The Wheel of Fortune/Appendix 1f
SIZING HANDSPUN YARN
It is said, that the difficulty of sizing handspun yarn is a serious handicap from which the movement suffers. As a matter of fact, the method of sizing it should be no different from that of sizing mill-made yarn. It is slipshod spinning which is at the bottom of this difficulty. The best way out of it is to organise and improve the production of handspun yarn. It is superstition to say that the yarn spun on the charkha cannot be strong and even. Where proper care is taken, it does improve and even surpass mill-made yarn in some respects. Punjab and Marwad, where spinning has been carried on from past times, have also to improve their yarn. Not that the spinners there do not know their work, but they as well as the merchants who purchase their yarn are careless about the quality of the yarn turned out. Unless this work is taken up by men imbued with the true Swadeshi spirit, the condition is not likely to improve. The spinners should be visited at their work from time to time, and proper instructions as to the required twist and test to be given to the yarn should be imparted to them. The payment of a reasonably higher wage than the present is another way of improving the yarn. The wages we have arranged for our guidance are given below in the form of a table. Where living is cheaper than in Grujarat, they can be adjusted accordingly. The yarn having improved, the difficulty of sizing will disappear.
When a country weaver shows inability to weave hand-spun yarn, it means that he cannot weave it in the same reed space as he uses for the mill-made yarn. This is quite evident. The hand-spun yarn not being even, it requires wider reed space The table given below also shows the number of ends of different counts to be drawn in an inch of a reed. Then if the cloth to be woven is meant for shirting or coating and not for dhotiyan or sadi, and if the yarn has a good test two to four ends can be added to the number denoted in the table.
| Count. | Test. | Wage per pound. |
Approximate twist per inch. |
Rounds on 4 feet hank frame. |
Number of ends in an inch of reed. |
Number of double ends in an inch. |
Rates of weaving per square yard. Rs.A.P. |
| 6 | Warp | 0 40 | 10 | 96 | 24 to 28 | 18 to 22 | 040 |
| 6 | Weft | 0 30 | 8 | {{{1}}}„ | ... | ... | ... |
| 9 | Warp | 0 60 | 12 | 144 | 26 to 32 | 20 to 24 | 046 |
| 9 | Weft | 0 46 | 10 | {{{1}}}„ | ... | ... | ... |
| 12 | Warp | 0100 | 14 | 192 | 30 to 34 | 22 to 26 | 050 |
| 12 | Weft | 0 80 | 12 | {{{1}}}„ | ... | ... | ... |
| 16 | Warp | 0120 | 16 | 256 | 34 to 38 | 24 to 28 | 056 |
| 16 | Weft | 0100 | 13 | {{{1}}}„ | ... | ... | ... |
| 20 | Warp | 1 00 | 18 | 320 | 40 to 44 | 28 to 32 | 060 |
| 20 | Weft | 0130 | 15 | {{{1}}}„ | ... | ... | ... |
As a fact, the method of sizing traditionally, followed by the weavers cannot be improved upon. Their selection of the sizing material is appropriate to the climate, season and circumstances. For the most part they use the staple corn. Jawari and maize being the cheapest are used in many parts. In the rainy season, however, they use wheat flour as a stronger sizing material to counteract the over-softening influence of the moisture, present in the air. In the Madras Presidency, a cereal called ragi with a yellowish flour is used for coarse counts, while rice is used for finer counts. Rice and wheat are the best ingredients for sizing. The proportion used is from 10 per cent required for fine yarn to 20 per cent for coarse yarn.
Different preparations of various sizing materials are as follow:—
Wheat: Weigh the warp first. Then according to its fineness or coarseness, take fine wheat flour or Menda from 10 to 20 per cent of its weight, knead it well with water to form a thin paste, taking care that no lump remains. Boil some water just enough to soak the warp, then add the paste previously prepared and keep on stirring till the granules are well-cooked and the whole substance is reduced to the form of thin gruel. To every such preparation of one pound of flour, one ounce of sesamum or sweet oil should be added. This will give softness and smoothness to the threads of the warp and keep them from sticking to one another. Cocoanut or castor oil is also used as a lubricant. Any of these is good except only that the castor oil will give a bad odour and a dull colour to the warp. The size thus prepared is then slowly poured on to the warp, which is kept folded on a gunny cloth or a clean slab. The warp is beaten with both the hands, while the process of pouring is going on, and when it is thoroughly saturated all over, it is spread out in the open and brushed repeatedly in one direction, often bringing the down side up till it gets dried. One or two or more persons according to the length of the warp are engaged in brushing, while several others are joining broken threads and shifting the sticks in the warp from one lease to another.
This is the most thorough of all the methods of sizing. The ends of fibres lying loose on every thread of the warp are straightened; and stuck fast round the thread by the process of brushing. The thread is rendered smooth and strong like wire, and the work of weaving is made all the easier by it. Thus swiftness in weaving is ensured. To master this requires long practice but it is worth the while of every student to do so. For an energetic youth about three hours' work under an expert every morning for two months or so is sufficient. With two assistants or more he will then be able to manage the brush-sizing himself without the aid of an expert. A less, active person will take four or six months' practice.
The preparation of size from jawari and maize flour is just the same as from wheat flour, except that the flour of these cereals not being so fine as wheat flour, a larger quantity is required in their case.
Some people advise that wheat flour should be soaked for at least two days before it is boiled with water. It is said that the adherent quality of the flour is enhanced by this process.
Rice. The preparation from rice is simpler still. The required quantity of rice is boiled well with a quantity of water larger, than that used for ordinary cooking and is, allowed to remain for 12 to 24 hours. It is then strained through a piece of cloth tied over or into the mouth of a large vessel, more water being added as required in the process of straining. The strained matter is then reduced to consistent thinness; then oil is added to it in proportion as described above. Rice is sometimes preferred to wheat, as it gives besides strength a fine gloss to the warp.
The thing to be borne in mind is that the yarn meant for preparing warp must be made thoroughly absorbent beforehand. For this, all the hanks must be connected in the form of one chain. It is then folded together, placed, into a big vessel, whether of earth or metal, containing water enough to soak the yarn and then well pressed with both the feet for some time. It is left in this condition for two or three days, during which period it is beaten with a wooden club on a slab twice every day. It should be remembered that, unless it is beaten, it does not soak through for days. If it is not soaked well, it is incapable of absorbing the sizing material, and is imperfectly sized. The cotton fibre has a natural oily coating on it, which, is removed by soaking it as described before or by boiling it for some time. It does not become thoroughly absorbent, till it is treated in this manner. After two or three days, when the yarn is well soaked, the chain is opened out and dried in shade, every hank being hung separately on a bamboo. Before it gets completely dried, it is well shaken with both the hands twice or thrice, so that the threads do not stick to one another. The Madrasi weavers are used to pouring rice water (generally thrown away when the rice is boiled) on the yarn, before it is dried out in the manner described above. This gives greater strength to the yarn, and causes less breakage in the process of winding and preparing it into warp.
The other method of sizing resorted to by the weavers is called hank-sizing. It is an easy process, and though not so efficient as brush-sizing, it answers well if carefully performed. In this case the yarn, before it is made up into a warp, is soaked, hank by hank, into the size prepared from wheat or rice as described above, and after pressing off the size a little from the hank with the thumb and a finger, the hank, wet as it is, is wound up on a bobbin. The warp is prepared immediately, while the bobbin is wet, each thread drying on the warping sticks as soon as another is drawn out. The warp thus prepared is fit for weaving.
We have tried hank-sizing in a weak solution of ordinary gum. It works well in dry season, but makes the yarn moist in wet season on account of its absorbent quality.