Weaving equipment

Weaving is a handicraft technique with very old and rich traditions. Similarly as in the case of other folk crafts, a number of specific tools were developed for its purpose. One of the useful accessories used in the process of making a fabric was a warping paddle, a thin rectangular board with a short handle and two rows of evenly distributed holes running along its longer sides. It was used to keep the threads in order while they were warped from the balls placed in a special vertical frame to a warping frame, a rotating frame. The process was complicated and required a lot of skill. The balls with thread wound on them were placed in the vertical frame and the yarn from each ball was threaded through the holes in the warping paddle. Then, the threads were wound on a warping frame, making sure that individual groups remain separated. Once everything was prepared, the threads were taken off the frame and braided. The warping paddle made the job easier, although it was not necessary – the weaver could use her own hand and the spaces between her fingers instead of the holes in the paddle. Sometimes the warping paddle was a gift, which the bride received from her future husband – then it was usually richly decorated. A beautiful ornament, decorating both the board and its handle can be admired on a warping paddle coming from the second half of the 19th century, in the ethnographic collection of the National Museum in Szczecin. It is decorated with carved hearts and rosettes, common in the ornamentation of the whole Western Pomerania. Both of these decorative motifs had a rich symbolism in folk beliefs. The heart was considered the seat of the human soul and was associated with happiness and life forces, while rosettes resembling flowers with symmetrical petals placed in circles were believed to have protective powers.

Agnieszka Słowińska