At long last, I have now managed to get images uploaded, thanks to my website folks!! Yay!!

I still have some teething problems as I can’t seem to put more than one image up in one row, so sorry about this.  I’ll have to do several posts to show you what’s what.  Anyway, this is the view from my hotel window, showing the Kuwait skyline on my first morning, which was the best one for visibility.  All the other mornings had a severe dust haze over the entire city.

We are now in Sadu House, and this is the library.  If you look closely, you can see Peter Collingwood’s book ‘The Maker’s Hand’ on the bottom display shelf…..  This link has some really good images of the House.  Enjoy.

Sadu House was a family home, and this is a shot of everyday implements!

The rooms in Sadu House that aren’t the main part of the museum retain a family quality to them.  The covers on the seats are Sadu weaving incorporated into the furnishings, along with the wall coverings.

Bisht – the traditional covering cloak that a man wears over his dishdasha.

“Weaving in the settled urban environment was men’s work.  Much of the work was done after the pearl fishing season when the men had extra time on their hands.  The wool was bought in bulk and distributed to the women for spinning, then taken to a workshop for the weaving.  Most of the fabric was a plain unpatterned weave.  The woven fabric was made up into outer garments, called bisht, worn over the dishdasha, either as a protective cover or a ceremonial cloak.  It has been a traditional part of the Arab wardrobe for generations, in both towns and in the desert.”  (Information from Sadu House museum exhibit)

One of the methods Sadu House use to tell the story of the Bedouin and their Sadu weaving is the use of wall drawings to create the scene,as you can see in the bisht image.  I love these, so here are two more….

This is a lovely drawing showing how the sadu weaving was incorporated in the everyday life of the Bedouin in their desert environment.


This image is a typical Sadu weaving with the geometric patterning.  It is really decorative and intricate and takes a while to weave.  The Bedouin ladies’ hands get toughened with this kind of warp-faced pick-up technique.  Many more modern images find their way into the weaving these days, including scissors and simple camel shapes.

This cloth is dyed with natural dyes and again shows the warp-faced nature of the cloth they weave on very simple ground looms.  They sit on the warp to weave.  You can see some weavers in the link I gave you at the top of the page.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you some of Kuwait’s landmarks that I visited with Patricia.