(Also, Back tension loom, Body tension loom) – A two bar frameless loom with back strap belt or wooden yoke passing around the weaver’s back and secured to the breast beam. The weaver controls the tension of the warp yarns by leaning forwards or backwards against the strap, while at the other end of the warp, another beam, known as the warp beam, is held secure.

A resist dyeing process in which a substance such as hot wax or rice paste is applied to the surface of the fabric as a resist to dyes to form undyed areas of pattern. The resist is removed by boiling, melting or scraping after dyeing.

Japanese programme to update Lao silk textiles to meet standards for the Japanese market and includes testing of dyes, consumer labeling and product design.

Sky clusters

Cymbals

Supplementary weft patterning in which the ornamental weft threads are carried back and forth across the full width of the cloth

Bamboo humming fork

Carding. Fibres are fluffed out and cleaned further.

Supplementary weft weaving in which extra weft threads are worked back and forth across limited areas of warp to shape pattern units.

Ginning. Raw cotton is rolled between two wooden cylinder to refine it and remove all seeds from the fibre

A two bar frameless loom, with one bar secured to a back strap for controlling tension and the other bar braced against the weaver’s feet. A type of back strap tension loom

A type of non mechanical loom in which a wooden frame permits the tension on the warp threads to be regulated by the beams without the need for the back strap operation of the earlier types of loom

Friction Earth Drum

Banana boats used during Lao festivals.

Drum tower

Bell tower

Library

The resist dye technique in which designs are reversed in warp or weft yarns by the tying of small bundles of yarn with palm leaf strips or similar materials to prevent the penetration of dye. For each colour additional tying or partial removal of the bindings is required. After the last dyeing, all the bindings are removed and the yarns are ready for weaving.

House

Province

Zone

The process of sizing or starching of thread. This process is used to make the thread less fluffy. It stops the thread from breaking easily while being used for weaving.

Silver stem bowls

The process of spinning used on the making of refined cotton thread

Small piped instrument

A type of bamboo flute

The process of setting the warp threads. Before the threads are set on the loom, they are set on a frame called a feua, hence the name for the process.

The term applied to continuous supplementary weft in northern Thailand and Laos

The process of winding the thread onto a wheel to be bundled for storage or to be used immediately.

Municipality

Living quarters

Village

Used interchangeably

Rolling. The fluffed out fibres are rolled out by hand, to be made ready for use.

Repartee

The dying of cotton thread before it is used for weaving any textiles.

Silver bowls

Dance drama based on the Hindu Ramayana epic

Spirits

Reed pipes

The process of winding in the making of cotton thread.

Button-gongs

The bark of a mulberry tree

Main building in a Wat compound and contains an important Buddha image

Traditional skirt worn by women

Songthaews are pick-up trucks with benches. They are used for long-distance and local public transport.

A type of bamboo flute

Decorative weaving techniques in which extra ornamental weft threads are woven into a textile between two regular wefts to create patterns additional to the ground weave

Shaman’s horns

Stupa or shrine housing Buddhist relics

Traditional skirt worn by women with lower borders or foot band

Bamboo tube dulcimer, a string instrument

Vertical and transverse Flutes

Parallel threads that run longitudinally on the loom or cloth

A Buddhist Temple

Traverse threads in a fabric that cross and interlace with the warp elements

Bronze kettle-gongs