Тъкачните станове в България
Weaving looms in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: After a general information about the principles of weaving, the present article considers the loom as a device for man's productive activity. It is shown in its development from an ordinary wooden frame up to a complex independent mechanism, the way in which its form and structural elements were improved being described. The general signs and basic differences between the vertical and the horizontal loom are shown with the influence they have on the manner of ornamenting the fabrics. This makes it possible to study the looms traditionally used in Bulgarian households and to point out their structural features in the various regions of our historically ethnic territory. This creates the possibility of indicating the great variety of local specific features in weaving devices, on the one hand, and to look for the reasons which conditioned them, on the other, thus leading to an attempt at a new classification. The unity in weaving traditions among the Bulgarians is largely determined by the use of a vertical and a horizontal loom. The vertical loom is comparatively less widely used and is represented by the upright loom and the more intricate carpet-making loom. In comparing the two, the development of its form and structure is clearly apparent. The horizontal loom is widespread all over the Bulgarian ethnic territory. Despite certain local peculiarities in its form and structural elements, as a whole its construction shows unity in all regions of the country. These peculiarities illustrate separate stages in the historical development of the device in the Bulgarian lands. Bearing in mind the evolution of the horizontal loom in constructively we can unite its varieties in two groups: a) transitory group and b) contemporary domestic looms.

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