{"id":429,"date":"2014-08-03T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/03\/my-most-favorite-of-all-2\/"},"modified":"2014-08-03T18:55:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T18:55:00","slug":"my-most-favorite-of-all-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/my-most-favorite-of-all-2.html","title":{"rendered":"My Most Favorite of All"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nStunning Silk Velvet Ikat<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe question I am asked most frequently is \u201cwhat is my
\nfavorite textile?\u201d.  In some ways that
\nis like asking a parent \u201cwhich is your favorite child?\u201d.  Each is loved for their unique
\nqualities.  But I will admit that there
\nis one textile that is, hands down, my favorite: silk velvet ikat robes of
\nCentral Asia.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNearly two decades ago I happened upon an exhibit of Central
\nAsian ikats at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I was so overwhelmed by the
\nbeauty of the collection that I visited weekly.  I would be among the first in the gallery so that I could be
\nclose enough to clearly see each textile displayed.  I attended every gallery lecture, and there began my fascination
\nwith ikat, but most specifically robes of silk velvet ikat.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOver the years I have visited Asia many times and have
\naccumulated a modest collection of ikats. 
\nI have watched textile dyers create the threads, pre-dying the patterns,
\nwhich, miraculously are then woven into the most intricate, colorful cloth.  But, until last month I had not seen silk
\nvelvet ikat cloth actually woven.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThankfully, there has been a revival of this most difficult
\nof techniques and collectors (and lovers) of beautiful fabrics and clothing can
\nnow purchase velvet robes and silk wraps from talented weavers.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nVelvet is classified as a pile fabric.  It is not a type of fiber, but can be made
\nfrom cotton, silk, or rayon\/acetate. Original pile fabrics were created by
\nforming loops by adding supplementary wefts during weaving and the loops remained
\nuncut.  The basis for velvet weaving is
\na warp loop created from supplementary warps. 
\nAs the cloth is woven, thin wires are placed parallel to the ground weft
\nand are woven onto the surface of the fabric with the supplementary warp
\nthreads forming a tight loop across the rods or wires.  After several rows of rods have been
\nattached, a knife is drawn across the top of the wire or rod and the rod is
\npulled free and used in the weaving of subsequent rows. The development of the
\nrich pile surface is a slow process. Subsequently, further technique by the
\nFrench produced a double woven cloth which was sliced apart as it came from the
\nloom.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe process of velvet ikat is very much more
\nproblematic.  Not only is the resist
\nmethod of dying the warp threads to form a pattern in the finished fabric labor
\nintensive and demanding of a very skilled worker, there is the additional
\nproblem of the supplementary warp matching the ground.  For every inch of finished cloth there might
\nbe as much as 5 times the length of warp thread required.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nAt the recent International Folk Art Festival held last
\nmonth in Santa Fe I saw a loom prepared for demonstration.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOne can see the pre-dyed warp threads at the top of the photo<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNote the silver wires at the top of the woven cloth.  The supplementary warp  had been woven over these wires.  The wires will be sliced free, removed and used in subsequent rows.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMy Most Favorite of All<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stunning Silk Velvet Ikat The question I am asked most frequently is \u201cwhat is my favorite textile?\u201d.  In some ways that is like asking a parent \u201cwhich is your favorite child?\u201d.  Each is loved for their unique qualities.  But I will admit that there is one textile that is, hands down, my favorite: silk velvet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}