The first time we visited Ban Thwa Sawang weaving village about 10 years ago it was a thriving tourist attrction with demonstrations of silk worm culture, spinning, and dyiing as well as several types of loom,

Now other than the 2 story loom there was one other weaver. She was using a flying shuttle at about one stroke per second.

Her loom had 5 harnsses, each one suspended on a pvc pipe. The pvc pipes acted like springs lifting the harnesses back into the neutral position while they weren't being pulled down. There were 5 pedals, one tied to each frame. there was a wooden pad to the left and right of the five pedals. This is where she placed her feet when the weren't on a pedal. While I was watching her she was depressing only one frame at a time.

I wish that I had looked more closely at the cloth she was producing.

 

This photo gives an overall picture.of the loom.

 

This picture shows her five harnesses suspended from pvc pipes. You can see the far side of the flying shuttle and two leavers that connect it to the frame of the loom. These levers hold the beater parallel to the cloth beam.

 

Here is the breast beam and cloth  roller. THe roller is a piece of iron pipe. The pipe  has two holes drilled through it, thes holes are used to turn the pipe and maintain tension using the metal plate with the white rope attached. The rope prevents the pipe from turning. The oval shaped boar on the wooden shaft is the weaver’s piviting seat.

 

 

 

This is the back beam and warp roller. The weaver controls the warp roller by using a cogged piiece of wood on the end of a board from her weaving position,

 

 

Group Audience