Over this summer I have stumbled on some wonderful weaving videos, everything from an historic reenactment of working with flax and wool in the Bronze Age to a number of videos showing tapestries in progress, to a Google video about high tech weaving with threads that have conductivity and can be attached to a very small computer chip imbedded in the cloth. Huge thanks to everyone who makes these terrific videos–sharing their knowledge and their weaving talents and information on such fascintating endeavors with the rest of us.
Here’s the video about conductive threads that have been designed for use in weaving fabrics for clothing, upholstery, and other applications where the cloth will then be compatible with any computer device.
So now it might be fun to see the other end of the weaving spectrum: Bronze age flax and wool processing and weaving in northern Europe during this time period. The Center for Textile Research, which I believe is associated with a university in Denmark, has documented this period of history so beautifully!
Here is a great stop action video of weaving one of the “Hunt for the Unicorn” tapestries that were re-interpreted and woven by weavers from West Dean College in Sussex for Stirling Castle in Scotland. The original tapestries (from around 1500 which were woven in Flanders) are hanging in the Cloisters in New York. This project of recreating the seven tapestries in the series began in 2001, and was not finished until 2014. The last tapestry in the set was hung at Stirling Castle this summer, 2015. The weavers made a number of trips to the Cloisters to study the originals. I met a few of them on one of their trips, and it is something I’ll never forget!
Isn’t it wonderful to watch the unicorn’s horn get woven? On that note, I’d better get back to weaving myself!
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