Listen to the exhibition audio guide here. To listen directly on your phone or audio device, simply press the grey “Listen in browser” option. If you have the SoundCloud app downloaded, you can select the orange “Play on SoundCloud” option. Headphones are recommended, if possible.

Transcript:

01_Introduction

Welcome to this exhibition on velvet-weaving. Over the next minutes, you will be guided through the process of hand-weaving velvet cloth, using the live studio display you see before you. This exhibition has been created by weaver Emma Wood, and is part of her artistic research into the personal connection between a weaver and their textiles. On your audio device you should see a list of chapters, each exploring different stages in the process of weaving velvet. In the window, there are a series of display boxes. These contain examples of some of the objects that will be described to you in your exhibition guide.

Please note that this exhibition is intended to be viewed through the window in front of you, looking in towards the studio. The studio itself remains a closed workspace, and your respect for its privacy is much appreciated. At certain times, you will see Emma working at the loom. You are invited to observe her weaving, but are kindly requested not to disturb her work. With that in mind, let’s begin our velvet journey.

02_What is velvet?

Velvet is a woven cloth, traditionally made from silk. It is best known for its soft and delicate quality, which is created by cutting the silk to create a tufted texture. Due to its painstakingly slow production methods, hand-woven velvet is seen as a luxury material; professional velvet weavers are only able to weave twenty centimetres of cloth per day. The live display before you is an adapted recreation of the Italian renaissance technique, inspired by the velvet weavers of Florence and Venice.

03_Bobbins 

It all begins with a bobbin. A bobbin is a small wooden spool, designed to hold the silk that the velvet will be woven from. In the background, you are now listening to the carving of a bobbin on the lathe. A single piece of cherry wood produces seven bobbins. The weaver begins by roughing out the wood and marking where the cuts need to be made. Then, a small set of chisels are used to carve out the deep grooves of the bobbins. Grain tear-out and snapped rims are some of the hazards the weaver must try to avoid. Once the seven bobbins have been carved, the weaver smoothes them using increasingly fine sandpaper, before separating them using a hand-saw. Next, the ends of each bobbin are sanded down, and a hole is drilled through the centre. Finally, a layer of oil is applied and the bobbins are ready to be laden with silk. 

04_Winding the bobbins

When preparing to weave silk velvet, each bobbin is wound with five strands of silk yarn to help create a thick final texture. They are wound using a handheld bobbin winder, and the weaver uses their fingers to gauge the tension. Once all the bobbins have been wound, they are ready to load onto the creel. The creel is a small rack which sits behind the loom. Approximately 16 bobbins are needed to weave a single centimetre’s width of velvet. Full-scale creels can hold up to 1000 bobbins, for a total fabric width of 60cm. The small creel here holds 70 bobbins, which produces just over a four centimetre width of velvet. The sound currently playing is the winding of a single bobbin.

05_Adding weights

Before the silk yarns are ready to thread onto the loom, each bobbin needs to have a weight attached to it. These weights are carefully calibrated to the silk and provide the perfect amount of tension for each individual thread. The weights are wound around the bobbins and hang towards the back, acting as a counterbalance. As the velvet is woven, the silk yarn slowly unwinds from the bobbins, perfectly controlled by the dangling weights. The weights you see here are made from cast iron. Listen now to the sound of the weights gently rocking against the wood of the bobbin as they are wound, and the sudden crash as a broken thread causes a weight to fall to the ground.

06_The ground warp

In addition to the bobbins, there is a second warp, wound directly onto the back of the loom. This warp is made from a much finer silk, and although it’s hard to see, look closely and you may spy it emerging from the back roller on the loom. The warp is separated by long strips of paper, to prevent the fibres from becoming tangled. Once threaded, these delicate silk ends will form what is called the “ground warp”, and they will be responsible for holding together the velvet as it is woven. The sound you now hear is the fine silk being wound to be placed on the loom.

07_Threading the loom

Now direct your attention to the loom in front of you. Do you see the set of metal frames in the middle? These are called shafts, and there are 24 of them on this loom. If you look closely, you can see vertical white strings attached to the shafts. They are the heddles, and each one has a small needle-like eye in the centre. A single silk thread is threaded through the eye of each heddle, which connects it to the shaft. This is the sound currently playing in the background. When the weaver lifts that shaft, all the corresponding silk threads are also lifted. The heddles must be threaded in a particular order for weaving velvet, always alternating between a single strand of ground warp, and then a strand of silk from a bobbin. This loom can hold up to 5.000 threads, and the threading process can take up to 2 weeks.

08_Weaving

Now it is finally time to weave. The weaver sits at the bench and uses the foot pedal to lift the shafts for each row. When the selected shafts are raised, the corresponding heddles and silk warp threads are also lifted. Now direct your attention to the front of the loom. Do you see how some threads are raised, and some lie flat? The empty space between them is called the “shed”. With each row, a shuttle passes through the shed. The shuttle is the small wooden device you see resting atop the woven cloth at the front of the loom. It holds a small spool which is wound with fine white silk. This is the weft yarn. As the weft passes back and forth through the shed it is beaten into place by the reed, which is the long rectangular metal comb sitting in front of the shafts. A lot of force is required when beating velvet, and although silk is the strongest natural fibre, the weaver must take care not to break the threads. In the background you can hear the rhythm of weaving.

09_Velvet rods

Now take a closer look at the bench. Do you see the glass jar with small brass sticks? These are the velvet rods. In every fourth row of weaving, one of these rods is used instead of the shuttle, and the pile warp is looped around it. As successive rods are added, pressure fixes the newly woven cloth in place. Once the cloth is secure, the weaver runs a sharp blade across a small groove in the top of the rod. The groove guides the blade in a straight line, and the pile threads are split open. A tufted texture is created, and the result is velvet.

10_Tea

Hand-weaving is a deeply personal activity, and each weaver has their own rituals that accompany them through their process. For Emma, tea is a constant companion to her work. A fresh cup of tea is made each time before sitting at the loom. It offers support in moments of frustration and contemplation, and sits forgotten during the weaving flow. In one of the window display boxes, you will see a brewed teabag made from handwoven silk velvet, in homage to Emma’s own weaving ritual.

11_Conductive velvet

Whilst traditionally woven from silk, velvet can be made from many different materials. In the display boxes in the window, you can see examples of silk woven from silver and gold threads. The velvet currently being woven on the loom is made from 24 karat gold yarn. By weaving with metals that conduct electricity, these velvet pieces can serve as “soft sensors”. A soft sensor is a flexible device that detects physical changes (such as pressure, movement, or touch) and converts them into usable digital signals. Conductive velvet is slower to produce than silk velvet, and requires a lot of patience. The yarns are more difficult to control, and their metal qualities make them harder to cut.

12_Ending

Thank you for your visit, and for coming on the journey of velvet-weaving. To learn more about Emma’s work, you can find her online at wovenbywood.com, or on Instagram at @wovenbywood. This exhibition is part of the Velvet Values research project, which is housed at the University of Arts Berlin and is part of the DiGiTal programme. This research is funded by the Berliner Chancengleichheitsprogramm. Please enjoy the rest of your day.