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INTERCAL
Presents Norton Weaving
This article is published on the Internet with kind permission from it’s
author, Tanya Turner of England. It was first published in the August 1997
issue of The Teddy Bear Club Magazine. Intercal is the exclusive
North American Importer for Norton (Weaving) Ltd., the mill being featured.
hen collectors asked us to provide an insight into the manufacture of
mohair we were more than happy to oblige, especially as it meant a fascinating
visit to the only mill in the UK producing mohair pile fabric for bears.
If you have a bear, new or old, made from English
mohair, you can guarantee that the fabric was woven at Norton mill in
the village of Scissett near Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Norton is owned
and run by a dynamic pair who go by the names of Michael Wood and Bob
Hall. It is due to their hard work that English mohair is still produced
today.
Mohair is a unique natural fibre, prized for
its beauty, versatility and durability with a high tensile strength, silky
texture and lustrous appearance. It begins life as the fleece of the Angora
goat. These animals are believed to have originated in Tibet 3,000 years
ago, later arriving in Turkey and taking their name from the city of Angora,
now known as Ankara.
Angora goats, now farmed mainly in Texas and
South Africa, undergo shearing at least twice a year. Baled fleeces are
distributed to spinners in France, Great Britain and Ireland where they
undergo a refining process. Carding and combing removes undesirable kemp
fibres and produces "tops" which can then be spun into yarn. The yarn
used to make teddy bear fabric is spun from the fleeces of fine young
goats. Weavers at Norton use a natural, white yarn spun at Mount Mellick,
Ireland. The yarn consists of two threads twisted together and wound onto
cones.
BACK IN TIME
Entering the weaving mill is like walking into a working museum. Apparently,
mohair responds to slower purpose-built looms which allow for greater flexibility
of pile length than their modern equivalents. The oldest looms at Norton
date back to 1936 while the youngest began it's tireless career in 1979.
These wonderful contraptions have proved immensely reliable and each one
is lovingly tended by an operator from Norton’s team of dedicated staff.
The weaving process begins when the natural
mohair yarn is wound onto huge rollers which fit onto the looms. Each
roller carries hundreds of thread ends which the operator ties into the
loom by hand. The number of threads per inch determines the density of
the mohair pile. Two similar rollers carrying cotton yarn are also loaded
onto the loom. Shuttles fly back and forth weaving two pieces of cotton
backing fabric simultaneously and catching mohair threads in between.
The result is a sort of sandwich where slices of woven cotton fabric act
as a bread while the mohair threads make up the filling joining the two.
When the mohair strands are cut, two pieces of pile fabric are revealed.
Pile lengths vary from 9.5 mm to 50 mm and are controlled by information
fed into the loom on a punch card.
Should a thread work loose during the weaving
process, the operator stops the loom and climbs unceremoniously aboard
to recapture the wayward strand! The speed at which the mohair emerges
from the loom varies according to density. Sparse mohair, which has fewer
threads per inch, is the quickest to produce although all mohair manufacture
is a slow process. As if performing a graceful magic act, the venerable
looms yield 30 metre lengths of fabric a time.
As many artists are now discovering, undyed,
unfinished string mohair can be used to make great bears. However, most
of this fabric leaves the mill to be dyed according to Norton’s requirements.
When the dyed mohair returns it is subjected to a number of finishing
processes. Combing separates the strands of the stringy pile to produce
a soft silky texture. Brushing and drying techniques have been developed
to produce curls and waves while trimming ensures an even pile height.
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