Nepal (10) Dakha Cloth

Back in Tansen, we had some time to explore the local area. One of the most impressive things I saw was the Dakha Cloth factory where everything is done by hand. Starting with spinning the threads, to spooling up the fabric, to weaving the entire thing together, the entire operation is done in the same manner that it has been since the first looms were designed and built.







A sample of the finished goods:



The most impressive part of all of this was the metal punchcards used to set the pattern. A spool feeds in the punched cards, which is "read" by the loom every weave cycle just like a computer. Depending on where the holes are, some strings pull up on the main weave lines, so when the weaver sends a shuttle with the correct color through the loom, the pattern and color are duplicated from the punched cards. I have some video that shows this process much better which I'll put together later.