The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)
Plaiting Commencement, hatu
Plaiting Commencement, hatu.
The setting up of the connected butt ends in a continuous row for the full width of the mat is termed hatu. Hatu corresponds to the Maori whatu, which, however, is applied to the technique of clothing manufacture and the single-pair twining of fish traps. There are two kinds of hatu commencement, the hatu tahi and the hatu rua.
Hatu tahi commencement. In this, all the butt ends lie in one direction hence tahi, one. The unsplit butt ends are about 18 cm. long, Fig. 92. The butt ends lean towards the right. Some of the strips from the butts continue straight on to form dextral wefts, whilst others are bent to the left to form sinistral wefts. In this manner, though all the elements start parallel, they are immediately separated into dextral and sinistral wefts to provide the crossing elements necessary to plaiting. The plaiting technique in these mats is the check stroke. As defined, each pases alternately over and under each consecutive crossing weft.
Hatu rua commencement. In this method, there are two (rua) sets of butts. One set leans towards the right and forms all the dextral wefts, whilst the other set leans towards the left and forms all the sinistral wefts, Fig. 94. There is thus no bending of the strips to form sinistral wefts.
In Fig. 95 the butts A, B and C provide the sinistral wefts, and the butts D and E, the dextrals. The wefts from the first butt, A, have a very short course as sinistrals, for they commence the side edge from which they are turned back to function as dextrals. The three wefts from A do not interlace as sinistrals with any other dextrals because they commence the side edge. From A on, the butt strips are laid down in pairs, the dextral first and the sinistral across it, as in D and B, and then E and C. Again the manner of interlacing the strips from the butts is dictated by the check technique. The hatu rua is a much tidier looking commencement than the hatu tahi.
The hatu may be plaited in sections by different women. The parts are assembled and joined by plaiting the dextrals on the right of one section with the sinistrals on the left of another section. In the intermediate sections the piu edging is not made.
Plaiting the Body, raura. The length of the rauhara strips is not sufficient to plait a full length mat from one hatu. The hatu is made for the full width of the mat from side to side, or piu to piu. The set of wefts is plaited as far as the length of the material will go, but it usually takes three or four of these lengths to make a full-sized mat. The length made from one set of wefts is termed a raurahanga. The general term for plaiting is raranga, but plaiting the raurahanga is also termed raura. Thus if it is said of a woman, "Tei te raura i te moenga," we know that she has completed the hatu but has not reached the join, or is between two joins.
The technique of the body is the simple check that was started at the hatu. The plaiter commences on the left end of the hatu. and continues the check plait. She continues the left edge upwards until she secures a convenient number of dextrals to form a diagonal working edge. Instead of taking one weft and passing it under and over each individual crossing weft that it meets, she works a number of dextrals in two alternate sets Thus, in Fig. 98A she is working from the diagonal edge made by the last sinistral, R, with a set of eight dextrals. The alternate wefts, 2, 4, 6 and 8 have been placed across R. but in the process of doing this the left hand has picked up the alternates. 1, 3, 5 and 7. which were beneath R. This locks the sinistral R. in place with a check plait, and provides a place for the next sinistral, S which is placed in position in Fig. 98B.
page 113The picked up dextrals, 1, 3, 5 and 7, are being loosely held in the left hand to keep them out of the way. The left fore-finger and thumb seize the new sinistral, S, at the point marked X, and pull it taut. The thumb is on the upper surface of S, and pointing down its course, whilst the third, fourth and fifth finger still keep the dextrals 1, 3, 5 and 7 out of the way. The right hand now takes the top raised dextral, 1, and straightens it out over the new sinistral S. In doing this, the worker purposely presses the dextral down over the tip of the left thumbnail so that as it slides over into position on the sinistral S, it makes a clicking sound. The left fore-finger then skips over the dextral 1, and picks up the next dextral, 2 which is the top one of the other alternate series. Dextral 2 slips loosely back into the hollow between the left fore-finger and thumb. The left thumb nail slips on a space and the right hand brings the next raised dextral, 3, across it with a click into position. The left fore-finger picks up the next lower dextral, 4. which joins 2. The left thumb slips along the sinistral, S, for another space and the next raised dextral 5, is clicked across it into position. The left fore-finger picks up the next recumbent dextral, 6, which joins 2 and 4, The left thumb slides on a space and the last raised dextral, 7. is clicked across. The left fore-finger picks up the last of the recumbent dextrals. 8, and the movement is completed as shown in Fig. 98C. It will be observed that the two sets of alternate wefts have changed position across the new sinistral, S. In doing this, they have executed a number of check strokes, the dextral wefts 1 to 8 being alternately above and below the sinistral.
page 114The previous raised set, 1, 3, 5 and 7, is now recumbent, and the recumbent set, 2, 4, 6 and 8. is now raised. This provides a shed or position for the next sinistral, T, which is below the recumbent dextrals. In the next movement, T will be raised and placed above the recumbent dextrals, and the movements that took place over the last sinistral, S, will be repeated.
In the movement towards the right to bring in the new sinistral T, another dextral comes into the combintion. It is marked 9 in Fig. 98C. To comply with the check technique, the sinistral, T, must be brought over the new dextral, 9. Thus in the figure there are five recumbent dextrals, which is one too many for the working set of eight wefts. The problem is solved by dropping the top member of the five out of the working combination. Thus in the next movement, the top raised dextral, 2. is clicked across and the next recumbent dextral, 3, is raised. The movement finishes with the dextrals, 2, 4, 6 and 8 being recumbent, and 3, 5, 7 and 9 being raised. The working set of eight is thus maintained by discarding the top dextral of the last combination and adding the new dextral which appears below. This goes on automatically and the same depth of plaiting is maintained right across the width of the mat. When the right edge is reached the requisite number of dextrals are successively turned back to function as sinistrals, and complete the side edge in the manner described in the hatu commencement. Another working set is commenced on the left, and the movements described above repeated. So by successive widths, the raurahanga body with its side edges is continued until the narrowing and shortening wefts indicate the next stage of technique.
If the technique shown in Fig. 98 is carefully cosidered, it will be seen that in principle it closely resembles check weaving. The two series of alternate dextrals in plaiting resemble the two series of alternate warps in weaving. The hands alternately raise one set and depress the other to form a place for the sinistral, just as the mechanical heddle alternately raises and depresses the two sets of warps to form a shed for the weft. This alternate rise and fall automatically works the check technique in both cases. The difference is one of degree, initiated by finer and softer material and developed by mechanical invention. The oblique working edge in plaiting was the only one possible of getting right-angled crossings where page 115all the elements were fixed at the commencement to one straight row. The shortness of the working edge was influenced by the number of elements the human hands could conveniently manipulate, hold and keep taut. With finer, softer and longer elements, the check stroke with a plaiting technique became increasingly difficult and practically impossible for the unaided fingers. Fixation of the free ends of the alternating dextrals to prevent tangling created the beam, and the maintenance of the two alternating series demanded a mechanical device, the heddle. The fixation of the ends of the alternating elements changed the oblique direction of the dextrals of plaiting to the longitudinal or vertical direction of the warps of weaving. The crossing elements could no longer originate from the same line and function at right angles by taking a half turn to the left. Hence they parted company and the weft came in at right angles from the side. The mechanical contrivance enabled all the warps to be arranged into two series, instead of the few as in plaiting. The weft therefore crossed the whole width of the work. It became possible for a weft of continuous yarn collected on a shuttle to cross backwards and forwards. Thus one weft element did in one movement what took a sinistral several stages to complete.
In both plaiting and weaving, the working moves away from the body.
Though some authorities deny that weaving was derived from plaiting, a study of the actual movements used indicates that the two crafts have more in common than the superficial resemblance of the arrangement of elements in check or twill.
The Join, hono. The raurahanga, having reached its full depth as indicated by the shortening wefts, a fresh lot of material has to be added to provide new wefts for another raurahanga. The new wefts connected by the butt strips are joined in a manner similar to the technique of the hatu rua commencement. A hatu rua commencement is made along the front edge of the completed plaiting but each new weft, whether dextral or sinistral, carries an old weft with it for a certain number of strokes. The dextrals are placed on the under surface of the mat, each weft being made to coincide with the under surface of a corresponding old dextral. The sinistrals are placed on the upper surface of the mat, each new one being placed on a corresponding page 116old sinistral. Thus in Fig. 99, the old dextrals, Dl, can be seen lying on the new dextrals, D2, in the upper part of the Figure.
On the left of the figure, the new sinistrals, S2, can be seen lying on the old sinistrals, S1. The butt strips of the new dextrals cannot be seen as they are beneath the work.
The butt strips, dextral and then sinistral, are added as the plaiting works to the right. The plaiting in check is the same as before except that each weft contains two elements. The working combination is usually about eight dextral wefts in two sets of alternate fours. As one four is raised and the other lowered, an old sinistral is placed between and a new sinistral laid on it. The raised four dextrals are crossed over them and the other four raised. This movement disposes of that pair of sinistrals and prepares the way for the next. At the same time the top dextral weft drops out of the working combination, and a new double weft is picked up below. So the work goes on to the right where the join is completed. The working: combination of eight dextrals makes a join of double wefts connected and held by the simple check technique It is about 2 inches in depth.
Commencing now on the left, a fresh strip of the new raurahanga is plaited from left to right with the new wefts. The tip ends of the old sinistrals are on the under surface of the work and below the new sinistrals. They are simply discarded by not being picked up. The tip ends of the old dextrals are on the upper surface of the work and above page 117the new dextrals. They are simply pushed aside or may be immediately cut off close to the edge of the last crossing sinistral in the portion marked X in the Figure. The butt strips of the new sinistrals are on the upper surface and these are subsequently cut off. close to the edge of the first crossing dextrals, in the position marked Y. The tip ends of the old sinistrals and the butt strips of the new dextrals are on the under surface of the work. They are subsequently cut off close to the edge of the last crossing wefts. On the true upper surface of the mat the ends are cut off just under the edge of the crossing wefts so as not to show, but on the under surface there is no need for such care in concealing the cut ends.
During the plaiting of the body a defective weft can be replaced by placing a new one over it, and plaiting them as a two element weft for a few strokes to fix the new weft, when the old one is dropped and subsequently cut off.
In the completed work, the join can always be detected by the thicker strip running across the mat or by looking for the lines of cut-off ends, Fig. 100. The general name for a join is hono, as in Maori. Where the new elements are joined by their butt ends (tuma), the join is a hono tumu; where by the tip ends (kauru), it is a hono kauru. In the latter, the new wefts are placed on the work singly as they are not connected at this end.
A full-sized mat usually consists of four sections with three joins, "e ha raurahanga, e toru, hono." Where the strips are extra long there may be only two joins. Where a join or a finish is to be made with the long butt strips page 118of either of the hatu commencements, the connected butt strips are split into their component wefts.
The Finish of the Ends, taviri. The mat having reached the full size of four raurahanga, the two ends have to be finished off—the two side edges have been turned in with each strip of plaiting, as the mat is of the koviri type. In a mat with decorative borders, the coloured band has to be worked first, but whether plain or decorative, the finish must be some form of the taviri technique. Fig. 101 shows the finished taviri on the under side of the mat.
To conceal the cut-off ends of the wefts, the technique is carried out on the under surface of the mat. The mat is therefore turned over after plaiting the decorative border. The principle is to plait a narrow depth and whilst doing so to turn a sinistral and a dextral from the top down the course of a sinistral, and fix them at the plaiting edge with the ordinary technique. Any number of dextrals may be used for the working edge. In Fig. 102, six have been chosen. From the level of the completed front edge of the plaiting, the left edge of the plaiting must be continued upwards until the six dextrals are available, Fig. 102a. These are in two series, 1, 3 and 5 being down, and 2, 4 and 6 being raised.
The next sinistral, B, is placed in position but before the working dextrals change position to effect the check technique, something must be done to get rid of a pair of wefts and commence the end edge. The only avenue back towards the body of the mat is along the course of the sinistral, B. As the defining edge must start from the left, the first weft to be turned back is that farthest to the left, which is the sinistral, A. The sinistral, A, is therefore bent over and turned down along the course of the sinistral, B, as in Fig. 102b.
page 119The second element of the pair to be disposed of must be a dextral. It must be the one nearest the proposed edge and is thus the highest, which is the dextral, 1. This weft is therefore bent down at right angles along the course of the sinistral, B, as in Fig. 102c.
The pair of wefts to be disposed of being in position, the check movement is made. Thus the dextrals 2, 4 and 6 are crossed over, and at the same time the recumbent wefts are picked up. These were 1, 3 and 5, but the top one, 1, has been otherwise disposed of. This, however, merely corresponds to the dropping of the top dextral in ordinary plaiting and the working combination of six is made up by recruiting the next dextral from below. This is numbered 7 and the completed movement shown in Fig. 102d.
The last re-arrangement of dextrals besides fixing the turned-down pair of wefts from above, and commencing the top edge, has prepared the place for the next sinistral, C. This is placed in position, Fig. 102e.
The way is now prepared for the next pair of wefts to be disposed of. These must be the sinistral on the left, page 120B, and the highest or top dextral, 2. They are accordingly placed in position, Fig. 102f. Though the dextral, 2, has disappeared from the working combination, another dextral, 8, has appeared below.
In the next crossing of wefts, 3, 5 and 7 will cross over the sinistral, C, with its two superimposed wefts, and 4, 6 and 8 will be raised. In this manner, the taviri technique is continued towards the right. As each sinistral is placed between the two series of dextrals, the left hand sinistral from the top and the top dextral are bent down over it and fixed by the next re-arrangement of dextrals in the check technique. At the right edge the free ends of the last few wefts, which cannot be turned down into the body of the mat, are plaited into a three-ply braid and knotted with an overhand knot. The free ends of the turned down wefts are cut off below the last crossing dextral.