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You are here: Home / Travels / Thailand / Akha spinning and fiber arts

Akha spinning and fiber arts

I was privileged to spend four days studying spinning and weaving with an old Akha spinner/weaver, who was very excited to have a student, as the young Akha are largely not interested in the traditional arts.  Here are some photos from my study of handspinning.

You can read more about my adventures with the Akha in the Thailand section of my travel blog.

Spinning on the Front Porch Ahta and a friend demo-ing spinning for me.
Fluffing the Cotton for Spinning To fluff up the cotton for spinning, Ahta used a bow and plucked the string repeatedly to fluff it up. I tried it and the cotton promptly wrapped itself around the bowstring. It took quite a bit of practice before I could get it to fluff, not wrap.
Rolling the Cotton into a Puni After fluffing, Ahta used a wooden stick and a small board to roll the cotton into punis.
Ahta Spinning Ahta rolled the spindle down her thigh to start it spinning, then rapidly drew out the fiber, spinning it into yarn.
Ahta Spinning After spinning it, she would un-spin very slightly, untwisting and smoothing out the slubs by hand as the spindle slowly rotated.
Ahta Winding Off the Spun Yarn Here Ahta is winding off the spun yarn into a ball. She says that when she spins all rainy season, it can get to be the size of a basketball (or larger!). The Akha weave with singles, so I didn't see anyone plying yarn.
Akha Wedding Skirt Ahta showed me her wedding-skirt. The colored lines have ritual significance. This was the only white clothing I saw while there - everything else is indigo-dyed.
Tien Spinning Ahta teaching me to spin.
Tien Spinning Me finally getting the hang of it.
Making Feather Lei Making a feather lei. This is part of the traditional Akha costume.
Akha Embroidery - Front The front side of an Akha jacket. So far as I know, the Akha weave only plainweave, but they make up for it by fabulous decoration! The jacket is pieced kimono-style so as not to waste an inch of the precious fabric, then embellished.
Akha Embroidery - Back The back of the jacket. The cloth is indigo dyed.
Akha Indigo Plant The indigo plant used by the Akha in their dyeing.
Indigo Vat The indigo vat. It can be very powerful; Ahta dipped the fabric only once or twice to get a dark blue.

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