One of the most memorable museum trips this winter in France was in Arles, to the Musée de l’Arles et de la Provence Antique. This is a very new museum, very modern, and very wonderful. There is an area devoted to objects fished from the mud and sand of the Rhone river - as you can imagine, quite a lot was lost or thrown overboard! I cannot imagine that this worked thimble was gladly lost. As I stood looking through the glass case, My imagination was running riot wondering what the person who had used it looked like, and what stitching they were working... since sadly both flesh and cloth are not as resilient as a simple metal thimble we shall never know. And the needles below - they seem too large for fine stitching. Half disappointedly, I wondered if they had belonged to a leather worker....
What is particularly amazing about this museum are the astonishing reconstructive models and watercolours by Jean-Claude Golvin. There is even a hologram of Golvin in his study which is just totally fascinating to witness!
The wooden "needles" look very like something I recently purchased - weaving sticks. I have no idea how old the technique is, but here is a link that shows the sticks - Noreen Crone Findlay does wonderful things with them. You have to scroll down a bit to see the sticks. I can't tell how large the sticks in your photograph are. What do you think? http://www.crone-findlay.com/Crone-Findlay-Creations-Weaving-Sticks.html
Very interresting video. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe wooden "needles" look very like something I recently purchased - weaving sticks. I have no idea how old the technique is, but here is a link that shows the sticks - Noreen Crone Findlay does wonderful things with them. You have to scroll down a bit to see the sticks. I can't tell how large the sticks in your photograph are. What do you think?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crone-findlay.com/Crone-Findlay-Creations-Weaving-Sticks.html