What you see here is a bit more messy than usually as I'm trying something new where the usual weaving techniques don't work so well.
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I received the book in question on Friday and gave it a good look. Enjoy the review below.
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Review of Sling Braiding Traditions and Techniques: From Peru, Bolivia, and Around the World by Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn, Schiffer Publishing, 2017.
The book «Sling braiding: traditions and techniques» by Rodrick Owen and Terry Newhouse Flynn is a must have for any individual interested in detailed knowledge of slings. The book is organised in seven chapters, ranging through a brief history of the sling, through an outline of recommended braiding equipment and an overview over commonly used yarn choices for braiding. Later chapters cover the complete working process for making an Andean sling (on this forum known as peruvian sling or woven split pouch), including the setting up of the braid with a fingerloop, ways of embellishing the sling, and finally, a complete guide including warp measurements and weaving instructions for the pouch. Overall, the book’s focus is on south American slings and sling use, with a focus on the textile aspect. While cultural aspects are covered in the introductory chapters, different slinging techniques are only mentioned superficially. The book has some overlap with their first book (Andean Sling Braids, 2016). It nevertheless offers enough additional information to merit the purchase, also for advanced braiders who already possess the first book. Furthermore, I highly recommend this book for any novice braider wanting to look into Andean slings.
In the following, I summarize and review the chapters of the book individually.
The first chapters reviews the history of the sling first in a global context, both from a historic and contemporary viewpoint. In a second part, a detailed account of the history of the sling in south America is given. This second part is detailed and covers a multitude of aspects such as a historic account of the sling in different ancient south American cultures from a social, technological and militaristic viewpoint, concluding with an outlook to contemporary slings, which is picked up again in later chapters of the book. The first part about the global context of the sling is rather short but touches upon the most important historical accounts of slings in a concise fashion, with a good bibliography enabling the reader to start his own research. Being concise, this part misses a few important points such as the different sling designs made from leather, and, as it is of personal importance to me, mentioning the second, older, el-Lahun sling. A short selection of contemporary slings from around the world is given, also showing a Saudi Arabian construction technique, which was unknown to me.
The second chapter details the needed braiding equipment and is basically identical with their first book. It covers the braiding card and the braiding stand.
The third chapter tackles the braiding material: the yarn. It starts with an outline of the historic preparation process of the fibers, including dying and spinning, but without detailed instructions. The focus is on animal fibres. Later sections give an overview of the different yarns suitable for braiding, also giving advice for yarn selection.
The fourth chapter is in most parts also identical with their first book. It explains the needed preparatory steps before setting up the braid, including calculating the warp length, measuring the warp and winding bobbins as well as setting up the braiding stand.
The fifth chapter treats the different braid designs. They included a good mix of simple patterns, already treated in their first book, and further variations of the more complex patterns, not found in their first book. The braiding instruction for the card and the stand are not as exhaustive as in their first book, but clearly given, thus enabling also novice braiders to follow the book without buying their first book. My only point of critique is that original technique, fistbraiding, is not described. Although it is stated in the introduction that it was left out willingly, with reference to Sling Braiding of the Andes by Cahlander, I feel it would have earned some coverage, even if very shortly, being the original braiding technique of many of these slings.
The sixth chapter treats forming the finger loop, with detailed instructions on how to arrange the threads to perform this task. Thus, splitting and combining braids is covered. Also, several blunt-end starting techniques are described in detail. As for sling decoration the techniques of stitching “beads” as well as two ways of binding tassels. As a special topic working braids over sculptural forms is mentioned briefly. The use of cross-knit looping for braid finishing, sling decoration and cradle reinforcement is shown with detailed instructions. Last, it is quickly touched upon sewing on other braids for cradle decoration. I miss that the ending of the braid is not treated in more detail, as there are a couple more options.
Chapter seven finally shows how to make a complete sling. Also, regional variations of sling making are mentioned. The chapter guides the reader through the whole process in a detailed and clear manner, beginning with the finger loop, then showing detailed how to increase the number of used strands and preparing the warps for weaving the cradle. The reader is then guided through the process of weaving the cradle in the same way. It includes the basics of tapestry weaving, which is of great use for novice braiders. It is also described how to reduce the number of strands when braiding the release cord. The chapter finishes with two stories of sling makers, one of Ben Turner, to some known as a member of this forum.
The appendix contains further braiding instructions, which were treated in their first book in the main text. As in their first book, instructions for making a braiding stand with a core frame as well as braiding cards are given. Furthermore, a table with the full dimensions of 11 slings is given. The book concludes with a good bibliography.