Etta Todacheenie is originally from the Tolani Lake (Tuba City Agency) of the Navajo Reservation. She learned to weave from her grandmother. In order to weave a rug, she goes home, shears the sheep, cards, spins, and dyes the wool herself,and then sets up her loom and weaves. She was taught that if she did not do the whole process herself, the result would not be a truly Navajo rug. Etta makes complex patterns like the Storm pattern, the Two Grey Hills pattern, and the Yei pattern. Although she lives in Tucson, Ms. Todacheenie visits her homeland frequently, obtaining food and other materials to allow her family to live a Navajo life in their new home.
The process of weaving involves growing the wool. A blend of Spanish Merino and French Rambouillet sheep produces a wool which is best for weaving. The sheep are sheared in May or June with simple shears resembling a lawn clipper. The next step is cleaning the wool. Grit, twigs and burrs are removed by hand; the wool is washed in soap of yucca root. The wool is fluffed and dried in the sun. To whiten wool weavers sprinkle it with kaolin or gypsum.
The wool is ready for carding. Recently, weavers have used commercial cards which have a tangled wool placed on one card and then repeatedly combed between the two until the fibers lie in the same direction. The wool comes off - in fluffy rolls. This roll makes it easy to spin the wool. The spindle is a stick with one end, which has a wooden disc, which acts as a flywheel when the right hand rubs the spindle against the right thigh. Meantime the left hand feeds carded wool onto the long, pointed end while the spinner adjusts the tension on the strand to achieve uniform size. All the yarn is spun twice, some even three or four times, which each spinning improving the tightness, smoothness and fineness. The different colors of the wool come from dyeing the wool with aniline dyes or natural dyes from roots, bark, flowers, leaves and the fruit of the plants of their region.
The weaving is done by pushing the shed rod, or pulling on the heddle. Alternating sets of warp are moved back and forth. A batten separates these warps to allow insertion of the horizontal thread. Weft threads are pounded down with a wooden comb and a batten. As the warps are moved back and forth they disappear under the wefts, giving the Navajo weave its distinctive tapestry finish.
|
