Just finished reading The Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrel. She writes about a man named Ziegler, author of “Weber Kunst und Bild Buch”, in 1677, which was the first book of weaving patterns ever published. This went against the typical secrecy of weavers, who jealously guarded their patterns…. Which makes me wonder why Postrel locks up her own book - unlike The Golden Thread, which let me copy out all my highlighted notes from the Kindle, Postrels book makes it very difficult to copy any of it. Why? The image from her book (Below) showing how ancient sheep compare to modern breeds is great, but I can’t remove the thick black bars around it.
Reading The Golden Thread was fun: reading the Fabric of Civilization was a bit tedious. LOTS of information, but more like a textbook. It did not lead to as many online hunts. I was able to copy this out: Below is the Stanford Bunny, a computer graphics 3D test model developed in 1994 at Stanford University. The model consists of 69,451 triangles, with the data determined by 3D scanning a ceramic figurine of a rabbit.
Below This one has two versions of 3D printed KNITTING, in the shape of the bunny. My mind is incapable of grasping how a machine is able to do 3D knitting.
Her book did lead me to learn that the same type of punch card used by Jacquards looms was also used by organ grinders (Below):
Organ grinders led to https://www.glithero.com/woven-songs-textiles about an organ maker and a weaver who worked to produce fabric on the weave machine using organ music punch cards, in effect, weaving music. I hope the link works, because they have a great short video showing how they manage this! (Below, punching music)
I had read about silk being harvested from the stems, but this shows how it’s done.
Still no stitches happening. All this reading is giving me a better understanding of textiles, but so far it’s not translating into art. Just have to wait and see.
Stay safe. Stay sane.
PS: This just in, from the Style section of the NYTimes (and wiki):
On the left is the Henry Ward Beecher Monument. On the right is “An image of David Hammons wrapping his red-and-orange scarf around the head of a bronze sculpture of a Black woman standing on the base of the Henry Ward Beecher Monument during a snowstorm, an action he says he repeated each winter for five or so years. Sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward in 1891 to commemorate Beecher, the abolitionist who worked so tirelessly to end slavery, the monument centers on a standing, over-lifesize bronze statue of the heavily cloaked preacher (he is wearing at least four layers of coats). Below, on the granite base by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, the monument also includes a pair of children on one side and, on the other, a freed, formerly enslaved woman placing a palm frond at Beecher’s feet to represent his triumphant efforts in emancipation. Hammons putting winter clothes on the Black figure is a contextualizing, humanizing gesture that asks us to scrutinize this monument and its place in history. It is a far more nuanced, but no less biting, interpretation of public monuments than is usual.”
And looking at the calendar, I think this will be the last post until January 3rd. By then, maybe I’ll have stitching to show you