Next in importance to the fineness of the weave is the proper
blending of colors. Though a woman may have the highest skill in her
primitive art, she must take time to study out the color scheme for her
blanket. These are the principal factors, but there are others which enter
into the making of a blanket, and the finer the product of the loom the
more difficult the work becomes.
There are still a limited number of very fine blankets made. The number is
governed largely by the demand.
In the original or natural colors there are white, brown, gray and black;
the latter rather a grayish black, or better salt, as Mathews describes it,
"rusty." Many of the best blankets now produced are of these natural
colors, with sometimes a touch of red.
There are certain Navaho blankets much sought after by the collector,
especially those rare old specimens made of purely native dye, the colors
of which have softened into harmonious tones. These have not been made for
many years past and most of the specimens in perfect state of preservation
that are in existence were obtained from Mexican families where they had
been handed down from generation to generation as heirlooms. Often in these
old specimens the red figures were made of bayeta. As Mason says: "The
word 'bayeta' is nothing but the simple Spanish for the English 'baize'
and is spelled 'bayeta' and not 'ballets' or 'valets.'" Formerly
bayeta was a regular article of commerce. It was generally sold by the rod
and not by the pound. Now, however, the duty is so high that its
importation is practically prohibited.
This bayeta or baize was unravelled and the Indian woman often retwisted
the warp to make it firmer. She then rewove it into her incomparable
blankets.
From the earliest days the Navahos have been expert dyers, their colors
being black, brick-red, russet, blue, yellow, and a greenish yellow akin to
an old gold shade.
There is abundant evidence that they formerly had a blue dye, but indigo,
originally introduced probably by the Mexicans, has superceded this. If in
former days they had a native blue or yellow they must of necessity have
had a green. They now make green of their native yellow and indigo, the
latter being the only imported dye stuff in use among them.
To make the black dye three ingredients were used: yellow ochre, pinion gum
and the leaves and twigs of the aromatic sumac (thus aromatics). The ochre
is pulverized and roasted until it becomes a light brown, when it is
removed from the fire and mixed with an equal quantity of pinion gum. This
mixture is then placed on the fire and as the roasting continues it first
becomes mushy, then darker as it dries until nothing but a fine black
powder remains. This powder is called "keyh-batch." In the meantime the
sumac leaves and twigs are being boiled. Five or six hours are required to
fully extract the juices. When both are cooled they are mixed and
immediately a rich, bluish-black fluid called "ele-gee-batch" is formed.
For yellow dye the tops of a flowering weed (Bigelovia graveolens) are
boiled for hours until the liquid assumes a deep yellow color. As soon as
the extraction of color juices is complete the dyer takes some native alum
(almogen) and heats it over the fire. When it becomes pasty she generally
adds it to the boiling concoction, which slowly becomes of the required
yellow color, - "kayel-soly-batch."
The brick red dye, "says-tozzie-batch," is extracted from the bark and the
roots of the sumac, and ground alder bark, with the ashes of the juniper as
a mordant. She now immerses the wool and allows it to remain in the dye for
half an hour or an hour.
Whence come the designs incorporated by these simple weavers into their
blankets, sashes and dresses? In this as in basketry and pottery, the
answer is found in nature. Many of their textile designs suggest a
derivation from basketry ornamentation, which originally came from nature.
The angular, curveless figures of interlying plaits predominate and the
principal subjects are the same - conventional devices representing clouds,
stars, lightning, the rainbow, and emblems of the deities. These simple
forms are produced in endless combination and often in brilliant,
kaleidoscopic grouping, sometimes representing broad effects of scarlet,
black, green, yellow, and blue upon scarlet, and the wide ranges of color
skilfully blended upon a ground of white. The centre of the fabric is
frequently occupied with tessellated or lozenge patterns of multicolored
sides; or divided into panels of contrasting colors, in which different
designs appear. Some display symmetric zigzags, converging and spreading
throughout their length. In others bands of high color are defined by zones
of neutral tints, or parted by thin, bright lines into a checkered mosaic.
In many only the most subdued shades appear. Fine effects are obtained by
using a short gray wool in its natural state, to form the body of the
fabric in solid color, upon which figures in black, white and red are
introduced. Sometimes blankets are woven in narrow stripes of black and
deep blue with borders relieved in tinted meanders along the sides and
ends, or a central figure in the dark body with the design repeated in a
diagonal panel at each corner.
The greatest charm of these primitive fabrics is the unrestrained freedom
of the weaver in her treatment of primitive conventions. To the checkered
emblem of the rainbow she adds sweeping rays of color, typifying sunbeams.
Below the many angled cloud group she inserts random pencil lines of rain;
or she often softens the rigid lines signifying lightning, with graceful
interlacing and shaded tints.
