Which activity is involved in creating a traditional navajo weaving-?

Answer 1

Navajo woven rugs and blankets are called: diyogí . Making them is very labor and time intensive. The beginning process involves about a week of preparation (shearing the sheep, cleaning, carding and spinning the wool with a drop spindle, washing again, mixing dyes, and dyeing the fibers). Then she sets up the loom and wrapps the warp threads. Then there is several weeks to a year of weaving depending on the size and complexity of the textile. It has been estimated that a high-quality 3x5-foot rug would take approximately 345 hours to create from start to finish.

The designs are always unique. They are never repeated or drawn ahead of time. They almost always have fourfold symmetry. As they are being made the finished part is rolled up at the bottom. The weaver must keep the pattern in her mind so the other half will exactly match.

Many traditional weavers put in one thread that is different in the upper right hand corner through the border. This is called the ch'ihónít'i (way out) or 'atiin (road). In English sometimes this is called a spirit-line or weavers pathway. She leaves this so she can move on to create other new designs and variation continually on into old age and not obsess and get mentally trapped in the design.

The the inner image and creation and panning of the design is seen as a manifestation of the weavers ability to balance forces and keep her mind in balance, beauty and order, Hózhǫ́. The woven rug is an outer manifestation of this. Inner and outer forms create and effect each other. They are linked and different sides of the same thing. This is why some traditional weavers may want to be sure that the rug will be well treated, for example, no bones laid on it or lightening struck wood.

"You think good thoughts, and those are, those become part of the product,"

The spirit pathway "is both an object and a process-relates to Navajo theories of cause and effect and is directly associated with the integral connections that exist between persons and things in the Navajo world. These ties exemplify co-constitutive links between particular subjects and objects, and how relationships between people and things help define and shape aspects of Navajo personhood and individual subjectivity. "

"It is good for your thinking, you know. It helps your thinking. You know with those borders (textiles with borders), you have to have that line for your thinking (spiritline)… it is good for stress… you know, you do a lot of thinking when you weave. And it can really clear your mind, clear your thinking."Pathways can improve concentration, as it releases the weaver from previous thinking and the thoughts that once resided in completed textiles. The weaver can then remain present and focused on current and future weaving projects, and not be "stuck on" or "tied to" earlier woven work. One weaver also describes the connection between thinking, the woven object, and the ch'ihónít'i by stating, "with the line [the pathway], it has an exit and an opening, you don't completely encircle yourself, don't confine yourself to that weaving forever."

Answer 2

Traditional Navajo weaving used upright looms with no moving parts.

Answer 3

The Weave on a backstrap Loom