The hemp I got back last time wasn't much, just about a pound or two.
This amount of twine is definitely not enough for weaving.
But it is enough to do a demonstration experiment.
So Xu Chen gestured at the length of his legs, and then asked Ye to hold a round stick in one hand, about two feet apart, while he took the twine and started to wind it up.
Ye didn't know why, so he could only cooperate like a puppet.
Xu Chen finished winding the two spindles back and forth. When he felt it was almost done, he found a bark rope and tied it to both ends of a wooden stick.
root.
Xu Chen's series of actions left Ye baffled. He wanted to laugh but didn't dare. He covered his mouth and turned his head to suppress it, and his thin body was trembling.
Xu Chen ignored her and carefully arranged the warp threads on the wooden stick in front of him, then picked out one at a time and passed it through with a thin stick so that the warp threads were staggered.
"Wire!"
Xu Chen stretched out his hand, and Ye, suppressing a smile, quickly took a spindle from the basket and gave it to him.
Xu Chen was dumbfounded when he saw that the winding spindle was too thick to pass through, so he had to use a weft knife to lift up the staggered warp threads, and then he could barely pass the spindle through.
Thread the first thread, use the weft knife to push it until it is close to the wooden stick at the waist, then cross one again with your hands to separate the warp threads, then insert the second warp dividing stick, and follow the same method to make the spindle of the weft thread shuttle.
Thread it back and tighten it again with a weft knife.
In this way, the weft and warp threads have completed the first interlaced weaving.
Although Xu Chen's movements were clumsy and slow, and Ye Ye looked puzzled, the expression on his face gradually became serious.
After the first pass of weaving and fixing the warp, Xu Chen picked up a wooden stick again and asked Ye to help wrap the twine through the upper warp and hang it on the wooden stick.
This is just an experimental weaving, with only a few dozen warp threads in total, so the woven cloth is only about the width of a hand.
It's better to say it's cloth than a belt.
The thing that Ye is helping to make now is called a heddle lifting rod. With the heddle lifting rod, you no longer have to use your hands to separate the warp threads one by one every time. The warp threads will naturally be divided into two layers by gently lifting them.
Of course, this is just the simplest plain woven fabric. In fact, among the Miao and Bai ethnic groups in Yunnan and Guizhou who still retain waist looms, their hand-woven patterns are more complex. The warp threads are divided into many layers and are composed of threads of different colors.
, so we can weave fabrics with gorgeous patterns, and the clothes made of them also have national characteristics.
Xu Chen will definitely not make it too complicated at the moment, the simpler, the better.
But even this simplest weaving method makes Ye feel dizzy.
There were so many round and flat sticks, densely packed thin threads, and the complexity of threading and pulling made her feel a little overwhelmed, so after helping to thread the heald rod, she stood beside her in a daze.
Started to feel dazed.
With the heddle lifting rod, it was much easier to weave, so Xu Chen weaved back and forth several times, and a small piece of linen slowly appeared.
Although the twine is very thin in Ye's eyes, she compares it to a bark rope. In fact, it is still very thick, about the same as a toothpick.
Because the twine is thicker, the cloth is made faster.
It was the first time for Xu Chen to play this game, and suddenly he became addicted. So he was very busy with sewing, threading and beating. Although he was a little confused, he couldn't stop his enthusiasm for creation. He was immersed in it and slowly forgot about the things around him.
everything.
As the fabric slowly appeared, Ye's eyes became wider and wider, and his face became more and more surprised, until at a certain moment he suddenly woke up, screamed in excitement, and jumped up excitedly.
Xu Chen was startled. When he looked up, the little wildling had already gone straight to the cave like a gust of wind.
Could this girl be crazy?
Xu Chen curled his lips and continued to indulge in weaving.
At this time, the sun has set and dusk has fallen. Although the sky is still bright, it is actually not very far away. A group of women have taken their children into the cave to sleep, and other adult men and women also began to look at each other in twos and threes before entering the cave to continue.
Daily piling activities.
Normally, Momba would have fallen asleep by this time.
But I couldn't sleep today. I was pulled by Ye's arm and staggered out, muttering all the way.
"Mother Baba Gaga, look!"
Arriving next to Xu Chen, Ye excitedly pointed at the cloth Xu Chen was weaving and shouted.
Mother looked at Xu Chen walking around among a bunch of sticks and thin strings a few palms wide. She thought it was some kind of toy that Xu Chen made out of boredom, but after watching it for a while, she lost her composure. The more she looked, the more surprised she became.
His face slowly turned into one of extreme surprise and excitement, and then he squatted down and touched the small piece of fabric that had been woven, and his whole body began to tremble instantly.
"Xian...xianga..."
Xu Chen stopped what he was doing and said with a smile: "Mother baba ga ga bu!"
"cloth?"
"Cloth!" Xu Chen nodded and repeated, then pointed at the fur skirt on Ye's waist, then pointed at the loom on his waist and made a wide and long movement, and then made a movement to wrap it around his body.
.
Muba understood instantly and fell to the ground in excitement.
She finally understood why Xu Chen collected so much bark. It turned out that it was used to make something called cloth.
Even though she had never seen or heard of this kind of cloth, it didn't stop her from thinking about the use of cloth. It could be made from simple tree bark and could be used as a substitute for animal skins to cover the body. Then men would no longer have to risk hunting.
Many beasts have acquired hides.
Although this kind of cloth seemed very complicated to make, she had just watched it for a while. Even women and children with the weakest constitution could make it, and they could make it sitting at home. It was a wealth created completely out of thin air.
At present, there are a large group of young and old in the tribe, and there are so many tree barks at the foot of the mountain. Even if they use their spare time for a year, they can do a lot. In the future, the entire tribe will no longer need to worry about the lack of animal skins.
Even if you need animal skins to keep warm in the cold winter, you can still exchange cloth with other tribes.
During dinner just now, she was still thinking about what more inventions Xu Chen would have, and was reluctant to let him leave the tribe, but she had no choice but to hide in the cave and cry secretly.
But in the blink of an eye, Xu Chen really invented another good thing that was more useful than pottery, and the material turned out to be a kind of bark that can be found everywhere in the wilderness.
And when she thought that Xu Chen would eventually leave his tribe and become a man from another tribe, Mother was instantly saddened, and she immediately sat on the ground and burst into tears.
"Mobaba quack!"
Ye was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down and hugged his mother, gently stroking her back.
Xu Chen was also confused by the old woman's howling and crying.
Why is this old woman crying again?
And it looked like it was definitely not tears of joy, but a river of sadness.
Isn't it just a matter of weaving a piece of cloth, why are you crying so sadly?
If you don't want me to knit, then just don't knit today.
Xu Chen didn't understand why Muba was so sad, so he could only untie the rope around his waist and roll up the loom.
And Muba suddenly cried loudly outside the cave, which naturally alerted the men and women who were sleeping or having sex in the cave. They thought something was dangerous, so they all ran out in a hurry, only to find that nothing happened. Muba
A man was sitting on the ground crying without knowing what to say.
However, a group of women came over to comfort her because they were worried, and then helped the tearful mother into the cave to rest.
Outside the cave, Xu Chen and Ye were soon the only ones left.
All the tribesmen knew that the two of them slept late every day, so after Feng and others briefly reminded them to pay attention to safety, they yawned heartlessly and went to sleep in the cave.
After all the commotion, the cave became much quieter, and the sound of piling was no longer heard.
At this time, Xu Chen also lost interest in weaving.
…
A huge full moon rises from the mouth of the valley in the direction of the river, like a silver plate.
The clear light shines on the earth, and the heaven and earth are quiet.
Xu Chen and Ye sat side by side on the big rock in the cave, looking up at the moon together.
"You're fifteen!"
Xu Chen suddenly let out a deep breath.
Ye looked puzzled, but seemed to sense that Xu Chen was not in a good mood, so he gently grabbed his hand.
Xu Chen rubbed her messy hair, pointed at the moon in the sky and said, "Moon."
"moon!"
"round."
"round!"
"Full moon."
"Full...moon..."
It was a little more difficult for Ye to learn compound words, so she read it a little slower. After reading it, she looked at Xu Chen curiously: "Fifteen, Gaha?"
"study!"
Xu Chen stood up and took her to the stone wall of the cave to study new knowledge.