Woven Songs - A Basic Introduction to the Art of Kani Weaving
Kani Weaving (Kanikar in local Kashmiri language) is perhaps the most original techniques of Kashmir Shawl making, evolved from the common textile weaving in Near East, the techniques and skills were elevated greatly by the shawl makers.
Combined with the rich designs, color palettes and creativities, the Kani weaving has gained its reputation to be one of the most magnificent and sophisticated weaving in the textile history.
A handloom is used here, similar to the ones used for handloom woven pashmina shawls, but instead of using a shuttle to carry the weft yarns, tujis (or toji, a little wooden or bamboo stick sharpened on both ends) are used.
The warp of Kani shawls, like other woven shawls, comes in 3 dimensions: 75cm, 100cm and 135cm, which produces respectively stoles, women's size shawls and gent's size shawls.
Tuji is a little stick used to carry colored yarns during Kani weaving. It is normally hand made from a special type of wood (sometimes bamboo), sharpened on both ends, and surface smoothened (perhaps oiled even), to make it easy to go through the warp.
Depending on the complexity of designs and colors, the amount of tujis used for a Kani shawl can range from dozens to hundreds.
The artist runs each tuji through the warp, counting the number of threads to be crossed. The more detailed the design is, the more amount of tujis have to be used.
A plan (Naska) of the specimen of the shawl is first drawn upon paper, where flowers of various colors are depicted. From this Plan the warp is set on the loom according to the number of nals (pairs of threads) required.
Typically the design chart shows a portion of the main design, which is to then repeated horizontally and vertically, according to the instructions given.
Kani weaving is yet the most sophisticated kind of work, a job that requires highly trained skills, but mostly good patience and care.
"A master is never trained, but practiced and meditated to become one",says one of our Kani weavers.
One interesting fact is the artist works on the reverse side of the shawl, as the method of weaving requires constant locking of weft yarns as they twirl through the warp.
During the weaving process the work is often checked by senior artists to ensure the colors are correctly shown, the lines are smooth and tidy. Kani shawls are often tight or semi tight woven to make sure they can be used for a long time. A good weave should be soft, smooth and durable.
Compared to embroidery shawls, Kani weave is a tediously time-consuming technique. In earlier days when woven shawls were more popular, it was common that 2-3 weavers worked on one shawl to shorten the time required to complete a complex design.
Even though the modern day designs are more simplified, it still it takes in average 2-4 months time to weave a fairly standard Kani Palla (half Kani) shawl with floral patterns:
It is not hard to imagine a Kani Jamawar (all over design) shawl like these will take 6-8 months and approximately more than 200 tujis to complete.
Over the years western scholars, textile experts and visitors have documented their findings and discoveries about Kani weaving, bearing witness to the once glorious artistic skills and creativity of Kashmiri artists.
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