MATERIALS AND METHODS OF MAKING PASHMINA AND KANI SHAWL

Soft, attractive, and elegant Kashmiri shawls are the result of the weavers' skills in colouring, designing, embellishing and the use of fine fabrics. The geographical position of the Kashmir valley, the northwest region of India, is also vital in providing the finest and softest fleece, the main source of Fibre. After cleaning and processing, the fleece is used for creating Pashmina items. The quality of wool usually depends on the climate and the altitude at which the animal is found. The shawl goat, which lives on a higher altitude and a colder climate, has the finer fleece and the thicker coat. The natural habitat of such wool-producing species is on very high altitudes, nearly above 4,500 metres (14,750 ft).

 The oldest male species are found close to the snowline in August-September, and the females are often seen above the forest limit. As the snow falls, the animals descend towards the valleys, but never leave the precipices except to graze on adjacent grassy slopes. Wool obtained from the domestic shawl goat is called pashm, widely used by Kashmiris for making the pashmina fabric.

 Generally, all wool-producing species found on very high altitudes have two layers of fleece growth, outer and inner. The outer coat is comparatively brittle, while the inner growth of fleece functions as a protective layer against the icy winds. Wool derived from the portion lying between the under-neck and the underbelly is of the finest quality. However, the hair of the outer coat plays no part in the fabrication of Kani pashmina; it is diverted to some other use.

 All kinds of raw materials or natural wools were obtained from the northwest Himalayan region of India and Tibet. Earlier, the best wool came from Changthang (the southern mountainous regions of Khotan), and Rudok (the former constituency of Ladakh). Spiti was also a wool-producing centre, but the quality of wool was of a lower grade, referred to as Lena in Tibetan

 The colour of the pashm wool depends on the colour of the shawl goat's hair. If the colour was white, the pashm wool would be the white, but if it were any other colour, irrespective of the shade of the outer coat, the pashm would tend towards a shade of brown.

 The special wool-producing goat of the Central Himalayan species has its own place in the special process of making the woollen fabric in Kashmir. All types of woollen fabrics produced in Kashmir are technically divided into two broad divisions, Kanikar and Amlikar (Sozani). The Kanikar or Kani is the highest form of weaving.

 The kani pashmina were woven in the double-interlock twill tapestry technique. Interlock'refers'to the two weft-ends interlocking on each row; twill tapestry refers to the manipulation of selected heddles, vertical cords with a centre loop that guides the warp threads at selected frequencies. This leads to the development of the twill weave, where the weft is turned back to form areas of colour interlocked at the edges.) The Kashmir loom has four treadles since the preferred weave is twill.Amlikar or Amli, on the other hand, is embroidery work done on the woven fabric and shawl. The darning, stem, sujani, sozankar, satin, chikandari, rezkar, watchikan, jalakdozi, and chain stitches are used for embroidering.

After the yarn is prepared, it was taken to the pennakam gurn or warp-dresser, who dipped it into boiled rice water to stiffen each thread and set it apart from the rest. The job of the warp-dressers is to twist the threads into the required thickness, which gives warp yarns more strength and weight than the weft.

 Once the warp is ready, the pattern needs to be made. Enter the ukash or the pattern-drawer, who started by working out the complete design, generally, in black and white with charcoal pencils.

 The design then went to the hands of the tarfarash or gandanol, who decided on the proportion of differently coloured yarns to be required. Sometimes two different people did this work and sometimes the same worker. From gandanwol, the talim guru took down the particulars in a coded pattern and delivered a copy of the document to the weaver. Next the tilis (needles) were prepared, each tilis armed with differently coloured yarns. The needles made of light and smooth wood are without eyes (probably that is why the technique is known as kan) and both their sharp ends are slightly charred to prevent their becoming rough or jagged through working. Under the superintendence of the gandanwol, the weavers knotted the yarn of the tilis to the warp. The face or the right side of the cloth was placed next to the ground. The work of weaving was carried on from the back or reverse side of the fabric on which the needles (tilis) were disposed in a row. The number of tias could vary from 400 to 1,500 according to the lightness or the pattern chosen for the fabric.

The technique used in weaving Kashmir shawls is twill tapestry. In the process, the weft does not pass from selvedge to selvedge as in tapestry but is turned back to form areas of colour interlinked at the edges.

Working on the reverse side of the fabric, the weavers interlocked the coloured weft threads, producing a slight ridge where the joints were made. They were raised and two-coloured on the back, but invisible on the right side. This twill-tapestry technique resulted in the border being stronger than the single-colour field whose fragile, almost transparent material does not wear well and has to be completely replaced when damaged. Twill tapestry is a slow process, but it can produce any design.

The entire pattern is woven with coloured tilis. The finished shawls or fabrics are then submitted to the purzagur or cleaner, who sorts out the knots of the discoloured hair or yarn. He either pulls these threads out severally with a pair of tweezers or shaves out the defects. The fabric is then sent directly to the rafugar, who does the mending and gives final shape to the shawl or fabric. As the complete shawl or fabric passes through many hands, it becomes dirty. So, before it goes for sale, it is given a final wash which also helps remove the stiffness due to the rice starch in the thread. After washing, the shawl is dried in the shade, as the hot sun spoils the colours. Finally, the shawl becomes fine and soft and ready for sale.

Apart from kani weaving the other important variety of Kashmir shawls are the amli or embroidered shawls.Entire pashmina were embroidered with pashma, silk or zari threads and became popular in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

This process was adopted by Kashmiri weavers, according to accounts of several travellers, for selecting the raw material, cleaning, spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery