Bhutanese girl weaving using the backstrap loom

Here you can see a young bhutanese girl weaving using a Bhutanese back-strap loom.

The Bhutanese backstrap loom-
The rigid part of a Bhutanese backstrap loom consists of a platform to sit on connected to a vertical frame at the back with holes for holding warp-poles. Sometimes this vertical frame is attached to a wall or verandah posts, but usually it is free-standing.

A backstrap is attached by ropes to a breast-beam made of two half-cylinders, between which the warp passes, and held together by wrapping the rope around it. The weaver's body and legs are used to create tension in the warp by bracing the legs against beams wedged against the frame.

A variety of bamboo and wooden shed rods, heddle rods and swords are also used. The largest sword also functions as a beater. The shuttle is a simple length of bamboo, sometimes encased in a bamboo or plastic sheath.

Weavers sit on a cushion or piece of sack or fabric so that they can slide forward to loosen the warp when changing the shed.

Source- textiletrails

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.