Bamboo Cage Loom 1

The polychromatic silk textiles of the Zhuang people in Guangxi are made on this type of loom. The shedding and patterning mechanism is a round bamboo basket shaped like those use for transporting pigs to market. The loom employs approximately 100 bamboo patterning rods (which determine the weft picks) and about the same number of heddles (used for the warps) in formatting the pattern and storing its configuration. After each beating of the weft, the appropriate bamboo rod is pressed based on a predetermined order to move the heddles which in turn regulate the corresponding warp ends to create the shed. After each shuttle movement, the “active” bamboo rod is placed at the back of the cage while the weaver moves on to the next step of the patterning circle.