#gold foiling

[lithieu]

For the record, I blame you, @wingedknightrose . : D

Got my hands on stuff for gold leafing. Nothing is safe. Shiny makes corvid brain go brrr.

[mrs-trophy-wife]

[tsugara]

[craftdiscoveries]

(via Easy Gold Foil Decor! - The Graphics Fairy)

[uwmspeccoll]

Staff Pick of the Week

For Staff Pick of the week I chose A History of Tapestry From The Earliest Times Until The Present Day which was written by W.G. Thomson (1865-1942), who was a self-proclaimed “Examiner in Art.” There is not much written about William George Thomson but what is known is that he was an artist and tapestry historian. Thomson also wrote Tapestry Weaving in England from the Earliest Times to the End of the XVIIIth Century published in 1914. His art was mainly watercolor reproductions of tapestries. One of his watercolors is currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Three watercolor reproductions in the book, Adoration of the Infant Jesus, The Hunting Tapestries First of the Scene and Second of the Scene, were also painted by Thomson.

A History of Tapestry From The Earliest Times Until The Present Day was published in 1906 by Hodder & Stoughton, and our copy is a first edition. Thomson discusses techniques and literary references to weaving in myth and history. I found the excerpts he chose to include very interesting, such as a section on weaving from Ovid’s Metamorphosis;

Straight to their Posts appointed both repair, And fix their threaded Looms with equal care; Around the solid Beam and Web is ty’d. While hollow Canes the parting Warp divide; Thro’ which with nimble Flight the Shuttles play, And for the Woof prepare a ready way; The Woof and Warp united, pressed by the toothy Slay.

Thomson also includes a Scandinavian story about weaving, with very different feeling and meaning, from the Niál Saga;

In the North of Caithness, Darad came up to a rock, having seen several figures approach and disappear in it. In this rock there was an opening through which he saw wild women weaving, and singing as they wove. And the weights of the loom he beheld were human heads -- heads of heroes: of entrails were the warps and woofs: swords were the shuttles: and for a comb they had arrows. Now as they sang their awful song, the words dinned in his ears and became understandable. They sand that they were Valkyrias and that the web they were weaving was the web of Darad. As the song ceased they tore in pieces the work they had done, and departed as they had come, some going North and some going South.

I enjoyed looking through this book because I am intrigued by the history and myths surrounding textile arts, as well as the subject matter that are produced within them.

– Claire, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[wordsarelifereviews]

A Court Of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

[organizedpotato]

Happy Washi Wednesday! 🌵💖

[tsugara]