How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman

Overview

The only how-to book on Navajo weaving told by Navajo weavers

Navajo blankets, rugs, and tapestries are the best-known, most-admired, and most-collected textiles in North America. There are scores of books about Navajo weaving, but no other book like this one. For the first time, master Navajo weavers themselves share the deep, inside story of how these textiles are created, and how their creation resonates in Navajo culture. Want to weave a high-quality, Navajo-style rug? This book has detailed how-to instructions, meticulously illustrated by a Navajo artist, from warping the loom to important finishing touches. Want to understand the deeper meaning? You'll learn why the fixed parts of the loom are male, and the working parts are female. You'll learn how weaving relates to the earth, the sky, and the sacred directions. You'll learn how the Navajo people were given their weaving tradition (and it wasn't borrowed from the Pueblos!), and how important a weaver's attitude and spirit are to creating successful rugs. You'll learn what it means to live in hózhó, the Beauty Way. Family stories from seven generations of weavers lend charm and special insights. Characteristic Native American humor is not in short supply. Their contribution to cultural understanding and the preservation of their craft is priceless.

Reviews

How to Weave a Navajo Rug offers rare insight and a glimpse into the living complex weaving process and its relation to Dine´ culture. Charles Cambridge, PhD, Anthropology

Author Biography

Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas are fifth-generation Navajo weavers who have been weaving since they were young girls. Their father, Sam Teller, worked at the famed Two Grey Hills Trading Post in New Mexico, where they were raised with their sister and two brothers. Internationally acclaimed for their fine tapestry weaving, their lives and work have been featured in many publications and have been the subject of the Craft in America television program. Their weaving has been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the world. Together, they teach Navajo weaving workshops at museums, galleries, and guilds.