Loom
The Outer Islands of Yap, home to the Remathau (People of the Sea) remains home to a distinctive type of blackstrap loom weaving.
Lavalava are the distinctive woven skirts made and worn by women in the Outer Islands of Yap in Micronesia. Lavalavas are a defining symbol of the outer islands, and heavily influence many women’s experience of their culture.
While the lavalava, and similarly crafted belts, were once produced across the Caroline Islands, today the practiced is limited to Western and Central Caroline islands and atolls, comprising today’s Outer Islands of Yap State. The skirts’ traditional significance “far exceeds their function simply as items of daily wear.” The lavalava is nothing less than a “highly condensed visual expression of social and economic relations, ritual affairs, and the aesthetic ideals of Micronesian society.”
Among these Caroline Islanders, loom weaving is “highly developed” and weavers have long demonstrated “singular ingenuity and resourcefulness” in their weaving. The lavalava, or wrap around skirt, is the most evident and “singular” example. Even today, the lavalava remains the customary daily dress throughout the Outer Islands of Yap.”In order to weave, a woman must have a warp board, a loom, and range of lesser weaving tools.
Warp Board
A.1 Warp Board
Alternative English: warp table; winding board; warping board; warping table
Purpose: guide for laying out the warp; used to create a continuous, spiral wound, warp. This “tube” or “ring warp” is then mounted onto the loom
Design: flat board with holes to mount warp pegs, which correspond with the position of the back and front beam, coiling rod, heddle rod, shed rod, and lease stick
Ulithian: meliel, maliyel; Woleaian: maniyel
A.2 Warp Pegs
Alternative English:warping fingers, warp finger; stakes; winding stakes
Purpose: lays out the threads for warping; pegs corresponds beams, rods and sticks utilized once warp is mounted onto the loom
Design: individual pegs mounted on warp board. Specific placement varies amongst the three board patterns of Ulithi/Fais, Woleaian, and Satawal
Ulithian: lol maliyel; Woleaian: hatiul maniyel
Loom Frame
B.1 Loom
Alternative English: backstrap loom; horizontal tension loom; externally braced loom with circular warp
Purpose: frame that holds thread between the back board and the front beam into which thread is interpenetrated at right angles. Tension is maintained and adjusted by body weight on the backstrap
Design: box type consists of of L-shaped ends joined by two or three stabilizing cross beams; legged type consists of two tall beams on ends joined by two cross beams
Ulithian: busol; Woleaian: bwisal
Weaving Tools
C.1 Back Board
Alternative English: back beam, warp beam; warp beam; warp board
Purpose: holds warp (vertical threads) to upper and lower parts of the loom
Design: piece of wood longer than span of loom and equal to span of front board; or 2 to 3 dowels at least 1 3/8
Ulithian: paapal yilug; Woleaian: paapil ilug
C.2 Coiling Rod
Alternative English: tension rod; lease rod
Purpose: warp threads are wound around/ Stick serves as a way to set fixed size (measurement) of cloth woven; also serves as tool to help weaver find the path of each thread on the warp
Design: dowel 7/8 or bigger
Ulithian: yilud, uluth; Woleaian: ulut, oolut
C.3 Yard Stick
Alternative English: lease stick; yard stick; cross stick
Purpose: defines and separates crossing of warp threads
Design: yard stick or length of molding or strip with rectangular cross-section
Ulithian: thibal hamadaf; Woleaian: tibwale gametaf
C.4 Shed Rod
Alternative English: main shed rod; shed roll; large shed rod; shed stick
Purpose: separates crossing of warp threads; brings up the tops of the threads alternatively
Design: sanded bamboo or PVC pipe 1 1/2
Ulithian: taping; Woleaian: tapang
C.5 Heddle Rod
Alternative English: string heddle rod; bar
Purpose: lifts alternative threads of the warp to the top
Design: dowel 1/4 or slightly larger
Ulithian: wal ngung / ngung; Woleaian: ngung
C.6 Weaving Sword
Alternative English: batten, sword; weaving sword
Purpose: defines and extends the sheds to allow the shuttle to pass, and used to tighten and beat weft as woven.; separates alternative threads of the warp to allow shuttle to pass through them; also used to tighten weft as woven
Design: hardwood, longer than span of back board and front board
Ulithian: hapop; Woleaian: hapop
C.7 Shuttle
Alternative English: rug shuttle
Purpose: holds and carries threads of the weft as it passes alternatively through openings in the warp
Design: two small rounded or pinched planes with a block or pair of pegs joining them around which the thread is wrapped
Ulithian: hasap; Woleaian: gesaap
C.8 Front Beam
Alternative English: front board; cloth beam
Purpose: in tandem with the fixed back board, the front beam holds the warp as the tension on the backstrap determines taughtness of the warp
Design: board with notches, span equal to backboard
Ulithian: paapal fal mat; Woleaian: paapil imat
C.9 Back Strap
Alternative English: sling; belt
Purpose: worn around weavers back, strapping her to loom; weaver controls tension on the warp by leaning forward and backward
Design: a strap, large strip of cloth, or a woven mat of threads of fibers into which small dowels or holes are placed at both ends for attachment to front beam with rope
Ulithian: tal dur; Woleaian: tane tear
C.10 Pattern Rod
Alternative English: supplemental heddle rod; second heddle rod
Purpose: supplements the role of the heddle rod (C.5); controls the separation of the warp and create a shed, along with the heddle rod by selecting specific threads from opposing shed to create texture for decorative patterns
Design: dowel, 1/8
Ulithian: ngung; Woleaian: ngushige
C.11 Pattern Stick
Alternative English: supplemental shed stick
Purpose: supplements role of the shed rod (C.4); controls separation of the warp and creates a shed, along shed rod, by selecting specific threads from opposing shed to create texture for decorative patterns
Design: strip of modeling or yardstick or rectangular cross-section equal to or smaller than yardstick
Ulithian: thibal halut; Woleaian: tibwal halut
C.12 Header Sticks
Alternative English: header; heading rods
Purpose: used to start the weaving, creating the first shed
Design: thin strips of long segmented bamboo
Ulithian: thibwal hasowasow; Woleaian: teebwal kasow
C.13 Pickup Sticks
Purpose: used for the fitch
Design: knitting needle or thin piece of marlin bone
Ulithian: cheel taabw; Woleaian: shole taabw
C.14 Cat
Alternative English: yarn cone holder; spool holder; lazy kate
Purpose: dowels mounted on block of wood at an angle holding spools of thread to ease the drawing of thread
Design: scrap wood with dowels inserted
Ulithian: hatuw; Woleaian: gatuw
C.15 Folding Sticks
Alternative English:
Purpose: used to fold in-progress lava lava for storage in between weaving sessions
Design: strip of modeling or yardstick or rectangular cross-section equal to or smaller than yardstick
Ulithian: dibal haluul; Woleaian: teebw
