Canvas Weaving

ABSTRACT: In the central part of Iran, canvas that is termed “carbamino” is the most simplified dual harness cloth that is weaved by cotton and by horizontal looms. Carbamino is either principally with no designs or it has very simple designs. Although production of this cloth is done in different regions with almost similar methods, there are variations in its production with regards to its application. One of the regions in the center of Iran that carbamino has had different applications and has large areas of flax, is Varzaneh near Esfahan. The woven carbamino is used in Varzaneh as bread wrapper (cloth to keep bread in), knapsack for brides dowry, Turkish bath knapsack, white chador, shroud and wrapper for bedclothes. At the moment, there are only 16 semi-active carbamino weaving workshops in this region and the weavers are all old women. Carbamino made in Varzaneh has max of 5 colors and is woven with mercerized starched cotton thread with the fat taken from sheep’s brain. The method of this research is exploratory-field research and in addition to analyzing different parts of the loom and introducing the tools and describing the weaving procedures, the local terms used in weaving carbamino in Varzaneh are classified and explained.