kscans

Chapter 32 - The Brushwood for Weaving. Spinning

Gazing at the completely dried inner bark of the Mao, Yuri murmured to himself.

"Well... just staring at it won't get me anywhere. I need to get the fibers from the inner bark, spin them into thread, and weave it into cloth... then I can figure out the rest."

Deciding he could worry about what to make after the cloth was finished, Yuri began the work of extracting the fibers. He joined finely split fibers to form a single thin thread, then twisted it while keeping it damp with water so it wouldn't break, making it stronger. This latter process is called twisting, and Yuri, following the descriptions in his `Rural Life Guide`, decided to do the work using a spindle. He could have been more efficient with a spinning wheel, but he lacked the belt needed to transfer the rotation of the large flywheel to the spindle. He considered making a leather strap, but tanning a hide just for that seemed like too much trouble. Since it was just the first prototype anyway, he figured a simple spindle would suffice. The fact that he also had no wood to make a spinning wheel, and that creating one from scratch with Earth Magic seemed like a daunting task, also supported this decision.

At first, Yuri began joining the fibers with clumsy hands, but perhaps due to the effect of `Rural Life Guide`, the steps for how to do everything came to mind, despite it being his first time. As he moved his hands according to that mental image, his movements suddenly became smooth after he had gone through the process once.

"...Is this the blessing of Master `Rural Life Guide`?"

It seemed this `Rural Life Guide` skill not only taught him the steps of a task but also provided assistance once he had completed the process all the way through. A new skill had probably sprouted as well. He had to admit, his smoothness was on par with a master craftsman. After joining the fibers into thread with a speed unthinkable for a novice, Yuri immediately began the twisting process using a spindle. After doing this for a while, his hand movements again became suddenly smooth, and thread was spun at a pace that would not lose to a seasoned artisan.

By the end of the day, all the harvested Mao had been processed into thread. To weave this into cloth, he would need to prepare a loom.


"...That's easier said than done..."

Thanks to the descriptions in `Rural Life Guide`, he understood the structure of looms, from simple ones to complex ones. It even included the structure of a Jenny spinning machine for some reason. He could probably build one himself. If he had the materials, that is.

"Hmm... if I make the whole thing with Earth Magic... it'll be heavy, won't it..."

A loom made entirely of stone... he couldn't even imagine it, but it sounded difficult to use. Being heavier, its inertia would also be greater, so he couldn't ignore the possibility of various problems arising.

"Besides, I don't have enough thread to need such a large-scale device... I guess I'll start with a simple vertical loom..."

He skimmed through the descriptions and diagrams in `Rural Life Guide`, which was surprisingly complete with illustrations. It seemed like it would be fun to read just to pass the time, as he considered what type of loom to make. A backstrap loom, where one end is tied to the weaver's waist, was convenient for adjusting the warp tension by leaning forward or back, but it seemed difficult to weave wide cloth with it. A vertical loom, hung from above, could be made wider to a certain extent, but it wasn't suited for weaving cloth longer than the ceiling was high. On the other hand, a horizontal loom placed on the ground would be a lot of work to build and would require lumber.

"Hmm... I want a futon, so if the cloth is narrow, I'll have to do more sewing. ...But if it's too wide, I'll have to waste fabric and time cutting it when I want to make smaller things like bags..."

Ultimately, he needed to decide on the size of the cloth first. Realizing this, Yuri decided to start by making a loom sized for a futon. A backstrap loom seemed a little difficult, so he opted for a hanging vertical loom. He figured he could fold cloth of this width to make grain sacks or clothing. If he wanted narrower cloth, he could just prepare a narrower loom. Or rather, just the two horizontal bars called the beam, warp beam, or winding rod. For simple looms like the backstrap or vertical types, that much effort was nothing.

Yuri slowly created a beam with Earth Magic and began his preparations for weaving cloth.


Incidentally, for storing harvested goods like wheat and potatoes, he decided against weaving cloth for each one and instead stored them in pottery jars made with Earth Magic. Here in Yuri's village, cloth was more expensive than pottery.