Karen Taug Learns Chilkat Weaving From Lily Hope

Laying out & weaving Design of Humanoid Face

Laying out & weaving Design of Humanoid Face

It’s been a while since I have written about my apprenticeship.   Between subsistence gathering and traveling up into the Yukon I haven’t woven as much as I would have liked.   I have progressed...

Weaving has Begun

I’m well on my way now, not without a few stops along the way.  The black boarder was woven 1 ½ inches, and with the size of the weaver wool it seemed like it took a very long time to get done.  I kept track of the actual weaving time, which was 47 hours to weave the...

Looming up with Warp

Now begins the preparation of the loom where the warp is hung.  The number of warps is determined by 1] the width per inch of the warp, in my robe it is 7 warps per inch;  2] the width of the weaving – in the case of the child’s Chilkat robe I’m making has 210 warps...

Beginning the Chilkat Robe

Beginning the Chilkat Robe

Chilkat robes require quite a bit of preparation before the weaver can even begin weaving.   Our ancestors would gather goat wool from the mountains in the spring and the clean and spin the wool with bark.  This is the "Warp" that is used to hang from the loom.  Next...