25/09/2021
"H**P WEAVING
Growing and weaving h**p
Making h**p cloth requires about 7 months (from raising the h**p crop to weaving the cloth) and a lot of manual labor. In early May when maize is planted, a piece of fertile land is kept free for growing h**p. H**p seeds are usually saved from the last crop. The best seeds are beaten and husked. They are sown close together, so that the h**p plants will grow straight and thin with few branches. Thin plants produce a better quality of h**p cloth.
Two and a half months after sowing, the h**p reaches about two meters and is ready to be harvested. After harvesting, all leaves and small branches are removed, and the h**p stalk is dried in sunlight from 10 to 14 days until it is completed dry. Then it is separated into bunches according to length. Each stalk is broken at the middle and the bark peeled away from the core. One h**p plant produces 8-12 strips of fiber, and the longest strips can be about 1.6 meters. H**p strips are tied in a bunch and pounded to remove the hard part of the bark.
Connecting h**p fiber is a long process. A h**p strip is split 10cm from one end and another strip is inserted into the split. The two ends are twisted together tightly so that the knot is not visible. Hmong women often have h**p fiber wound around their waits and hands, and use any s pare time to connect strips.
To make the fiber stronger, it is spun on a wooden spinning wheel with a 70cm diameter frame. The wheel (che tu) which is turned by pedaling, draws and twist the fiber from four balls of wet h**p onto four wooden chopsticks which serve as spools. The thread of one spool is attached to one arm of a four-armed horizontal bamboo frame (khau ly). The thread winds around the four arms as the khau ly is rotated, and then the next spool is attached. Next the thread is put in a hole in the ground with cooking ash for one night, and then boiled three times until the fiber turns white. In the final boiling, beeswax is added to make h**p smooth. The khau ly is used once more to stretch the h**p fiber and organize it into skeins.
Finally, the h**p fiber is wound onto a short bamboo stick and then a warp is strung. Traditionally the Hmong weave on a back strap loom and use only one foot to pull a single heddle. The width of the cloth is about 30 to 35cm, which is the length from a skirt waistband to the hem. When taken off the loom, h**p cloth must be washed repeatedly for one month until it becomes as white as possible. Finally, h**p cloth is pressed between a stone and a log to make the cloth smooth and flat.
Batiked decoration by the Hmong
Flower Hmong women have several bamboo pens with copper nibs which they dip into melted beeswax and use to draw a variety of traditional patterns on white h**p cloth. The cloth is dyed in indigo many times before it is boiled to release the beeswax."
Source: Internet
