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Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/1
Cochineal is the name of both crimson or carmine dye and the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the dye is derived. There are other species in the genus Dactylopius which can be used to produce cochineal extract, but they are extremely difficult to distinguish from D. coccus, even for expert taxonomists, and the latter scientific name (and the use of the term "cochineal insect") is therefore commonly used when one is actually referring to other biological species; suffice it to say that the reader should be aware that there is more than one cochineal insect. The primary biological distinctions between species are minor differences in host plant preferences, in addition to very different geographic distributions. D. coccus itself is native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico. After synthetic pigments and dyes such as alizarin were invented in the late 19th century, natural-dye production gradually diminished. However, current health concerns over artificial food additives have renewed the popularity of cochineal dyes, and the increased demand has made cultivation of the insect profitable again
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/2
The history of silk begins, according to Chinese tradition, in the 27th century BC, and its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BC. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty. Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 AD, and by 522, the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The crusades brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe. Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe’s silk industry. Due to innovations in spinning cotton, it became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream. An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered. In the 20th century, Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk. The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a somewhat rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/3
Palestinian costumes are the traditional clothing worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women. Most experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian costumes to ancient times, though there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times. Traditional Palestinian costumes reflected a woman's economic status, whether married or single, and the town or district of origin. Until the 1940s, a knowledgeable observer could glean such information from the fabric, colours, cut, and embroidery motifs (or lack thereof) in a given woman's apparel. Dresses generally had a loose-fitting cut that allowed for considerable freedom of movement.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/4
Navajo rugs and blankets are textiles produced by Navajo people (Navajo: Diné) of the Four Corners area of the United States of America (U.S.). Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for over 150 years. Commercial production of handwoven blankets and rugs have been an important element of the Navajo economy. As one expert expresses it, "Classic Navajo serapes at their finest equal the delicacy and sophistication of any pre-mechanical loom-woven textile in the world." Navajo textiles were originally utilitarian blankets for use as cloaks, dresses, saddle blankets, and similar purposes. Weavers began to make rugs at the close of the nineteenth century for tourism and export. Typical Navajo textiles have strong geometric patterns. They are a flat tapestry-woven textile produced in a fashion similar to kilims of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Traders from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century encouraged adoption of some kilim motifs into Navajo designs.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/5
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth. Knitting consists of loops called stitches pulled through each other. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be passed through them. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. By hand, there are numerous styles and methods. Some of these produce an entirely different end-product; some produce very similar results. Flat knitting, which is done on two straight needles, produces a length of cloth, while circular knitting, which is done on circular or double-pointed needles, produces a seamless tube. Different yarns and knitting needles may be used to achieve different end products, by giving the final piece different color, texture, weight or integrity.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/6
Tyrian purple (Greek: πορφύρα, porphyra, Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is a purple-red dye which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians in the city of Tyre. Tyrian purple was expensive: the fourth-century BC historian Theopompus reported, "Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon" in Asia Minor. The dye substance occurs naturally, but must be harvested by humans. It consists of a fresh mucus secretion from the hypobranchial gland of a medium-sized predatory sea snail, the marine gastropod Murex brandaris, currently known as Bolinus brandaris. This species is commonly called the spiny dye-murex, and it is a species in the family Muricidae, the murex or rock shells. The current range for this species is the "central and western Mediterranean". In Biblical Hebrew, which like Phoenician is a dialect of Canaanite, the Tyrian purple-red dye extracted from the Murex brandaris is known as shani שָׁנִי [ʃɔni], but usually translated as 'scarlet'. Another dye extracted from a related sea snail, Hexaplex trunculus, could produce a purple-blue color called argaman אַרְגָּמָן [argɔmɔn] (translated 'purple') when processed in shade, or a sky-blue indigo color, called tekhelet תְּכֵלֶת [təxelɛθ] (translated 'indigo') when processed in sunlight.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/7
Textile preservation refers to the processes by which textiles are cared for and maintained to be preserved from future damage. The field can fall under the category of art conservation and restoration as well as library preservation, depending on the type of collection. In this case, the concept of textile preservation applies to a wide range of artifacts, including tapestries, carpets, quilts, clothing, flags and curtains, as well as objects which ‘’contain’’ textiles, such as upholstered furniture, dolls, and accessories such as fans, parasols, gloves and hats or bonnets. Many of these artifacts require specialized care, often by a professional conservator. The goal of this article is to provide a general overview of the textile preservation process, and to serve as a jumping-off point for further research into more specialized care. Always contact a professional conservator if you are unsure of how to proceed in the preservation process.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/8
Weaving is an ancient textile art and craft that involves placing two sets of threads or yarn called the warp and weft of the loom and turning them into cloth. This cloth can be plain (in one color or a simple pattern), or it can be woven in decorative or artistic designs, including tapestries. The majority of commercial fabrics, in the West, are woven on computer-controlled Jacquard looms. In the past, simpler fabrics were woven on other dobby looms and the Jacquard harness adaptation was reserved for more complex patterns. Some believe the efficiency of the Jacquard loom, and the Jacquard weaving process makes it more economical for mills to use them to weave all of their fabrics, regardless of the complexity of the design. However, an industrialist weaving large runs of simple plain weave fabric may need to be convinced of the logic of investing in Jacquard machines, when a much lower cost loom would suffice. Handweaving, along with hand spinning, is a popular craft. Weavers use wooden looms to create rugs, fabrics, and tapestries. Fabric in which the warp and/or weft is tie-dyed before weaving is called ikat. Fabric decorated using a wax resist method is called batik. Satin weaves, twill weaves, and plain weaves are the 3 basic types of weaving by which the majority of woven products are formed.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/9
Knitta is a tag crew of anonymous rogue knitters who leave graffiti on monuments, utility poles, and other public items. Unlike traditional taggers, Knitta uses non-damaging materials, such as yarn and cloth. Started in 2005 by two women tagging the Houston metropolitan area, Knitta has grown to 11 members. Up to a dozen groups have followed their lead worldwide. The crew has been invited to show their art in Los Angeles, California; Paris, France; and elsewhere.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/10
Hemp (from Old English hænep, see cannabis (etymology)) is the common name for plants of the entire family of Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial (non-drug) use. Hemp is cultivated virtually everywhere in the world except for the United States, and its cultivation in western countries is growing steadily. For example, Canadian Hempseed exports surged 300% last year, according to VoteHemp. China, and other eastern countries, never prohibited its cultivation and use it extensively. Industrial hemp has thousands of potential uses, from paper to textiles to biodegradable plastics to health food to fuel but it has not been the great commercial success that the enthusiast hoped for in countries where it is legal to harvest. It is one of the fastest growing biomasses on the planet, and one of the earliest domesticated plants known. It also runs parallel with the "Green Future" objectives that are becoming increasingly popular. Hemp requires little to no pesticides, replenishes soil with nutrients and nitrogen, controls erosion of the topsoil, and produces lots of oxygen, considering how fast it grows.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/11
Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper. The metal wires used to make the threads have never been entirely gold; they have always been gold-coated silver (silver-gilt) or cheaper metals, and even then the "gold" often contains a very low percent of real gold. Most metal threads are available in silver and sometimes copper as well as gold; some are available in colors as well. Goldwork is always surface embroidery and free embroidery; the vast majority is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold threads are held onto the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread. A tool called a mellore or a stilleto is used to help position the threads and create the holes needed to pull them through.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/12
The Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested — often by destroying mechanized looms — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their livelihood. This English historical movement has to be seen in its context of the harsh economic climate due to the Napoleonic Wars; but since then, the term Luddite has been used to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change. For the modern movement of opposition to technology, see neo-luddism. The Luddite movement, which began in 1811, took its name from the earlier Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Measures taken by the government included a mass trial at York in 1812 that resulted in many executions and transportations (removal to a penal colony). Their principal objection was to the introduction of new wide-framed looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many textile workers.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/13
Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch. Before elastic, smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices, and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable. Smocking developed in England and has been practiced since the Middle Ages and is unusual among embroidery methods in that it was often worn by laborers. Other major embroidery styles are purely decorative and represented status symbols. Smocking was practical for garments to be both form fitting and flexible, hence its name derives from smock — a farmer's work shirt. Smocking was used most extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/14
The Valois Tapestries are a series of eight tapestries depicting festivities or "magnificences" at the Court of France in the second half of the 16th century. The tapestries were worked in the Spanish Netherlands, probably in Brussels or Antwerp, shortly after 1580. Scholars have not firmly established who commissioned the tapestries or for whom they were intended. It is likely that they were once owned by Catherine de' Medici, but they are not included in the inventory of possessions drawn up after her death. She had probably presented them to her granddaughter Christina of Lorraine, for her marriage to Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1589. The tapestries are now stored at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Tuscany, but are not on public display.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/15
Sumptuary laws (from Latin sumptuariae leges) are laws which attempt to regulate habits of consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc.". Traditionally, they were laws which regulated and reinforced social hierarchies and morals through restrictions on clothing, food, and luxury expenditures. In most times and places they were notoriously ineffectual. Throughout history, societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They were an easy way to identify social rank and privilege, and often were used for social discrimination. This frequently meant preventing commoners from imitating the appearance of aristocrats, and sometimes also to stigmatize disfavored groups. In the Late Middle Ages sumptuary laws were instated as a way for the nobility to cap the conspicuous consumption of the up-and-coming bourgeoisie of medieval cities, and they continued to be used for these purposes well into the seventeenth century.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/16
A baldachin, or baldaquin (Italian: baldacchino or baldachino), is a canopy of state over an altar or throne, It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals. A cloth of honour is a simpler cloth hanging vertically behind the throne, which may be combined with a canopy. In the Middle Ages, a hieratic canopy of state or cloth of state was hung over the seat of a personage of sufficient standing, as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a dais. Emperors and kings, reigning dukes and bishops were accorded this honour. In a 15th-century manuscript illumination (illustration) the sovereign Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes sits in state to receive a presentation copy of the author's book. His seat is raised on a carpet-covered dais and backed with a richly embroidered dosser (French, "dos"). Under his feet is a cushion, such as protected the feet of the King of France when he presided at a lit de justice. The King of France was also covered by a mobile canopy during his Coronation, held up on poles by several Peers of France.
Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/17
The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West Asia by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. The trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the Han Dynasty (114 BC), although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. Geographically, the Silk Road or Silk Route is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) on land and sea. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Indian subcontinent, and Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world. The first person who used the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" or "Silk Road(s)" and "Silk Route(s)", was the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877.
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