Obtained from The Worshipful Company of Weavers
Term | Main definition |
---|---|
barathea | |
bark cloth | The inner bark of a tree, such as the paper mulberry Brousonnetia papyrifera or another tree Pipturus albidus, which is soaked and beaten with a mallet into a thin sheet. It can be bleached, dyed or painted. Called tapa in Hawaii and kapa in Fiji. |
basic dyes | |
basket weave | |
bast fibres | Also known as stem fibres. Fibre obtained from between the inner and outer layer of the stems or stalks of many plants such as: allo, flax, hemp, hop, jute, kenef, nettle, ramie, roselle, sunn hemp, urena. They are strong, long fibres and can be used to make ropes, string, gunny, hessian, sacking and fishing nets. |
batik | The word batik is derived from the Javanese word membatik which means drawing or painting on cloth. It is the general term which describes a form of dye resist by wax on cotton cloth. The craft of batik making is practised in India, parts of Africa and is renowned in Java. Resists of rice flour paste in India or Africa are painted or printed on the cotton cloth. In Java hot wax, prepared from 1 part paraffin wax and 3 parts resin, is applied to the cotton cloth to resist the dye by either a block called a tjap or drawn onto the cloth with a canting sometimes called a tjanting. The wax solidifies and cracks on handling. The waxed areas resist the dye. When the wax is washed out of the fabric there remains the characteristic veining effect where the dye liquor has penetrated the cracks. See canting. |
batten | |
bave | The continuous filament bave is exuded by the silkworm to form its cocoon. It is composed of two brins which are stuck together with sericin or silk gum. The two brins are extruded from a pair of silk glands in the silkworm\'s head. The length of bave varies with the breed of silkworm, from 300 m to 1500 m. The thickness of the bave varies from 1.8 denier to 3.0 denier. See also brin. |
beam | A cylinder of wood or metal with end bearings for mounting into flanges either at the front or rear of a loom. A double beam refers to two beams which can be fixed to the rear of the loom when two warps are taken up in the weaving under two different tensions. See back beam, breast beam and double beam. |
beam dyeing | |
beater | |
beating up | Or beat up. See beaten and fell. |
beer | |
beet | A bundle or sheaf of tied flax or straw. |
beetling |