Tapestry Research Paper

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Introduction

A tapestry is a textile that is woven on a loom with a weft-facing warp. Two types of looms were used in medieval times: the high-warp (Figure 1.1) loom or low-warp loom (Figure 1.2). The warps are stretched vertically or horizontally respectively. Regardless of the loom type, the weaver is positioned on the backside of the tapestry and utilizes a handheld shuttle to send colored thread through the spaces left open between warps. Materials often used were wool, linen, silk, and metal wrapped threads (Campbell, 2008). Tapestry development was not active in Europe until the fourteenth century.

Construction
The construction of a tapestry was done with the use of simple math. Using a loom, threads could be viewed as a grid with the warp being the vertical threads and the weft being horizontal. The warp is a single color thread and is positioned on the loom first. Then, the weft, which can be a small or large number of threads, is woven over and under the warp yarns. Once a good number of weft yarns have been woven, the weaver beats down the yarns so that they are very close together and the warp can no longer be seen (The use and functions of textiles).
Someone other than the weaver creates the design of tapestries. The designer paints on paper or cloth an image that will be woven into the tapestry. This cartoon was positioned against the rear of the loom so that the weaver could see which colors to place where (Mallory, 2014). This cartoon was not a part of the finished product though, so it could be reused to create multiple tapestries.
Suites
Collections of tapestries that tell a story are called suites or chambers. Usually these suites were very large textiles and were hung directly beside the last in the se...

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...d to tapestries in their homes and events they went to. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, weavers became greater, and wealthy common people were able to reach cheaper tapestries for their homes. Even though these textiles were becoming easier to own, demand continued to stay strong because of the continuous use of tapestries by the royals. However, towards the eighteenth century, the desire for tapestries tapered off. Traditional nobility continued to purchase from weavers at a very steep price. The rise in price was a result of the majority of weavers moving on to a different task and only leaving a few creators in business. More forward thinking nobility and royalty began taking interest in paintings and wallpapers to fill the spaces where they spent the most time. This resulted in the last of the ateliers closing in the 1780s in London and in Brussels.

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