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Notes on Culture & Antique Art, Ethnic Decor & Vintage Fashion | Wovensouls Art Gallery

Signs of Ageing

Last year as I took out some of white-base Thirma Phulkari shawls for a client, I could not help noticing the huge difference in the colors of the base cloth of the super-old and the old textile.

Wovensouls Textiles

The front is intact so it was not about fugitive dyes.

This was simply ageing.

How and why this yellowing happens with un-dyed cotton cloth (or its close cousins – plant-based fibres) is probably something a technical expert can explain to us.

There are others like this in the collection – a Bhutan shawl, some hilltribe textiles and some Gujarat textiles.  The age stares at the viewer boldly and can be quite disconcerting as it takes a few thoughts to understand it fully.

But when one does, then the heart, the mind and the soul are alllll struck deeply.

This was one of the pieces that I though I’d never part with.

But then I did.

Life goes on.

***

jm

 

WOVENSOULS ART GALLERY 2

 

7 comments on “Signs of Ageing

  1. Kristine
    October 2, 2019

    Perhaps a good metaphor to ageing for us all…quite disconcerting but life goes on.

  2. Kristine
    October 2, 2019

    What a good metaphor on ageing for us all!

  3. wovensouls
    October 2, 2019

    Yes – life goes on. And in general my experience with ageing is great – I have the whole nest to myself 🙂 and better still – the “Que Sera Sera – whatever will be will be” has been lived out and we KNOW for sure only now as we approach the end of the road how the journey has been – mostly fun. So I wouldn’t trade places with my 20 yr old self.

  4. Kristine
    October 2, 2019

    Agreed…but I might trade places with my 30-something-year-old self for a few days!

  5. wovensouls
    October 2, 2019

    🙂

  6. Vera Indenbaum
    October 2, 2019

    The difference in color is because the older embroidery was longer exposed to oxygen in the air. It is a slow process of oxidation. The quick result of oxidation you probably saw when a hot iron was left too long on a fabric. In this case heat expedite the reaction. The spot under the iron will have similar color actually depends how long you leave the iron – if too long it can leave a hole. Textiles also have a patina.

  7. wovensouls
    October 2, 2019

    Wow – thanks for the note. I learnt something new today!

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This entry was posted on October 2, 2019 by in Art Kaleidoscope and tagged , , , .

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