Customer Reviews

The Art of the Loom: Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing across the World

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The Art of the Loom is really inspirational for a beginning weaver like myself. There are beautiful color and black and white photographs of stunning pieces from around the world and throughout time, and people weaving on many different types of traditional looms. There are also illustrations explaining how much of the weaving is done, although many of them were difficult for me to digest as I am brand new at weaving. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in traditional and multi-cultural weaving.

This fact packed book has plenty to say. It is not really a how-to book but you will find some drafts that you can take straight to the loom. There are many other tips that can directly apply to your skills. However, this book is primarily a travel book; we are carried through different cultures to see how the are similar:
North America -The Navajo
The Middle East - the Bedouin
West Africa - Narrow-strip weaving
South-East Asia - Indonesian Textiles
East -Asia, the Islands of Japan - Kasuri resist dyeing
South Asia - Inlay weaving of Nepal
Central America - Brocaded motifs from Guatemala
South America - Peruvian tapestry weaving


There are many dolor pictures of finished product with descriptions of what you are looking at. There are also many diagrams and hand drawn images.

I am just getting into dying and still using Kool-Aid. However, for people interested in colors in general and who find this book interesting I suggest you read "A perfect Red".

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Harrisville Floor Loom 22/4 22" 4 Harness "Little Workhorse" 6 Treadles

As a fiber artist, I found this book to be an excellent resource on textiles from around the world. The amazing thing is how truly old weaving is (6000-7000 years old), and yet the technology advanced so rapidly that complex textiles like brocades were being produced very early on. Also, that the old engineering principle of form following function has never been so well documented as it has been in looms!