TECHNIQUES OF HAND-WEAVING AND ALLIED ARTS IN COLOMBIA (WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO INDIGENOUS METHODS AND, WHERE POSSIBLE, INCLUDING DYEING, FIBRE PREPARATION AND RELATED SUBJECTS).

摘要

The textile and allied techniques of eight Indian groups are covered by the present study. Three of these groups live in tropical forest, one in a desert peninsula and the other four in mountains where they benefit both from the warmer climate lower down and the cooler one of higher altitudes.;Although there are considerable differences both in the range and the details of the techniques used, there are also many similarities. Many of the groups studied are still in contact with each other or have been so in the not too far distant past. This is particularly true of the groups living in the central part of the area and it is between these groups that most of the similarities are found.;All the eight groups spin and weave cotton though some use other fibres as well (wool, agave and palm). The vertical loom is used by all the groups though the Guajiro also use a fork loom for narrow products. With the exception of the Bari who weave skirts with a tubular warp, the false-tubular system is always used. Besides spinning and weaving, the following techniques are also found in the area: frame plaiting, mesh (purse-net), and twining (all of which are used mainly for hammocks), plaiting of various types, including reciprocal plaiting, ply darning, beadwork, knotless netting, knotted netting, coil structures, baskets and a number of non-indigenous techniques which some Indians have adopted in post-conquest times.