of the weft-substitution patterning and accompanying wrapped and bound borders.
The wrapped segments are short on the back. When twining is used instead, the
structure is the same on front and back.
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Baluch Khorjin. Khorassan,
Northeast Persia
Pile Face: 20"x 21" (50 cm x 55 cm)
Back: 20" x 21" (50 cm x 55 cm). Circa 1900.
PRIMARY STRUCTURE (Front): Asymmetrical knots, open left; H: 9, V: 11, 99 per
square inch (H: 35/dm, 43/dm, 1505 per square dm). Fine and regularly woven, with no warp
depression.
SECONDARY STRUCTURES (Bag's back side and front upper and
lower borders): Weft-substitution weave in both wide and narrow bands. Wefts are
discontinuous in the wide bands. Narrow 2-color wrapped and bound borders edge the pattern
bands.
SECONDARY STRUCTURES (Closure system): Weft-faced closure band decorated in
weft-substitution weave; braided closure loops with 6-span, 2-color twining between the
loops; also 3-span two-color decorative twining.
YARN SPIN: Z.
WARP: Fine, tightly plied 2-ply ivory wool.
GROUND WEFTS, pile area: 2 dark brown wool singles; 2 shots between knotted rows.
WEFTS, flat-weave areas: 2 wool singles; 50 per inch.
PILE: 2 wool singles.
SELVAGES: Right side: 2 sets of paired warps; Left side: no special treatment.
6 warp units on the right, and 4 on the left are unknotted.
[DD-108. Daniel Deschuytneer] |
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Wide chevron borders like these have often been mis-identified. Such details are
easily confused with double interlocked tapestry. But all three borders
here--wide and narrow--are the same structure: weft substitution.
The blocky "S" border shows the brown and blue yarns floating where not used in
the pattern. They are continuous from one side of the weaving to the other. The ivory
yarns float underneath. The more delicate undulating border is made in the same way.
Since in the wide chevron border, such floats would be very long, the weaver has
reversed each color at the end of each intricate area, to weave back and forth.
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Baluch Knotted Pile Rug. Southwestern
Afghanistan or Seistan region of Iran.
41" x 49" (105 cm x 125 cm). C. 1950.
STRUCTURE: Asymmetrical knots, open left; H: 7, V: 11, 77 per square inch (H: 28/dm,
V: 43/dm, 1161 per square dm). No warp depression.
SECONDARY STRUCTURES: Wide weft-substitution borders
patterned with blue and ivory squares; narrow two-color wrapped and bound borders.
YARN SPIN: Z.
WARP: 2-ply ivory wool.
WEFT: 2 wool singles; 2 shots.
PILE: 2-ply wool.
SELVAGES: Right side, 4 warp units (1,1,1,1, the outside two units corded),
double-looped in pairs with brown-black goat hair. Left side, 2 cords only.
UPPER END FINISH: Band of oblique wrapping; the warp
ends wrap upward, then interlace downward. (For a better photo of this detail see the
Obliquely Wrapped Bands page.)
LOWER END FINISH: Long (3½") warp loops. A row of twining and two heavy wefts
start the weave.
[DD-107. Daniel Deschuyteneer] |
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In this weft-substitution border, the weaver has floated blue wefts on the back
where they are not used in the design; they are continuous from side to side. She
has cut the white yarns, however, and left long ends as decorative pile on the back.
(Front above; back below)
See the Obliquely Wrapped Bands page for a discussion of the warp-end finish.
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Knotted Pile Baluch Sofreh
2'2" x 3'10" (102 cm x 181 cm)
STRUCTURE: Symmetrical knots, H: 10, V: 8, 80 knots per square inch (H: 39/dm, V:
32/dm, 1248 knots per sq. dm)
SECONDARY STRUCTURE: Bands of weft- substitution weave.
Tiny wrapped and bound borders.
YARN SPIN: Z.
WARP: 2-ply ivory wool.
WEFT: 2-ply tan/gray wool; 2 shots.
PILE: Wool.
SELVAGES: 4 warps (cords), reinforced with brown goat hair.
PUBLISHED: Dennis R. Dodds and Murray L. Eiland, Jr., eds., Oriental Rugs from
Atlantic Collections, Philadelphia, 1966, Plate 317.
[MH-101. Mark Hopkins] |
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At each end of this early weaving, three borders are patterned with the weft-substitution
technique. In the broad chevron band, the yarns float only in the intricate areas-- not
over the wide, plain sections.
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Baluch Knotted-Pile Prayer Rug
2'10" x 4'4"
SECONDARY STRUCTURES: Bands of weft-substitution weave.
Narrow soumak borders, with red and blue yarns combined and used as one.
PUBLISHED: Mark Hopkins, "Doing the Baluch Bend," HALI 93, p.81, Plate 7.
[MH-102. Mark Hopkins] |
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Three weft-substitution bands. In the wide middle band the pattern wefts reverse at
the design edges, rather than floating. In the wide lower border, blue and
brown yarns are discontinuous, interlacing back and forth in the small sections
where they are needed, while the white yarns are continuous. The weft-substitution
structure is the same throughout--worked in each area in the way that best suits the
design.
The tiny raised borders separating the weft-substitution bands appear to be soumak on this
piece, with a blue and a red yarn combined and worked as one, twisting together
erratically.
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Baluch Knotted-Pile Prayer Rug
2'6" x 4'1" (76 cm x 122 cm)
SECONDARY STRUCTURES: Bands of weft-substitution weave.
2-color, 2-span twining.
PUBLISHED: Mark Hopkins, "Doing the Baluch Bend," HALI 93, p. 79, Plate 3.
[MH-104. Mark Hopkins] |
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Here again, wide chevron bands are woven with substituting
wefts. The structure has been confused with various kinds of tapestry-- interlocked,
dovetailed or slit-tapestry--but the technique is weft substitution. Blue and red
yarns follow plain-weave interlacement paths, with one substituting for the other to make
the small alternately colored columns. On the back side it is easy to see the
horizontal path taken by each yarn, just as in the white border. At the ends of the
large red and blue projecting shapes, these yarns reverse, so as to not float over such
large plain areas, and here they leave slits such as in slit tapestry.
The same "slits" occur in the examples above; in those weavings the slits are
just much shorter-- perhaps only the height of two or three yarns. This minor
feature occurs naturally within the weft-substitution technique, and is not reason for
categorizing the technique as "slit tapestry."
There is no "interlocking" element here. Likewise, no
"dovetailing." With dovetailed tapestry, yarns meet and share warps--so
that both the front and back of the fabric look the same. For photos comparing those
two structures, see the Twining page.
At the top of this photo, above the white border, we can just barely see a small row of
red and brown twining. This was used in lieu of the tiny wrapped and bound borders
that appear in so many Baluch pieces. Is this twining typical of earlier weavings,
or weavings from particular areas? More examples are needed!
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A Slit-Tapestry Comparison
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In contrast to the
weft-substitution borders shown above, the piece at the right has bold chevron borders of
slit tapestry. Such details have not been carefully separated in rug literature, and
weft-substitution details have been erroneously described as one sort of tapestry or
another.
Baluch (Aimaq ?) Knotted Pile Rug
3' x 7'10" (142 cm x 370 cm)
STRUCTURE: Symmetrical knots, with 3 wool singles.
SECONDARY STRUCTURES: Bands of slit tapestry.
Bands of weft-substitution weave. Narrow bands of countered, two-color, two-span
twining.
[MH-105. Mark Hopkins] |
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In contrast to the bold chevron borders on many Baluch rugs, here the structure is slit
tapestry. On the back side, yarns are floated upward to start the next step.
The very narrow two-color edgings here are countered twining. This technical
feature, along with slit tapestry, sets this piece apart from a majority of Baluch pile
weavings. The narrow white diamond borders are standard weft-substitution, although
an unusual motif.
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