c u r i o u s w e a v e r

Bring Back Doughnuts for Weavers

The Japanese ceramic weight on the back of the loom

Amanda and I had a actual weekend of weave and this is one of the the beautiful presents she brought with her. A ceramic doughnut shaped warp weight from Japan.When I hold this in my hand I’m sent into another dimension – I think of other people and other times where textile production had it’s own specialised tools also created by gifted craftspeople. Attention to detail, function and beauty. A time or place where where beauty isn’t considered irrelvant, unnecessary, inconvenient, costly, pointless..such as shown in my usual weight which had a previous life as a film canister.Having said this, the humble film canister performs well and I can adjust the number of lead weights inside to suit the situation. But it sure lacks any visual beauty.Now that film canisters can’t be bought, where to now for our odd warp weights.

 

Amanda believes this indicates the weight. There must be specific weights for different weave/yarns. This one was a bit too heavy for the 2/20 silk ends I was using.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This initially looked like wear on it, but it could be cleaned off. It may be purposely there to provide a grip of sorts. Or it may reveal to someone what it's original function was.

 

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Comments

11 responses to “Bring Back Doughnuts for Weavers”

  1. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    Pill bottles?

  2. weaverjane Avatar
    weaverjane

    a lovely post. I haven’t seen anything like this before. I just wanted to say that you have got exactly the right name for your blog!
    Jane

  3. Joanne Avatar
    Joanne

    If you know someone with diabetes, the containers test strips come in (at least in the US) make great weights. The idea came from a member of my guild. The cap is tight enough to hold thread but gentle enough for delicate threads.

  4. Ulrike Avatar
    Ulrike

    the japanese warp weight looks fabulous. Over the time, I lost my film canisters or they got used for other things (like storing small amounts of herbs for camping), so I usually use the weights from kumihimo braiding. they come in different weights and sizes and are made for tieing up yarn.

    be well
    Ulrike

  5. Thea Avatar
    Thea

    The top two characters on the left picture mean “twenty”. I can’t read the last sign. It could be one of the old and now disused weight units of the Japanese empire. I will check my Nelson (Japanese character dictionary) for the meaning.

    Have a nice day,

    Thea
    Herzogenaurach, Germany

  6. pat gerrard Avatar
    pat gerrard

    Common old metal washers, as used on screws etc, work well and come in many weights and sizes — I have used them for years.

  7. WitandWonder Avatar
    WitandWonder

    As a new weaver I’m just starting to find blogs to follow and I just stumbled upon this great blog. I’m intrigued by the idea of these weights and also starting my next round of pottery classes tonight. I’ll take your posting in to my teacher to see if she thinks she can help me recreate these. My biggest concern, other than making them smooth-enough, is how to fire them in the kiln. Usually you wax the portion of the item that will not receive glaze, ensuring that it doesn’t stick to the kiln. Not sure how to do that AND glaze all surfaces of the doughnut equally.

    Is there glaze underneath the sandy portion of the doughnut? I’m wondering if the item was dipped in glaze, left to dry, then stood up in a kind of sand while in the kiln. I’d have thought the silicates in the sand would have melted but again, I’ll ask the potter with 40+ years experience tonight.

    Wit&Wonder
    Boulder, Colorado

  8. curiousweaver Avatar
    curiousweaver

    Hi,
    After looking closely at these weights they are actually glazed all over. The mark could come off and wasn’t an area without glaze. It would be nice to make several of different weights as the one I have is quite heavy and too heavy for just one fine 2/20 cotton thread.

  9. WitandWonder Avatar
    WitandWonder

    I’ve asked three potters now, and have two opinions on how to go about this. I’ll work on this for a couple of months and see if I can make anything workable. If I do, I’ll contact you so I can ship some samples to the other side of the world for you, as a thank you for making me ponder this project!

  10. curiousweaver Avatar
    curiousweaver

    As I looked much closer at them I tried to remove what I thought initially was a patch of ‘raw’ clay which functioned as some sort of grip. But I did remove a bit of the mark so now I think they are entirely glazed.

    The idea of producing beautiful warp weights like this is lovely. Perhaps patterned?

  11. WitandWonder Avatar
    WitandWonder

    Too funny – we are definitely on the same design page! I had already gone into my rubber stamp supplies to get my alphabet and small design stamps. I want to see if I can impress designs into the ring without making edges that would snag the warp thread. I’ll keep you posted.

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