In consultation with weavers from Herat, we have designed a line of women's scarves based on the traditional Afghan turban. One solid color is set off at both ends by two bands of a contrasting color. The scarves are 64 inches or 162.5 cm long, and 19 inches or 48.5 cm wide.
Some, but not all of Arghand's retailers sell hand-woven silk scarves. However, scarves can be special ordered through any of our retailers. For a list of retailers that do carry Arghand scarves, please contact: jennie@arghand.org.
Scarves
Arghand scarves help to preserve the time-honored tradition of Afghan silk weaving, which has become endangered by the influx of synthetic imports.
In the early 1970s I had the fortune to come across a little import shop where I found some traditionally hand-woven textiles from Afghanistan. I purchased a woolen scarf, a small fine wool blanket and a most wonderful woven belt sash. I still have these three items and still treasure them greatly and have continued to use them for these last thirty-odd years. I have also lamented that I have never been able to find more Afghan textiles, so imagine my joy in hearing from Driftless Fair Traders that they were bringing in traditional silks!
Over the years I have become a soap maker as well as a weaver. I mention this only because it gives me some credibility in speaking of these crafts. Arghand soaps speak well for themselves and have become a pretty hot item, but the Afghan silks are new to many, so I will speak to that.
The process begins with the harvest of the silk cocoons, gathered from the mulberry orchards. They are soaked in warm water to soften. Then the end filament is found and the slow unwrapping of the cocoon begins with that single strand. After many long filaments are held together, they are hand spun to produce a single thread. The thread is then wound onto a warping board to the required number and length of threads. These threads are later applied to the hand loom, threading through the heddles individually until the warp is all tied off and finished. All this and the weaving has not yet begun! The shuttles are then loaded in the contrasting thread and weaving now begins with the shuttles being thrown back and forth between the warp threads. This description is very simplistic and doesn't include all the steps in the process but will give you some idea of how labour intensive the making of the cloth is.
This traditional textile industry has been a vital one in Herat (on the ancient silk route), located west of Kandahar, and is in danger of losing its market to the large companies of China that churn out machine-made silks and synthetics for a lower cost. When the Herat industry is lost there will be no more traditional Afghan silks, which is why these craftspeople are so worth supporting and preserving.
Patricia Lewis
Northern Vancouver Island
Customer Feedback:
Copyright 2009 Arghand.org