Genevieve's Journeys

BBC has a radio report about the decline of the kimono culture in Japan.
This excerpt comes with a photo slideshow on the BBC Magazine site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15739403
Just seeing the fabrics is a pleasure.
There's a nice couple of photos of a woman working at a backstrap loom, about shoulder-width - she specialises in the fabrics for the belts (obi?) only.
It's amazing the depth of speciality skill shown - but given the low intake of new artists, I wonder if they can preserve the skills, and the overall practice, indefinitely.
In a feudal culture, where materials are expensive and labour is cheap, there's lots of bodies available to take on the work - less so in a modern one.

Maria Hayward spoke about the 'Rothwell Jack: cut construction and conservation'. She's author of the recent book about Henry VIII's wardrobe, in the spirit of Janet Arnold's Elizabeth's wardrobe unlock'd, and she's based in Leeds, where I think she works in the armory, but I'm not sure.

( Read more... )

Not all notes are created equal, in part because not all speakers are the same, and not all topics are as easy to cover. But we had an awesome mix of theoretical and conjectural, against physical, measureable and quantifiable examples, which made for a very well-rounded day, topped off with drinks with the MoL textiles curator. How cool is that? ( Cut for length )

Like the talk about Irish textiles, this was a 'survey' of specific items and collections in Sweden: a pleasant introduction to major Swedish finds, and a colourful slide show of pretty things.

Dress and textiles from Sweden's Royal Armoury in Stockholm
Henrik Andersson, "Bibliotekarie", at Livruskammaren 

The Royal Armoury started as s true armoury, where armour was stored ready for distribution to troops. However, its purpose changed when Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632) donated the clothes he wore during a decisive battle, 'as a perpetual memorial'. After that, the armoury became more of a historic collection, and now holds clothing, armour and artifacts from 15th century onward. Its 'hallmark' is the collection of "blood-stained costumes preserved to bear witness to royal valour" (text from English website).


There's just a handful of photos on the Livrustkammaren website. A bit disappointing - possibly more on the Swedish site, not sure.
However, my friend terafan posted some pictures from a trip to Uppsala Cathedral and its treasury; includes pics of the golden gown, and some medieval wall paintings.

Elizabeth Heckett, University College Cork
Raths to Riches
A whistle-stop tour of Irish textiles

This survey was mainly visual, with about 40 minutes of slides illustrating the discussion of pieces that Heckett is familiar with, some of which she has examined herself. She called it a whistle-stop tour, and I don't think she was introducing many completely new items to (most of) her listeners. 

All I can really provide from that talk is a list of artifacts and locations that she mentioned, along with some small comments about them, in the hopes that if Irish is your thing, you can chase up individual finds yourself.

A 'rath', BTW, is an Irish ring fort. It was misprinted 'rags to riches' in the handout, and she commented that for most textile finds, they actually come out of the ground as rags, and only later prove to be riches... 

Recent finds and scholarship: medieval archeological textiles in NW Europe

Frances Pritchard, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Winchester
An enigmatic late 9th century 'shirt' from the Kingdom of Brycheiniog, Cymru