Wednesday, October 07, 2015

The Wobble in the Arc

While there is a clear Arc in the western heritage of spinning, it is not a straightforward arc.  One example is the changes in Austrian textiles with the invasion and leaving of the Romans.  See for example:  Cloth Qualities from 800 BC-AD 800 in Austria: Context - Development - Hand craft by Karina Gromer; ATN no. 51, Fall 2010

A society can lose spinning and weaving skills as a result of an outside influence, and regain them as the influence is removed. 

We lost spinning skills as a result of  fossil fuel driven spinning mills.  However, if good spinning is inherently useful, we can asses our loss of spinning skills and recover them. It is a matter of  knowing our the issues, and planning evolutions to acquire greater competency. In fact, there is no reason why a modern spinner cannot be better than the professional spinners of the 17th century. 

We know what the old spinners could spin in 1750. We have benchmarks and samples of their work.  Once one knows what has be done, then one can figure out how to do better.  I do not care what it is,  anything that has been done, can be done better.


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