Finishing

Once spun and woven each fibre has its own finishing process. For example wool is wet finished by a process know as fulling (waulking in Scotland) this cleans and thickens the loom state cloth to a finished cloth with drape. The traditional linen finishing processes are beetling and burnishing. These alter the structure of the fibre, opening it up to the light, and give the finished cloth a beautiful sheen. Image below left: hand-spun hand-woven and beetled linen with an indigo stripe.

Dyed indigo cloth is often beetled and burnished to give a glossy sheen. The effect is achieved by hammering the indigo dyed fabric with large wooden mallets, often beating in extra indigo powder. Beetled indigo-dyed fabric seen in the image below right as worn by a Touareg man, a Berber group who inhabit the Sahara. Photo: Jenny Balfour-Paul Indigo