Greetings, friendly viewers, and welcome to A Journey through Aesthetics Realms on Supreme Master Television. Today, in the first of our two-part series on the art of weaving, we will visit several countries to learn more about their wonderful cloth making traditions.

Whether it is creating cotton fabric or bamboo baskets, the art of weaving is an ancient practice of interlacing one-dimensional threads into two-dimensional objects. The oldest woven artifacts have been dated back to around 5000 BCE, and were excavated from archeological sites in Egypt, Switzerland, and Peru. In fact, cloth-making techniques and tools existed in many early civilizations around the globe.

Weaving is not only carried out to produce clothing and household items, but also practiced in many cultures as a way to record mythical tales and historical events. In addition, it has been widely employed as a form of craft that expresses the aesthetic values of the weavers through their choices of colors, patterns, motifs, and designs.

Although the modern textile industry has been transformed with the invention of highly automated machinery and synthetic threads, handmade products with natural materials are still preferred by many. Let’s now go to the Golden Hands Festival in Istanbul, Turkey to find out about their traditional cloth weaving.

Hallo. Welcome. We are coming from Moda Yeşiyurt. We participated in the Golden Hands Festival in İstanbul. We are very happy to present our work here. Right now, on our handloom is the weaving we have been making; it is natural, 100% cotton, 100% handmade, from beginning to end. Right now, there are so many synthetic products in the market, and the things that are retro and cotton are in demand.

Whether it is the popular scarves or decorative house items, the motifs and colors of Turkish woven textiles carry profound cultural meanings.

Tulip is an example which dates back to the Ottoman Empire. It is an example which is used as a motif. In particular, I like this color, red, the color of our Turkish flag. This is the rose pattern that represents love. Because we are Muslims, in our religion, rose is the kind of flower that our Prophet loves most. On our fabric, we work on the signatures of the sultans.

This is the signature of Mahmut II. It is used as a seal, and it is very popular. And also, everything that is natural gives human beings much calmer, much nicer feelings. We like to work with pastel colors, to gain people’s admiration. It is necessary to reach the souls. It is necessary to understand people’s feelings.

Weaving techniques can be adjusted to satisfy a variety of needs and create more comfortable clothing.

When you weave the fabric densely, then the fabric becomes coarser. In order to give it a softer and silky look, we weave more sparsely. In any case, after it is washed, it becomes more vibrant and denser.

We are from the Aegean Region. We are from Muğla. Our yarns are first quality Aegean cotton. When we are wearing this, we feel very light, very comfortable, because this is completely pure cotton. There is no other ingredient in it. I mean it makes you feel fresh. It also lets the wind through; you know the fabric is not dense.

The creation of comfortable clothing involves weaving on the loom. Despite slight regional differences, the method of fabric production is similar across cultures. Please follow our camera to the HASDER Folk Arts Institute, a non-profit organization in Cyprus, to find out more.

Hallo and welcome! My name is Yıldız Acaröz. I have been working at HASDER since 2002. Here, we are doing weaving works. We have students, we are giving courses. Our goal is to revive the past, to promote and cherish the old products in Cyprus. The tool you see here is our weaving loom. We are wrapping the threads we use on the loom, winding it around a spinning wheel.

Let me show our spinning wheel, it is in the back. We wrap the bobbins around it. We assemble them on our shuttle and weave them here. On this bench, we can do, for example, chest covers, trestle covers, curtains, and various products. On the other bench, we produce products in the weaving style we call “peşkir.” They are thinner.

We are warping the main threads. The hardest part is preparing this warp and assembling it on the benches. This consumes a lot of time and effort. After that comes the easiest part: weaving. Here, depending on which hand we have the shuttle in, we press with the foot on the opposite side. On our other stand, the shuttle and the foot work in the same way.

The stand where Karpaz weaving is produced works differently. Hands and feet work reversely. Here we hold the shuttle with the right hand and press with the left foot. Here we can create different motifs by inserting stripes in the pattern. First of all, we start weaving on our shuttle loom, then switch our foot below.

Also, we call the mechanism here “comb;” we press our comb. With the help of this comb, we press our yarns. Again, the same way. We switch our foot. We beat our comb. Just like this. We can make it in any size we want. We cannot do its width sixe 5 but we can do its length as much as we want. It depends on the product you want to make.

Weaving brings a great sense of fulfillment to those engaged in the craft. We are both producing things and continue to give our courses. It is very enjoyable. I used to hear from my mother that my grandmother was doing such things in the past but I had never seen. I love what I do.

For many cultures, weaving is a family tradition that is passed from mother to daughter. The link to future generations creates an invisible tie that connects people with their heritage. Let’s now have a welcome glimpse into Tais, an ethnic fabric of East Timor.

The Tais is part of the cultural heritage for East Timor because it used to be worn as a cloth, back in our ancestor's times. The Tais is worn at births, deaths, marriages, and for various traditional ceremonies, according to each district's customs. It varies from one district to another, slightly. Schools nowadays, there are machines, manually, but to me personally, nothing can replace the back strap, our tradition.

Traditional Tais weaving is a long process initially involving preparing and coloring the thread with vegetable dyes.

With the commercial thread, you know the color you want and then you pick the color you want. Whereas with this, it is a long process. They have to pick the cotton, they have to dry it, they have to protect the seeds, clean it and beat it up to fluff it and then spin it, then put it into color. I value the cotton one more.

Because of the process and because of the motifs that the women keep using. I was lucky enough that I grew up close to my grandmother and my mother. That’s how I learned a little bit about dyes because in my days, there was nothing documented. If you have somebody in your family that weaves, then you grow up knowing about dyes, but if you don’t, then you grow up without knowing anything about dyes.

During the years that I lived overseas, I was lucky my sister stayed here. So she used to send us Tais, and my two sons grew up knowing a little bit about Tais because I was able to show them the pieces that I had. And as they grew a bit older, I made shirts, which they wear proudly, of Tais.

Once a year, we still have a cultural party like every other nationality. So Tais has been something very important in my family life as well. We always love it, and of course my eldest son as an artist, because the father is from Oecusse, of course he has always been interested in Oecusse patterns because of the variety.

Ms. Napoleao encourages the traditional weaving industry to return to its time-honored roots.

I'd like to see every weaver growing their own cotton. That's the work that our economic development program is doing. My colleagues are doing that. Talking to the weavers in the districts, in some district encourage them to grow their own cotton using the natural dyes, to bring back what we almost lost. Document it for the future generation, because otherwise we lose our cultural heritage. And this is part of it, it is important because your culture is your roots, you know where you came from, what you are.

We thank Ms. Ayşen Karancan, Ms. Zeynep Karancan, Ms. Yilda Acaröz, and Ms. Ofelia Nevez Napoleao for generously sharing your fascinating knowledge. The traditional weaving of various cultures is a precious asset our ancestors have gifted to us. It records their way of life and carries their love of beauty. May this exquisite art form continue to flourish, enriching a peaceful world for eons to come.

Gracious viewers, thank you for joining us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Please tune in tomorrow for part 2 of our 2-part program on the timeless weaving traditions. Coming up next is

Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May you be evermore blessed with inner tranquility and joy.

Hallo, artistic viewers. Welcome to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television for the second and final part of our program on the timeless traditions of weaving. Yesterday we were introduced to cloth weaving practices of Turkey, East Timor and Cyprus.

Today, we will visit three other countries to explore weaving in the context of ethnic handicrafts. First, please join us for a trip to the Republic of Uganda of East Africa.

Now ladies and gentlemen, I am Ayimbisibwe Catherine. Where I am, it is called Sumba Bukaluba. Now I am going to show you how to weave a Buganda cultural basket. We get this from banana leaves for weaving. This is the mid vein of the banana leaf. This is how we do it. After drying them, they look like this.

Then we begin our cultural basket. We put a little water on the mid vein of the leaf so that it becomes soft and cannot break. This is the needle we use to weave our basket. Now I have begun. I pierce first, make a knot, and pierce again. And weave. And tie real tight. This is how the Buganda cultural basket is made. It takes me two days to complete this basket. After the food is ready, we place it in this basket and served from this basket.

This cultural basket is taken to the garden and sweet potatoes are put in it after being dug up. Then they are carried back home. It helps in carrying raw food and cooked food as well. These cultural baskets have a lot of uses. Any Muganda woman must have this basket to help her in the home.

Besides banana leaves, palms leaves are also a popular raw material for craft weaving. Let’s find out how palms leaves are used to make floor mats.

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. I am a member of this village called Bukaluba. My name is Nabulime Harriet. My job is to make mats. When I am going to start weaving mats, I first cut palm leaves. After cutting, I lay them out in the compound to dry. Then I boil them in colors I want. I boil them in purple and green. I also leave some white. I make three colors. When starting my mat, I begin like this. I put the cut palms first, then start from the bottom of the mat to make it strong.

Then weave this side while turning to this side and that, also adding more palms. On one side you weave three times, and the other also three times. Within my mat, I have to include poles to make it strong. These are called poles. We put them on either side for the mat to be straight, without being crooked. This is how big it is on completion.

Let’s now go from beautiful East Africa, across to the Indian Ocean, and arrive at the South Eastern Asian country of Brunei, the Abode of Peace. Here our host is weaving a traditional dish cover called tudung dulang.

My name is Jauyah Binti Hj Ali from Kampong Lorong Dalam. I was born in Kampong Lorong Dalam 66 years ago. I learnt the art of weaving tudung dulang (dish cover) from my mother for about 20 years. I have completed various types of tudung dulang (dish cover); many of them have become the choices of locals and foreigners. My wish for this art is that it will flourish well into the future.

First, pandanus leaves are separated into pieces, boiled like this, to form this. Slit the stem, remove the thorns like this, and boil all of them. Once completed, have them all folded like this. Look here, the folds are boiled like this. Boil them, drain them; once drained, dry them in the sun, and have them soaked for a minute.

Once dried, roll them like this. Then we dye them. Pandanus, napong, silat and pelang leaves are all the materials required. Four types only, four types of leaves. First, do it this way; once completed, cut it. Once cut, make the edge like this from the bottom. Once completed from the bottom, dry them in the sun. Once dried, make a frame, starting from the bottom, like this.

Once completed, raise the frame. Once all are crossed, you may start stitching, like this. First this one, twice this one, thrice this one, four or five times. Once completed, add another edge at the bottom. Complete the bottom one, then the top one; do it for all. From here you just use your own creativity to make it look nicer. You may have it colored.

Once made, the food covers are sent to craft stores and sold as souvenirs. Let’s take a look at a neighborhood gift shop.

My name is Hajah Norma Hajah Latif. This is my shop. All shops here carry things made in Brunei. As you can see here, plenty, right? Like this tudung dulang (dish cover), it’s modernized, made in Brunei. All are made in Brunei. This old one, mothers used it in the past 50 years to cover food. Nowadays it’s used in weddings to cover dowry, like jewelry. People always choose to use it.

This is a hat; we call this “siraung.” It’s made from leaves also. This is made from leaves for those sellers on boats. Sellers on boats in the past were women. Rowing from one village to another, they use this to cover their heads from the sun and rain. This one, we call “takiding,” made in Brunei also. The handmade takiding, from bamboo or rattan. This one is for carrying paddy from the paddy field. Takiding is quite durable; it takes two to three years to be worn out.

This is a “takung” (colander), made from bamboo. It’s used for washing vegetables. After washing, if the vegetables are left in the takung, water is drained. That’s the use of it. This is “bahai” (basket). The small bahais are for decorations. This is a large bahai. It is used to carry fruits. It’s made from rattan, sometimes made from bamboo as well. Fruits such as durian, rambutan, mampangat... People carry it on their back.

Nowadays, the items and their materials are taught in schools. This means that Bruneians appreciate the traditional heritage. We have produced our very own Bruneian products ourselves. That is what makes Bruneians proud.

From floor mats to baskets, from dish covers to hats, woven crafts have been widely used in households for hundreds of years. Let’s go back to Africa and see how the same basic technique is used in Cameroon to create furniture such as chairs.

Greetings, everyone. I’m Mr. Kameni Joseph, and I’m a craftsman, based here in Douala, Cameroon. I specialize in the conception and construction of cane products, such as chairs, tables, cupboards, sofas, beds etc. The material we use in the production of these items is called cane. Cane is long and the length varies between 2 and 10 meters, and even more.

We call this model “cocoon.” The structure is made of big cane. And to finish, to render it more aesthetic, we embellish it with small cane. That’s how it is. He is heating it up as you can see; and that heat permits him to fold the cane and produce different pieces. That will serve as the frame of the chair. Right, once folded, we can unfold it. Right. You see how the technician’s hands are very agile, very apt. Thank you.

And that is how we shall obtain our chair, after assembling all the different pieces. Yes, what we see here at the moment are small canes, called liane. They are scrubbed and folded. They have been folded. It’s with it that we embellish the chairs, after scrubbing them. Good, this is still in its raw state. This is how it comes out from the forest. This one is a square chair, a little high as you can see.

It’s also made of big cane. And now, we embellish it with liane. This time, the liane are split. And you see how it is woven and how the structure is covered by these lianes. Products produced from cane are very good for the environment. When we cut them in the wild, others grow immediately and as such, the forest stays preserved. They are cheap and economical and help us to express our culture and our creativity. Many Cameroonians, as well as expatriates, like cane products.

This encourages us to continue to seek the bettering of this work. We also train young people so that this art is preserved for future generations. We thank Supreme Master Television for coming to sympathize with us and for featuring our creativity.

Our many thanks, Ms. Ayimbisibwe Catherine, Ms. Nabulime Harriet, Ms. Jauyah Binti Hj Ali, Ms. Hajah Norma Hajah Latif, and Mr. Kameni Joseph, for kindly sharing your vast knowledge and expertise. Wishing you the best of success in the continuation and development of your precious craft.

The art of weaving provides practical items which help us in many daily activities, besides enriching us with the intangible values that are treasured by each culture. With Heaven’s blessings, may this time-honored heritage flourish evermore, bringing more cherished creations and beauty to our world.

Gentle viewers, thank you for your loving presence on today’s episode of A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Up next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May your heart and soul resonate with God’s eternal love.