Art and Design A comprehensive guide for creative artists - Aaltodoc

Usually, each obtained material is prepared in a different
way before it turns into a final product. For instance, after
acquiring some already used drinking straws, they can be
prepared or washed by soaking them in a container filled
with a mix of water and a detergent of soap. This makes
them clean and free from transmissible diseases.
However, nearly all woven furniture such as tables and
chairs necessitate a frame. It can be made out of wood or
metal.
Somjee (1993, 67) discerns this point: “In Kenya, many
different types of materials and techniques are used for
making furniture ... Today, beds, tables and chairs are made
of wood by carpenters, metal craftsmen and basket weavers
who have turned into professional furniture makers ... Thus,
we have wooden, metal, cane and woven furniture made of
branches, tough grasses, barks and vines.” Learners must be
aware that weaving is a fundamental skill for creative artists
since it produces very many useful things for our everyday
life.
Textiles are as well woven by using various materials of
soft thread fibres—in different techniques. Sometimes,
the methods of producing a textile by weaving are
pre-determined by the weaver's creativity, tools, materials
and equipment. For example, if the weaver takes a process
that requires readymade thread. Then, the various stages of
spinning yarn shall be skipped. As is evident, passing two
thread pieces or yarns to cross each other at right angles
does textile weaving. Yarns that move across the width of a
fabric are commonly known as wefts and yarns, which run
from end to end; are warps.
There are so many types of natural materials from which
weavers can acquire yarn for example cotton (plant) and
wool (animals). Yet again, the two kinds of materials can as
well be woven together to form a single fabric.
As Somjee (1993, 41) has explained about a Burji cotton
spinner who he found in Marsabit District of Kenya: “This
skilled spinner is examining the strength and fineness of
the cotton thread. He drops the spindle with one hand and
rolls the thread with the other. The cotton that he is using
is home grown. The thread will be woven into fabric which
will be used to make shawls, short trousers, sheets and the
baddo; a traditional garment of men in the district.”
That is to say, cotton is an indigenous raw material, it is
home grown and it can be processed locally into yarn
for weaving textiles.
This also makes it abundant and cheap for use during textile
productions; by using simple tools and techniques.
Here is a brief list of other basic materials which can be
processed to make textiles:
Papyrus Flax Hemp Kelp
Moss Jute Rice roots Coconut fiber
Sisal Cocoanuts Ramie Sea weed
Tree bark Straw braids Silk Wood pulp
Lime grass Banana fiber Paper Polythene
152 153
Kelp (sea
weed)
Cotton rug
yarn
Pawpaw
leaves
Pineapple
leaves
It is unfortunate that nearly all materials necessary for
weaving fabrics require a longer preparation process. As
a learner, make experiments with any familiar material
from the table list provided. Digolo et al. (1988, 80) prefer a
rational explanation: “It is often thought that materials and
tools for hand-weaving are expensive and complicated. This
is not the case ...”
Weaving tools
The list of tools, equipment and materials used for
constructing a weave are many and they vary accordingly.
It is because of this that there is a big range of end
products produced by weaving. In general, some basic
tools necessary for weaving can be easy to obtain or easy
to produce locally. For example, to make a woven basket
you may only need bare hands, piles of grass, a knife and a
needle. The needle can be shaped from a bicycle spoke (the
one which supports a rim and the tyre).
Here is a quick review of some basic materials and tools,
which can be used for constructing a weave:
a. Needles exist in various sizes; they are also made in
different shapes and materials. For instance, a needle
used for crochet making cannot be used for knitting
purposes. Needle are used in very many ways like; to
decorate by sewing, knitting, lace making, stitching,
darning as well as thatching and crocheting.
Knot
Warp
Weft
Warp fringes