In this post I share some illustrations and extracts from a rare eighteenth century book about flax and hemp cultivation, processing and weaving. The book’s full title is: A Treatise concerning the Manner of Fallowing of Ground, Raising of Grass-Seeds, and Training of Lint and Hemp, for the increase and improvement of Linnen-Manufactories in Scotland, … Continue reading “Farming in Scotland”
By Percy Beales An unpublished account of the linen industry in North & South Lopham, Norfolk, written by Percy Beales in the1930’s, and here transcribed from the manuscript in the Rita & Percy Beales archive at the Crafts Study Centre, University of the Creative Arts, Farnham. Percy Beales was the husband of Rita Beales, weaver, … Continue reading A Craftsman’s Reminiscences
(December 2022) This is a post about my trip in July to view the collection of Lopham linen in Norfolk Museums, with photographs and descriptions of rare examples of handwoven huckaback cloth made around 1900. I am grateful to Ruth Battersby Tooke, senior curator of Costume and Textiles at Norfolk Museums Service, and Rachel Kidd, … Continue reading Lopham Linen
(November 2022) Concering the locations of Ralph Watson and Thomas Jackson, and the distribution of linen manufacture in North Yorkshire. The first image above is a map of North Yorkshire pinned to my studio wall. The black pin at the top right, near the mouth of the River Tees, locates the tiny village of Wilton, … Continue reading The linen manufacture of North Yorkshire, once upon a time.
(September 2022) Concerning a nineteenth century loom and the recollections of a hemp worker in the French Alps. Ecomusée du Clos Parchet The star exhibit of the Ecomusée du Clos Parchet is the building itself, situated on a mountainside in the Haute Savoie, built in 1815 and now preserved as a typical example of a … Continue reading Hemp weaving at the Ecomusée du Clos Parchet
(August 2022) The following is a transcription of the documentary film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei 4: Herstellen von Leinwand, with my translation of the original German commentary presented alongside stills from the corresponding scenes in the film. The film is the fourth in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied … Continue reading Rural Linen Weaving in Germany: Part 4: Weaving the Cloth
(March 2022) The following is a transcription of the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei: 3: Aufbäumen, Anknüpfen und Schlichten der Kette, with my translation of the original German commentary presented alongside stills from the corresponding scenes in the film. The film is the third in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town … Continue reading Rural Linen Weaving in Germany: Part 3: Beaming, Tying and Dressing the Warp
(February 2022) The following is a transcription of the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei: 2: Aufschlagen des Webstuhls, with my translation of the original German commentary presented alongside stills from the corresponding scenes in the film. The film is the second in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in … Continue reading Rural Linen Weaving in Germany: Part 2: Building The Loom
(February 2022) The following is a transcription of the film Bäuerliche Leinenweberei: 1: Schären der Kette, with my translation of the original German commentary presented alongside stills from the corresponding scenes in the film. The film is the first in a series recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in … Continue reading Rural Linen Weaving in Germany: Part 1: Winding The Warp
(February 2022) In the 1970s the German organisation Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) began an ambitious project to record vanishing rural crafts, customs and work practices – including bell casting, mousetrap making, clay pipe making, butchery and bakery, as well as the cultivation and processing of flax. As part of the project, former weavers in the town … Continue reading Rural Linen Weaving in Germany – An Introduction