Habele Carving, Literacy, Robotics, Scholarships, Weaving

Report highlights Habele’s expanded support for Micronesian Students and Schools

Habele, a US nonprofit that serves students and schools across Micronesia, has released its annual report for 2023.

The report details another year of expanded service across the Federated States.

Among the highlights:

  • 126 Tuition Scholarships were awarded to elementary and high school students across Micronesia for the 2023-24 school year;
  • 95 boxes of books were provided to schools and libraries;
  • 3,628 books were sent directly to children under five years of age through the “Young Island Readers” program;
  • 25 boxes of tools and supplies provided to weavers and carvers through Habele’s support for extracurricular traditional skills mentorships; and
  • 38 Boxes of robotics and 3d printing equipment, materials and supplies provided to high school based clubs across the four FSM States.

The Habele Outer Island Education Fund is a US-based, IRS-recognized, not-for-profit organization with the stated mission of advancing educational access and opportunities across Micronesia. Established in 2006 by three former Peace Corps Volunteers who lived and taught in Micronesia, Habele believes that each island child, no matter how isolated, deserves the chance to reach their full potential. In the rapidly changing world that stretches far beyond the shores of their beautiful islands and atolls, these students are true underdogs.

habele Carving, Literacy, Robotics, Scholarships, Weaving

Report Highlights Service to Students & Schools Across Micronesia

It was a big year for Habele and the students and schools it serves across Micronesia.

The non-profit was established in 2006 by former Peace Corps Volunteers who lived and taught in these small, scattered islands. Each year since, Habele issues a report to volunteers and donors offering an overview of it’s work.

According to the report, in 2022 the charity:

Learn more about Habele work throughout 2022 in the annual report.

habele Weaving

Peer-to-Peer Documentation of Micronesian Weaving

In spring 2022, the Habele Outer Island Education Fund in the Federated States of Micronesia was one of 10 projects chosen to receive a highly-competitive Community Collections Grant from the American Folklife Center (AFC) through the Library’s Of the People: Widening the Path initiative. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, the grant program serves to support individuals and organizations throughout the U.S. and territories to document their communities’ contemporary culture and cultural activities. The resulting documentation – in the form of recorded interviews, photographs, videos, and musical recordings, etc. – will be added to the AFC’s archives to enrich and expand the historical and cultural record.

The author, Nancy Groce, is a Senior Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

This post highlights the important fieldwork undertaken by Habele’s lead researchers Modesta Yangmog and Regina Raigetal on their project “The Warp and Weft of the Remathau.” This year-long study is documenting the knowledge and artistry of women from the Outer Islands of Yap who weave the beautiful and highly-valued lavalava cloth, which remains an essential element in maintaining cultural traditions and community relationships among contemporary Remathau (People of the Sea). Ultimately, the researchers plan to record in-depth audio interviews with 20 master lavalava weavers, photograph the weaving process and, when appropriate, the community spaces and workshops where weaving takes place.

Both Modesta and Regina come from the Atoll of Ulithi, a string of the scenic outer islands of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the western Carolina Islands (read more about the FSM at the end of this post). Both are themselves respected weavers of lavalava and knowledgeable about local customs and traditions. They are also fluent speakers of Ulithian – the Micronesian language spoken on Ulithi and neighboring Fais Island – and thus able to conduct their interviews in the language of that best encapsulates the history and complexity of the weavers’ culture. (They are also creating English logs of each interview, but obtaining substantial fieldwork in this previously under-represented language will enable the AFC to expand its holdings of the roughly 500 languages currently represented in the archive.)

Recently, I had a chance to speak with Modesta and Regina about their research. Modern technology means that online meetings with fieldworkers working far from Washington, D.C. are no longer difficult; however the 14 hour time difference makes planning a meeting a bit of a challenge. (When I call Guam or Yap in the evening, it is mid-morning of the following day for them.

Both Modesta and Regina are delightful raconteurs and serious and thoughtful researchers. Like many others born on Ulithi and Fais, both have left their home island for reasons related to work, family and educational opportunities. Today, Modesta lives on Yap, the seat of Yap State, and Regina lives on Guam. Significant numbers of Ulithians live in Hawaii, elsewhere in the Pacific and throughout the U.S. Modesta is interviewing master weavers on Ulithi and the FSM; Regina’s fieldwork will focus on weavers on Guam, Hawaii, and mainland U.S. Modesta and Regina strongly feel that the ability of women to weave lavalavas is “essential” to maintaining Outer Island culture. They estimate that as many as a thousand Ulithian women know how to weave, but are concerned that many living off-island are losing the finer points of the tradition. For this reason, they are prioritizing documenting older women, although they also plan to interview a few weavers in their 40s. “We are forgetting,” Modesta told me, “and you must know how.” “I see [lavalava weaving] as a part of me as a person,” Regina said. It would be an embarrassment to a girl’s family if she did now know how to weave.

To understand why their project is so important, they told me some basic information about the history and complex traditions of lavalavas and how it functions in Ulithi society. This short post can only touch on a few main points, but readers should know that lavalava is a beautiful fabric woven in various colors and patterns and used for both men’s and women’s skirts. It is woven on special type of small backstrap loom and the construction and maintenance of these special portable looms are also being documented as part of the project.

Originally, lavalavas were woven from banana and/or hibiscus fibers and later from agave fibers. In the late 1950s, weavers began using commercially-manufactured imported thread. The idea of using store-bought thread was introduced by an American Jesuit Priest, and it proved very popular as it allowed weavers to create softer, more colorful skirts and eliminated the time-consuming work of preparing and dying natural fibers. Although today most weavers buy commercial thread, Modesta told me that one of her most exciting recent discoveries was when she interviewed an older weaver who remembered the traditional methods of coloring lavalava thread, including using a special type of dirt found on the main island of Yap.

On the Ulithian atoll, lavalavas skirts are still worn on a daily basis and are certainly the correct thing to wear for ceremonies and special events. However lavalavas are much more than clothing: they carry with them important spiritual and social functions and play significant parts during rites of passage. For example, it would be unthinkable to bury someone without including a lavalava, which functions as more than a shroud. Social and family disputes often need to be resolved with the gift of a lavalava. Marriages and births also are marked by the gift of lavalavas. (They both told me of a lovely custom in which a husband’s family is expected to bestow a lavalava on a daughter-in-law during her first pregnancy as a thank you.) Historically, lavalavas were also exchanged in trade for land, although this is rarely done today. (By the way, it should be noted that this project is focusing on the public aspects of lavalava weaving. Some of the beliefs and practices associated with lavalavas are sacred and not intended for public knowledge and thus will not be included in this study.)

Both men and women wear lavalavas, but weaving is done exclusively by women. It requires tremendous skill, work and patience. Some excellent information on lavalava weaving and the construction of Ulithian backstrap looms is already available on Habele’s website, www.weaving connections.org.

Colors and patterns of lavalavas change over time; some are associated with royal families and specific social classes; and some color combinations are reserved for men (e.g. black and white). Young women are taught to weave when they reach puberty, but long before that young girls play at making looms from palm fronds and sticks. They sit nearby their moms, cousins, grandmas and aunties with their toy looms absorbing Ulithian culture as their elders weave lavalavas.

Modesta and Regina are also interested in documenting the spaces and places where women gather to weave. According to them, weaving is done pretty much anywhere, but is particularly enjoyable and productive in women-only spaces – like the community’s menstrual lodge. Regina described how much she enjoyed getting together with other woman at the lodge where no one is expected to cook or do household chores; it is “sort of like a spa.” It allows women time away from their everyday demands: a special time to visit with their moms, aunties and cousins, tell stories, exchange information and do a lot of weaving.

Contemporary women like Modesta feel it is important to always have some lavalavas on hand –“just in case” something comes up. Today, a woman who doesn’t have time to weave her own lavalava will sometimes buy them from another weaver to have some available, again, “just in case.”

The Habele website quotes art historians Jerome Feldman and Donald Rubenstein as writing that the lavalava is nothing less than a “highly condensed visual expression of social and economic relations, ritual affairs, and the aesthetic ideals of Micronesian society.” That is undoubtedly true, but what this quote doesn’t reflect is the pride and pleasure that Modesta and Regina take in being involved with lavalavas. This unique traditional cloth also provides Yap’s Outer Islanders increasing dispersed migrants with “a highly visible and instantly recognizable symbol connecting them to each other and their past.” This project will help preserve the history and importance of lavalavas so that Ulithian “daughters and nieces where ever it is they may reside away from the islands [can] hold tight to their islands roots and foundations so that they may not be lost to us.” Or, as Modesta told me, “It’s a must that you should know.” My colleagues and I at the AFC look forward to adding their important fieldwork to our archives!

The author, Nancy Groce, is a Senior Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

habele Weaving

Charter School in Chuuk Aims to Revive Loom Weaving

An innovative Charter school is reintroducing old cultural skills to local students on Weno, capital of the most populous state in the Federated States of Micronesia.

A distinctive form of backstrap loom weaving was once ubiquitous across the Caroline Islands, today’s Federated States of Micronesia. Now the intricate work of crafting these textiles endures only in the small outer islands strung distantly between Chuuk and Yap. The Akoyikoyi School is looking to change that, hoping to bring loom weaving back to Chuuk Lagoon.

The effort was made possible in part by the donation of a handcrafted warp board, backstrap looms, peripheral weaving tools, and thread from Habele. Funding was generously provided by the Matson Foundation of Hawaii.

Akoyikoyi is a tuition-free charter school accredited by the Chuuk State Department of Education. Community involvement is an important component of Akoyikoyi school so parents are required to attend PTA meetings to stay informed and involved in their childrens’ education. The school combines both Chuukese and English native speaking staff who are needed for proper bilingual instruction and cross-cultural awareness.

Habele is a nonprofit, established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, that works across Micronesia to serve students and schools. Habele’s support of cultural skills developed in Yap from its sponsorship of after school mentorship programs using traditional techniques, such as carving and weaving, to imbue students with a sense of accomplishment and community participation.

Young woman loom weavingin the Outer Islands of Yap, where the practice remains common.

Aware of Habele’s WeavingConnections program, which supports Outer Island weavers who have migrated to the United States, Akoyikoyi asked Habele for a loom of the sort still used in the Western Caroline Islands.

“This school year we started a traditional skills class,” explained Clark Graham, of Akoyikoyi. “The students are learning to weave coconut fronds for roofing. Plans call for them to learn how to weave other things, including coconut baskets to carry food and also the round basket used to carry breadfruit.

Portions of looms and tools designed by Outer Islanders of Yap, fabricated by Habele and sent to Akoyikoyi School in Chuuk.

He explained that having “a tyr (Chuukese for ‘loom’) would be another step in the learning process allowing participating students to get more in touch with their traditional arts.”

A personal connection adds further significance to the project. Graham’s son Curt’s “paternal great grandmother was the last woman in Penia to use a tyr. “When she died, the loom was placed in her grave,” recounts Graham “That marked the end of such weaving. “

Penia is a village on the northeast shore of Weno. This timeline of weaving’s decline in the Chuuk Lagoon appears consistent with published reports. In his widely cited “Material Culture of Truk,” American Anthropologist Frank M. Lebar observed that by his 1947 fieldwork “weaving had all but disappeared on Truk.” LeBar identified only eight older women among his interviewees on Romonum, a lagoon island, who “knew some or all of the processes of weaving.”

“Its great to be a small part of this,” explained Habele Founder Neil Mellen, himself a former Peace Corps Volunteer who taught in the Outer Islands of Yap. “The credit goes to the educators at Akoyikoyi, the weavers from Yap’s Outer Islands who worked with Habele to document the weaving equipment, and the Matson Foundation who had the generosity to pay for the raw materials and shipping.”

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habele Weaving

Preservation of Traditional Pacific Loom Weaving

“Loom is a solution for saving traditional Pacific island weaving from extinction”

McClure, Joyce, Pacific Island Times, February 1, 2022, pages 31-32

When the young women of Yap’s remote outer islands leave home to seek a college education, better work opportunities or medical care on the U.S. mainland, the risk of leaving their cultural traditions behind is very real.

The art of traditional weaving is among the most important.

Weaving has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries on the small islands and atolls of Yap, one of four island states in the Federated States of Micronesia, originally known as the Caroline Islands. Scattered across 100,000 square miles of open water in the western Pacific Ocean, Yap is made up of four contiguous main islands and 134 atolls and islands of which 19 are inhabited.

One commonality among the outer islanders is the oblong length of handwoven, fringed fabric called a lavalava that the women wear as a wrap-around skirt when they reach maturity.

Woven on a handmade backstrap loom out of indigenous wood and bamboo, the young girls begin learning to make the striped cloth by watching their mothers, aunts, sisters and cousins at work. Originally woven of dried hibiscus leaves, today, spools of imported commercial thread are more commonly used.

But the art of weaving is in danger of being lost forever due to the loosened ties between the old and new generations as the younger women leave their island home.

However, that isn’t the only reason the art is being lost to time.

The backstrap looms, many of them heirlooms, are left behind when the young women leave their home islands due to its weight and size.

Once in the United States, the young women often live near older women from the islands who have weaving expertise, but also lack looms.

“It’s at this point that the link in the transmission of weaving skills is fatally severed,” said Neil Mellen, founder of Habele, a South Carolina-based nonprofit established by former Peace Corps volunteers who served in Micronesia.

Working with the “Remathau”, or Outer Islanders, of Yap, Habele is finding solutions to this loss of ancient skills and knowledge.

To help “sustain the tradition among migrants in the mainland U.S.,” Habele created and launched the online resource, WeavingConnections.org, in February 2021. Designed to provide a do-it-yourself guide, it focuses on serving Outer Island Yapese in their native language, who live within the mainland U.S.

The site provides context about the lavalava and the cultural tradition in which it is situated; but most importantly, it provides well-researched details about the parts of the loom and simple do-it-yourself instructions showing how to build one from materials available in the U.S.

While weaving is a daily necessity for the women in these ancient island cultures, making the loom is a man’s responsibility. Men learn woodcarving from boyhood in order to make the outrigger canoes used to sail from island to island. This knowledge extends to making the looms and other wooden items from native materials.

A master weaver from the island of Fais, Regina Raigetal, and her husband, Larry, a master carver and navigator from the atoll of Lamotrek, traveled to Habele’s office in Columbia, South Carolina, to serve as project leads. In partnership with weavers, craftsmen, women’s and community-based organizations in the Pacific region, and with U.S.-based anthropologists, “simple, actionable, accurate guides were created.”

Research resulted in a thorough analysis “of the limited number of references to the design and use of the region’s backstrap looms” in academic studies, books, and online museum and archive collections. Most contained brief mentions of the social and cultural significance of the lavalavas within longer articles about the arts and crafts of the Pacific islands; but only a handful mentioned the loom in any depth, and none addressed the materials and tools needed to make them, or their use in the weaving process.

Photographs, drawings, and videos were obtained from Yapese weavers and those who have moved to other FSM islands, Guam and Hawaii, and Peace Corps volunteers who once served in Yap.

Collectors and anthropologists were also contacted for information to help identify place-based differences between the construction of the loom frames and warping boards used on the islands of Ulithi, Woleai and Satawal. Most notable were the variations in the warping board pegs that dictate the design patterns.

Finally, a scale model and a full-size model of a warping board and a framed loom were constructed.

Regina Raigetal was joined by a former Peace Corps volunteer experienced in both Carolinian and Western-style weaving, to begin testing the prototypes.

Adjustments took into account the weavers’ preferences, including ease of transportation and storage since many of the weavers needed to have their boards and frames made by Habele and its volunteers, or off-site relatives, and then shipped to them. They often experience cramped living spaces and periodic relocations, as well, making compactness and transportability essential.

The 15 tools used in the weaving process were also acquired, crafted, or assembled to pinpoint the practical purpose of each item and the material it was made from. The objective was to determine “how, and if, substitutions or alterations could be made that would not impair, and possibly improve,” the process.

Recommendations were provided for the purchase, fabrication, or substitution for all but one of the tools – the beater or weaving sword, called the “hapop” in both Ulithian and Woleaian.

Traditionally made from hardwoods that provide the weight needed to create the warp-faced fabric, while maintaining a sufficiently sharp edge, ironwood, known to the islanders as “weighu”, is the common choice.

While the sword can be made of store-bought hardwoods like oak on the mainland, they lack the weight and density the weavers need. The only woods commonly found in North America that approach the hardness of ironwood are black ironwood, desert ironwood and mountain mahogany, but these are either cost- or shape-prohibitive. Woods from the Caribbean are also being tested as possible alternatives.

“That being the case,” Mellen said, “we are not able to provide much practical guidance to weavers in the U.S. who need a sword.”

Directions on WeavingConnections.org suggest that those who lack the tool should “look to friends and relatives back home to send them a hapop or contact Habele for help.” Making a hapop from live oak is also suggested.

Another challenge arose when requests were posted on the Facebook page from women saying they “would have a difficult time finding a male relative” to build the items, even with detailed instructions. Single women or women living in groups with children, but without adult men in the household, noted the challenge of building one.

“In response to those weavers who are unable to build one, or have one built, we are constructing warping boards, loom frames, and weaving tools based on the designs on WeavingConnections.org,” Mellen said.

The organization is also continuing to update the design guides “to reflect feedback received, lessons learned, and improvements, and examine and experiment with possible solutions to the challenges of procuring, crafting, or developing a sufficient substitute for the hapop,” he added.

Planning is now focused on supporting mentors in the U.S. who can teach the traditional weaving skills to younger Micronesian migrants and their daughters.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (6)

This is the sixth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

Ongoing Work

Habele continues to build and send warping boards, loom frames, and weaving tools based on its published designs posted on the WeavingConnections.org website as it receives request from Remathau weavers in the mainland United States who are otherwise unable to build one or have one built for them.

Habele continues to update the design guides on WeavingConnections.org to reflect feedback received, lessons learned, and improvements.

Habele continues to examine and experiment with possible solutions to the challenges of procuring, crafting, or developing a sufficient substitute for weaving swords.

Opportunities for Evolution and Expansion

-Migrant Community on Guam and Hawaii

While half of FSM migrants now arrive in the US mainland, the other half are primarily located in the US Territory of Guam and the State of Hawaii. The strong and unanticipated volume of requests for support in creating and obtaining weaving equipment and tools from Guam and Hawaii indicate that those communities have the need and interest for further support.

This is particularly true among female migrants under thirty years of age, who are less likely to be cohabitating with, or be situated near, older men who historically have been the one to produce or procure these items.

-Weaving Swords

The Weaving sword, or hapop, remains the only item which we have been unable to produce and or publish a guide for fabricating, owing to the very unique characteristics of the tropical wood from which these have long been fabricated. The qualities of these hardwoods are necessary for the function of the tool, and the hapop is an essential and specific tool necessary for women to weave.

-Documenting the Lavalava

In the process of identifying and analyzing documentation about the fabrication and use of Caroline Island woven skirts, we failed to locate any text detailing in much depth the specifics of the skirts themselves. Most treatments were either very brief, or focused on the skirts’ role in cultural practices.

On the other hand, weavers recounted to us much about patterns, symbols, and other variable characteristics of the garment, indicating there is a broad, important, and as-yet undocumented realm of knowledge about the lavalavas and the cultural meaning contained within their design.

This is the sixth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (5)

This is the fifth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

Creation of Website Content

The WeavingConnections.org domain was purchased and a draft website laid out. The site was designed to offer general context on the culture of weaving within the FAS, firsthand insights to the importance women placed on weaving, a detailed accounting of all the relevant equipment and weaving tools, as well as simple, photo-based instructions for the fabrication of these items.

Based on suggestions from weavers within the US mainland, the site would also include information guiding weavers to vendors that offer the correct thread for this style of weaving. Photographs were again solicited from former Peace Corps, collectors, and anthropologists to compliment some of the more contemporary graphics with historical ones.

Launch of Website

WeavingConnections.org was launched in a beta form in December of 2020. Access was limited to a core group of contributors and participants who provided feedback, identified shortcomings, and developed revisions.

Publication and Communications Outreach

WeavingConnections.org was officially launched in February of 2021. Earned, shared, and sponsored content on social media were used to raise awareness and drive initial traffic. These included posts of participants and contributors weaving, wearing Weaving Connections t-shirts, and/or showcasing warping boards, looms, and weaving tools either provided by Habele or made with Habele’s fabrication guides. In addition to efforts through social media, content was developed and distributed through the Habele blog as well as the K-Press newspaper.

Unanticipated Needs and Challenges

-Propriety of Traditional Skills

With a few outspoken exceptions, weavers made clear their strong support for the development and proliferation of guides to create weaving materials and equipment while simultaneously expressing equally passionate reservation about the documentation, publication, and distribution of guides to the practices of weaving.

The insightful analogy made by one weaver was that the warping board, frame loom, and weaving tools constituted the “hardware” upon which all weaving is based, and which must be available to as many actual and prospective weavers as possible. However, the practical applied skills of using this hardware to weave in the uniquely Remathau ways, the proverbial “software,” was not something weavers felt was appropriate to document and distribute.

While the context, concerns, and motivations are nuanced, broadly the reservation is founded on: 1. a concern that non-Remathau individuals would begin to practice – and potentially profit from – this very specific and unique form of weaving; and 2. that the oral transmission and in-person mentoring that unites generations across familial, village and islands lines would be lost, rendering the preservation and sustainment of the weaving process culturally hollow.

Though an outspoken minority initially encouraged Habele to document and distribute guides to the weaving, the larger consensus was agreed that this was not prudent, despite the fact that Habele’s application for the TAP grant specifically articulated out initial intention to “…publish videos detailing key aspects of fabrication of loom and basics of assembly and usage to compliment published specifications.” It was this “usage” that our partners and clients requested we interpret to mean installation and setup of the equipment, rather than the processes of warping and weaving, which they were passing along in-person and through video chats but did not want Habele to record and publish.

-Need for Looms among single women, and residents of GU and HI

The project proposal envisioned development and publication of a design guide, premised on the understanding that while migrants on Guam and Hawaii lived in or near extended family groups and had access to looms, migrants in the mainland US were more dispersed, but living in nuclear families (including males) who could build the boards, looms, and tools.

As noted above, Habele received a high volume of requests from younger women in Guam and Hawaii who indicated there were no relative adult males in proximity who could build them a loom. Habele also received many requests from women of all ages in the US mainland who similarly sought looms, citing a lack of male relatives within driving distance who could assemble one. While Remathau women are eminently cable of fabricating loom frames and warp boards themselves -as was clearly demonstrated throughout this project in the prototyping phase- the participating women reported without exception strong desire to adhere to the traditional distribution of labor across gender lines for the building of weaving equipment.

Though the basic premise of publishing a simple design guide was clearly working, as evidenced by feedback posted online, emails, and social media messages, it has become clear that migrants in Guam and Hawaii face many of the same obstacles as migrants in the mainland United States to sustaining and preserving their weaving traditions.

-Balance of Ease to Build and Compactness

As noted above, there is an intrinsic tension between the design and fabrication of equipment that is simple and inexpensive and those designs which are easier to transport and store. Ease of transportation and storage remains an important priority because many would-be weavers have needed to have their boards and frames fabricated by Habele and its volunteers, or other off-site relatives, and then shipped to them. These women often experience cramped living spaces and periodic relocations, making compactness and transportability of looms and boards very desirable.

-Weaving Swords

Fifteen distinct weaving tools, or peripherals, are traditionally used in in Remathau weaving. Habele was able to provide practical guidance for the purchase, fabrication, or substitution of all but one of these tools.

A weaving sword is also known as a batten or beater. In both Ulithian and Woleaian it is called the hapop. In practice, it defines and extends the sheds to allow the shuttle to pass, and it is also used to tighten and beat weft as woven.

It is a single edge shaped wooden tool that averages three feet long, 2 ¼ inches wide, and ¾ inch thick on the flat edge. The sword must be at least several inches longer than the total width of the warp so that it extends outside of the warp during weaving. There is a subtle curvature to the top face when the sword lies flat.

Weaving swords are traditionally made from very hard woods, which is essential for having a sword of sufficient weight for creating the traditional warp-faced fabric, while maintaining a sufficiently sharp edge. Specifically, they are crafted of ironwood, the Casuarina litorea L, known locally to the Remathau as weighu.

While swords can be made of store-bought hardwoods, such as oak, these lack the weight and density weavers require. Oak sold at home improvement stores tends to be red oak (Quercus rubra). The densest form of oak, Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), can be purchased in the US but is not often found commercially, and only rarely in boards of appropriate size.

The only woods commonly found in North America which truly approach the hardness of ironwood are Black Ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum), Desert Ironwood (Olneya tesota) and Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus spp), but these are either cost or shape prohibitive.

This being the case, Habele is not able to provide much practical guidance to weavers in the mainland US, all of whom must have a sword to weave. The directions currently posted on WeavingConnections.org reflect this:

“…Remathau in the mainland US seeking a weaving sword should look to friends and relatives back home to send them a hapop or contact Habele for help. Alternatively, they may try to fabricate an ersatz sword using oak, but will need to use Live Oak, also called Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) to ensure a sufficient density.”

This is the fifth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (4)

This is the fourth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

Further Engagement of On-Island Weavers and Craftsmen

Publication of photos of initial designs and prototypes on social media spurred a further wave of input from women weavers and male craftsmen in the US, Yap, and beyond. These parties provided photos of their own looms, boards, and weaving tools as well as detailed feedback and suggestions on the evolving prototypes. Themes of the feedback included the strong preference for warping boards that could fold for storage, and to a lesser degree, loom frames that could be dis- and reassembled, as well as boards that could be laid out for multiple of the warping peg patterns commonly used throughout Yap State.

We also noted trends in feedback that stressed the importance of loom frames that could be easily secured to walls, as well as strong (but varied) feedback on tabletop versus floor use that guided the design of the warping boards.

At this point, as photos were being posted on social media, Habele began to directly receive requests for warping boards, looms, and weaving tools. Habele strongly communicated that the project was intended to serve Remathau islanders (Outer Island Yapese) living within the mainland US, and that the project was designed to provide a do-it-yourself guide for individuals to make their own items.

Still, many requests were received from women living on Guam and Hawaii, and many requests were made by women (on the mainland and otherwise) who indicated that they would have a difficult time finding a male relative who could build the items, even once provided the detailed instructions. Specifically, we received requests from single women or women living in groups with children but without adult Remathau male household members.

Development of Designs

Final designs were determined. These balanced the initial goals of a simple DIY guide, with flexibility to add or adapt improvements for storage and transportation, and integrating advancements and variations shared with, or developed by, the team.

This is the fourth in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here.

habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (3)

This is the third in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here

Development of Initial Prototypes
First, Habele fabricated a scale model, and then a full-size initial specimen, of a warping board and a framed loom was fabricated. Similarly, each of the peripheral weaving tools was obtained, crafted, or assembled. This allowed the master weaver, now joined by a former Peace Corps Volunteer skilled in both Carolinian and Western-style weaving, to begin testing the models.

 

Habele and our craftsman carefully observed and documented the weaving process in an effort to identify the practical purpose for each piece of equipment and material identifying each context of how -and if- substitutions or alterations could be made that would not impair, and possibly improve, the weaver’s work.

 

An initial round of changes and improvements were made that allowed for stronger joints, simpler cuts, and the use of smaller (less expensive) boards for the frame. Similar adjustments were made to the board design, as well as revisions to account for varied weaver preferences in the use of the warping board on either a floor or a table top. Each of the fifteen peripheral components, or “weaving tools”, were either crafted or purchased, and substitutions, modifications, and improvements were tested by the weavers.
Review and Refinement of Designs
At this point, there emerged a bifurcation in the scope and purpose of the design:

 

On one hand, very simple designs would allow FAS migrants within the US to produce the board, frame, and most peripherals necessary for weaving themselves, even with a limited budget and few woodworking tools;

 

On the other hand, improvements to design would allow large pieces, notably the loom frame and the warping board, to be easily collapsed for storage and transportation. These were significant attributes for weavers living in more crowded housing situations and moving with some regularity (both important considerations for our target audience). A strong preference was voiced by many weavers in all locales for these traits, but the use of hinges, clasps, and threaded studs with removable wingnuts added complexity to the building of the equipment. This was at odds with our goal to simplify that process.
Broadly, Habele adopted a two-track response. Some of the initial prototypes were retrofitted for easier transportation and storage, and some of the newer prototypes were fabricated with these characteristics from the start. The designs for the fixed, standard models were revised slightly to allow for modifications at any point, allowing the builder to choose the level of complexity based on budget and access to tools and equipment.

 

This is the third in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here
habelefund Weaving

Micronesian Looms: Weaving Connections in the US (2)

This is the second in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here

Cataloging of Materials and Equipment

Habele and our technical leads began by listing all the items needed to weave as well as each item’s sub-components. After examining historic and contemporary English naming conventions used for loom weaving, we selected preferred and secondary English translations for each item and developed a taxonomy for all the equipment and materials. We also settled on preferred spelling for each item in the three distinct Austronesian languages of Ulithian, Woleaian, and Satawalese.

Item by item, we matched photographs and sketches we had gathered, and further solicited and sought additional photos and specimens. We began the process of identifying which variations were most common, and which parts and components would be most difficult to obtain (or fabricate) among our intended target audience of FSM migrants in the mainland United States.

Finally, we considered and systematized the place-based differences between Ulithian, Woleaian and Satawalese weaving, most notably in the configuration of the warping board pegs, and considered what, if any, design patterns and decisions could account for these variations in a simple and standardized way.

This is the second in a series of posts dealing with Weaving Connections, a project of Habele to sustain and preserve Micronesian backstrap weaving traditions among Island populations who’ve migrated to the United States mainland. More here