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Feb 14

Tying Ikat Clouds in Uzbekistan

“To tie a cloud”. What an image this phrase conjures. In the town of Margilan, in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, one can find many artisans who “tie clouds”–ikat weavers who, over the past 28 years since Soviet rule, have revitalized their heritage textile making. This valley is the center→ Read more

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Jan 17

Along the Clothroad Crossing Paths in Guatemala and Life

There are a few people in my life whose path I’ve crossed for forty-some years. This is a good thing–especially when one of them is the remarkable Deborah Chandler, weaver and co-author of Traditional Weavers of Guatemala, Their Stories, Their Lives. Little did I know that when ClothRoads went traveling→ Read more

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Dec 13

Traditions Take Many Forms

Imagine making hot chocolate for ten villages—over 650 weavers and their families. That’s what will be underway this next week in the highland weaving villages of Cusco, Peru, as they celebrate the tradition of Chocolatadas. Every year, the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC), visit the villages and provide→ Read more

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Dec 06

ClothRoads Wish List—New Textile Books of 2018

Being of a certain age in life, downsizing seems to be a focus. Purging of yarns and other weaving implements is somewhat easy yet I still conjure up all sorts of potential projects. But books! I could surrender almost everything else except these, my textile books. Every year, a few→ Read more

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Nov 08

Textile Travel With A Natural Dye Highlight

Over the past few weeks, we have journeyed on textile travels along two very different cloth roads : Linda Stark, along with Linda Ligon and Karen Brock of Thrums Books, were traveling in Morocco visiting with artisans from the Thrums Books, Women Artisans of Morocco. And I was in the→ Read more

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Oct 18

The Next Weaving Generation in Peru

Linda Ligon, publisher of our sister company Thrums Books, recently wrote a blog about who will be carrying on the textile-making traditions into the next generation. We’re sharing her blog here and doing a big shout-out for their newest release, Las Tradiciones Viven! (As you’re reading this, I will be meeting→ Read more

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Oct 04

Ikat The World Over

Handweaving of ikat cloth is not for sissies. The laborious and skillful process of resist-dyeing and weaving fine threads is not one quickly learned. Take me for instance–this resist-dyeing process has intrigued me since college when I spent a semester teaching myself warp ikat, studying whatever I could from the→ Read more

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Sep 13

Bandhani to Shibori, How an Indian Artisan Innovates

It’s the strong pull of the tactile that brings forth memories. For Abdul Aziz Khatri from Kutch, India, it was the learning of bandhani, a resist-dyeing technique, at the feet of his elders that permeated his tactile senses providing a connection to cloth and imbedding cultural meaning.→ Read more

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Sep 06

Acadian Brown Cotton Ever-Growing

It’s all about brown cotton in Louisiana and Acadian brown cotton (ABC) is becoming an ever-growing sustainable movement. In a recent blog, we introduced you to the story of Acadian brown cotton by tracing the history and culture of the Cajun people of Louisiana. The documentary film Coton jaune: Acadian Brown→ Read more

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Aug 16

Witnessing Change in Lao Textiles

Traveling to Laos once or twice a year for over twenty years, I have witnessed remarkable changes in the textile field. As tourism developed, new markets for Lao textiles opened and designers from the U.S.A., Europe, Japan, and Australia came to work with local weavers introducing new ideas, designs, materials→ Read more

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