Textiles and World History

Two very good books.

Recent discoveries in archaeology have advanced our knowledge of the earliest man-made textiles.  These new discoveries led Ms. Postrel to declare that "What we usually call the Stone Age could just as easily be called the String Age."  String has countless applications in hunting, fishing, trapping, storing food, making bundles, etc., and of course is the ancestor of sewing thread, cables and rope.

 

String is made by the twisting together of short lengths of material to make longer, usable lengths.  I've recently learned how to make string out of just about any linear material, as long as it has some tensile strength, in an online course given by fiber rock star India Flint. 

Ms. St. Clair's book was reviewed in the Wall St. Journal, and the reviewer does point out some factual errors; in addition there are no illustrations or maps, which would have helped immensely. Still, it's an enjoyable book with a good bibliography and index. ISBN 9781631494802

 

Ms. Postrel's book has illustrations, generally tiny, but including a great diagram explaining how those Jacquard punch cards work in a loom. Well written, and well-received, the volume includes a helpful glossary, index and  thorough notes, from which the reader could construct a bibliography as one is not given in the book. ISBN 9781541617605

I'm still waiting for a comprehensive, multi-volume, well-researched and illustrated history of textiles, with high production values, including full color illustrations on glossy paper.

From book to wreath - upcycling library discards

Rustic wreath made from book pages.

Our local public library is an active community center and programming continues even during a pandemic.  Via Zoom, artist and enthusiastic library employee Janelle lead a group of us through the process of making a rustic wreath from a discarded library book. 

The idea came from this blog post: https://www.vintagepaintandmore.com/2013/11/book-page-wreath-tutorial.html

Find more ideas about repurposing discarded books in publications like this.

 

First, we registered at the library's website and then, masked of course, retrieved a kit of discarded book and cardboard circle, the base for our wreath, as well as a length of twine, from the front desk.  To cut your own donut, the outer dimension of the cardboard "donut" is 13", and the inner hole is 3 1/2". 

Cardboard "donut" is base of wreath.

 

In addition to a discarded book, other materials include:

 

Stapler

Glue gun and plenty of glue sticks

Discarded book 

32" or so length of twine for hanging loop

My discarded book was a hardcover so I followed the lead of another participant and removed the covers and spine. This makes it easier to remove the individual pages. Initially it felt very transgressive to destroy a book, but then it became oddly liberating. I separated most of the pages and was ready for the next step.

 

Pages removed from book, and stapler.

 

Next, roll each page into a cone shape and secure the shape, either by stapling near the base or with tape. You can also use the glue cone to form the cones.

Cone, stapled at base.

Now, you can either make all your cones first, or glue them on to the cardboard as you go. Janelle's three-row wreath used about eighty cones, and I decided to make my cones first. All the cones will be slightly different; don't worry about it. The key with this project is to embrace the words "wonky" and "rustic."

Bin of approximately eighty cones.

Time to start applying the cones to the base - but first attach the twine for hanging, as shown below. 

Make a loop, bring ends up through loop and knot.

The first row of cones is glued to the back of the ring - this will make sense once you move onto the second ring of cones. I glued four cones as "compass points" to better gauge the placement of the remaining cones, so they would radiate out evenly.

 

First cones glued to back, about 3/4" in from the center.

Note direction of cones - facing what will be the front. Next, begin gluing cones around the ring, using the glue gun. I used about 23 cones for this first ring, but later realized I should have squished my cones together a bit more and used a few more cones.

Gluing cones to back; should have fitted a few more.

Once the back is covered in cones, flip the wreath and glue more cones to the cardboard, spacing them in between the cones on the back.

Gluing cones to front of cardboard base.

Completed ring of cones on front.

 

Finally, add the topmost layer of cones - at this point you are gluing them to other cones, not the base. Let about 2" of the first layer of cones project behind this top layer. The ends of the cones will protrude into the hole space; don't worry about this yet.

Glue top layer of cones to first layer.

Once the top layer of cones is secured, the back will look like the image below. Wait until the glue is completely set, then fold and glue all the ends of the cones to the back of the cardboard base.

 

Back side of wreath - fold ends of cones and glue.

Could cover the messiness with decorative paper.

My end result was acceptable, for a first try. I used about sixty cones, but may add a few more in the future. I may also glue the top layer of cones a bit more securely to the layer beneath it. Janelle also suggested dip-dyeing the page edges, or adding glitter, which could give a fun, festive look.

I may add a few more cones to that top layer at some point.