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 traditional Savoyard farmhouse. The form of these farmhouses evolved over centuries to be exquisitely fit for purpose. The … 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
(January 2022) This is an update to my post From Thomas Jackson to Ralph Watson (March 2021), where I describe how I came across a manuscript written between about 1711 and 1769 by four generations of North Yorkshire weavers all called Thomas Jackson, and how that lead me to another manuscript by a weaver called … Continue reading Back to Thomas Jackson
(June 2021) The Dutch artist Jacob van Ruisdael (1629-1682) made at least eighteen paintings of the linen bleaching fields around Haarlem. The landscapes are seen from an elevated vantage point, with the church of Sant Bavo on the horizon, and the bleaching fields in the middle distance, intersected by water channels, with strips of white … Continue reading Linen Landscapes
(April 2021) Follow this link to my guest blog for the North Yorkshire County Records Office, April 2021.
(March 2021) I went looking for Thomas Jackson and found Ralph Watson. Back in the early days of coronavirus lockdown, stuck at home and spending too much time browsing the internet, I came across a beautiful collection of linen cloths on the Cooper Hewitt Museum’s website. The rather enigmatic caption under the forty-one photographs … Continue reading From Thomas Jackson to Ralph Watson