Finger Weaving

Razi Gadir was born in 1966 and is currently living in Bir al-Maksur. Razi comes from a Bedouin family that lived in the Galilee region. When Razi’s grandfather was a young man, he served in the British Army. After sustaining a leg injury, his father sent him to live for a year in Aleppo, Syria, so the leg could heal and he would not be returned to military service too soon. In Aleppo, there was a craftsman working beneath his home, who made horse tack—breast collars, headstalls, reins, and tying ropes—using the finger-weaving technique with sheep’s wool. He apprenticed with him, and in this way the craft entered the family, passing from father to son until it reached Razi. 
 
When Razi was four or five years old, his father was Impatient to teach him the craft and would steer him away whenever he showed interest. But Razi was persistent: he watched from the side and practiced with the plastic cords he collected, which he used to tie hay bales. By second grade, he had made his first set of straps from plastic cords for a donkey. The walk to school was 8-9 km, and in second grade, Razi understood that it was better to walk it with a donkey to carry the bags. So, he would make finger-weaving donkey straps for himself and his friends.  Only after Razi’s mother showed his father the straps he had woven from plastic cords did his father allow him to help with weaving straps from sheep’s wool. From seventh grade, Razi’s father would ask him to weave a specific item while sitting beside him and giving precise instructions. 
 
Razi’s father did not usually accept money for the horse straps he made by finger weaving; rather, he accepted gifts such as sacks of flour or coffee. Most clients spun their own yarn by hand from their sheep’s wool and brought it to him to weave, but in his opinion, the spinning was not strong or even enough. Therefore, the first thing he would give the yarn to Razi’s mother, who would go over it, improve the spinning, and ply pairs of threads together. Razi assisted her in this work as well. 
 
In 1991, after getting married, Razi sold his first set, encouraged by his father. Today, he weaves custom sets to order, tailored to a specific horse. He takes the horse’s measurements and adjusts the set in terms of design as well—colors, thicknesses, and decorative tassels, which he also makes himself. Razi did not learn the craft only from his father; as an adult, he continued to refine and develop it. To this day, he still improves and plies every batch of wool he purchases before weaving it into a set of straps.