[Elfsea] For Mistress Stella, lower grade silk in Rennaisance Europe

[Miss M Brow]

Weeeeellllll, actually, reading over the info once again due to Mistress 
Stella's interest got me thinking; I went to the JHU press website, found 
the book and ordered it.  I will make an announcement when the "new arrival" 
gets here ;)  Of course, anyone who wants to look at it may... I'll carry it 
around with me so if you see me ask and I'll share.   Um, when is MOOT 
again?
Namaste, Rua


>From: klfrench1023 at aol.com
>Reply-To: Barony of Elfsea <elfsea at lists.ansteorra.org>
>To: elfsea at lists.ansteorra.org
>Subject: Re: [Elfsea] For Mistress Stella,lower grade silk in Rennaisance 
>Europe
>Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:00:46 -0500
>
>Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!  I have been dying to get my hands on 
>this book for ages, but the prohibitive cost has kept me from doing so.  
>This is an invaluable source, and will be of great help to anyone and 
>everyone who is documenting the use of these fabrics for Italian or any 
>other later period garb.  I guess that I will just have to save my money 
>and get my hands on this book!
>
>In gratitude,
>
>Mistress Caterina Fregoso
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: starstruck503 at hotmail.com
>To: elfsea at lists.ansteorra.org
>Sent: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 1:19 PM
>Subject: [Elfsea] For Mistress Stella, lower grade silk in Rennaisance 
>Europe
>
>
>Here is what I have; do not know how accurate or authentic, but it looked 
>good...
>
>The article was written by an SCA member on one of the several lists I 
>belong to. Unfortunately I did not copy his or her name down when 
>copy/pasting this for future reference. However, the book is listed as: 
>Mola, Luca. The Silk Industry in Renaissance Venice. Baltimore: The Johns 
>Hopkins University Press. 2000 if anyone wants to try and find a copy to 
>check it out. Hope you find it as interesting as I did... *putting this 
>book on Christmas wish list*
>Namaste, Mary Ann (Rua)
>
>The Use of Lower Grade Silks in the Renaissance
>When choosing fabrics for the recreation of Renaissance clothing, I have 
>always been told that you should never use slubby silk or silk noil. The 
>common theory passed on by numerous respected costumers is that these 
>fibers would have been considered waste products not up to the high 
>standards of silk manufacturers or consumers during the period, and these 
>materials would have never been used to make fabric for personal garments. 
>Although I have not seen documentation to support this conclusion, I 
>accepted it as fact and proceeded to tell others that silk fabrics such as 
>douppioni were not historically correct because of the imperfections in the 
>weave. But recently, I stumbled across a book that gives an abundance of 
>evidence documenting the use of lower grades of silk in the 16th century, 
>and uncovers another side to the story that has largely been ignored. This 
>article is intended to share this newfound knowledge based on Luca Mola's 
>research in The Silk Industry in Renaissance Venice.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Grades of silk:
>The first step to understanding this issue is to look at the different 
>grades of silk fibers produced during the Renaissance. "True silk", known 
>as seta leale, was the most precious material made from carefully unwinding 
>an intact cocoon in a basin of hot water to form one long, very strong, 
>continuous thread; a process known as reeling. These threads made up the 
>category of first-grade silk, which was the primary fiber used in the 
>luxury silk industry.
>
>Second-choice silk, or "double silk", "was produced when two silkworms were 
>put too close together in the raisings during their metamorphosis, and so 
>ended up wrapped in a single cocoon." (p. 233) This "double silk", which 
>was referred to in period texts as seta di doppi, did go through the same 
>reeling process as "true silk", but the imperfections and slubs from the 
>tangled cocoons caused it to sell for half as much as the first-choice 
>product, and it had traditionally been used for sewing threads, hangings, 
>trims, and haberdashery.
>
>Waste silks or spun-silk noil (strazze de seda filada) were obtained from 
>broken cocoons, the fluffy external coverings of the cocoons, or by 
>collecting the waste fibers gathered from the cauldrons or reeling 
>equipment. Because these materials were not made from a continuous thread 
>like first- and second-choice silks, they had to be combed, carded, and 
>spun like other short textile fibers. These waste-silk threads were 
>classified according to their various sources and were valued at the 
>relatively low price of 5 to 10 solidi per pound while "true silk" sold for 
>124 soldi per pound. (p. 252)
>
>In an estimate of the different raw materials produced from cocoons in 
>mainland Venice in 1559, "true silk" made up 240,000 pounds, "double silk" 
>accounted for 60,000 pounds, and various waste silks added another 100,000 
>pounds to the total production. (p. 234)
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Fabric production:
>The luxury fabric trade that brought wealth and fame to Venice and other 
>Italian regions was heavily regulated to insure quality control and 
>perfection in the high-end silk cloths. After 1450, innumerable laws were 
>passed prohibiting the use of second-grade and waste silks in the weaving 
>of drappi da parangon, or cloths for comparison, that included the most 
>luxurious satins, velvets, and brocades. These fabrics were extremely 
>expensive, and they had to pass guild inspections and contain specific 
>colored thread markers in the selvage to signify that they were made from 
>the finest silk threads, dyes, and weaving techniques. Fraud and deception 
>was common in the Renaissance silk market, and the strict laws and 
>regulations were intended to protect the buyers and ensure the good name of 
>the Italian silk industry. If any lesser quality materials or techniques 
>were detected during guild inspections, the silk would be confiscated, and 
>the weavers and sellers would be heavily fined. However, there were other 
>less regulated classes of fabric in the silk trade such as the drappi 
>mezzani, which were medium quality cloths destined for both local and 
>foreign markets, drappi de navegar, cloths for export by sea, and drappi 
>domestici, domestic cloths produced exclusively for local consumers and 
>excluded from trade. (p. 97)
>
>The drappi domestici was the most ancient of these categories dating back 
>to the 13th century. With these fabrics, "anyone at all could order a cloth 
>from a master weaver with a weft thread of second-choice silk, waste silk, 
>or some other fiber, so long as he employed it exclusively for his or his 
>family's personal use and did not sell it." (p. 165) Mola points out that 
>"this regulation was addressed in particular to the members of the Venetian 
>nobility, who made large use of it, but it was also used by simple citizens 
>or by the setaioli (silk sellers) or artisans themselves to produce the 
>fabrics they needed for making cheap clothes and hangings." (p. 97) So it 
>is not surprising that a large number of garments, coverlets, and hangings 
>made with a weft of waste silk are found in the inventories of Venetian 
>nobles, citizens, merchants, and artisans. (p. 166) These cheaper fabrics 
>were commonly used by the upper and middle classes for less-formal garments 
>and could provide an affordable alternative to the high-end silks that were 
>sold for exorbitant prices.
>
>The reduced cost of the lower grades of silk thread also drew the interest 
>of entrepreneurs who could produce fabrics for a much lower cost that were 
>in high demand with local and international consumers. A law passed in 1475 
>officially sanctioned the use of waste silk and second-choice silk in cloth 
>da navegar, as long as it had the proper identification mark in the 
>selvage. While still restricted from using anything but "true silk" in 
>cloths da parangon, "the freedom in the use of silk threads for cloths da 
>navegar was widely exploited by weavers and setaioli in the course of the 
>16th century, as attested by the many trials held to ascertain the quality 
>of cloths produced in Venetian shops." (p. 166) Although the guild 
>inspectors commonly spoke of these lesser fabrics as having thread that was 
>"filthy" or "bad", they could not confiscate it as long as it was clearly 
>marked so that it would not mislead foreign consumers. (p. 166)
>
>Even the drappi mezzani enjoyed a slackening of standards during the 16th 
>century due to the demand from foreign markets, "first by admitting the use 
>of unboiled silk, then of second-choice silk, then of waste silk, and 
>finally, even of other textile fibers" such as wool, cotton, or flax. (p. 
>167) Even though the guild continued to protest the use of these 
>lesser-quality fibers, "the use of weft thread made with second-choice silk 
>in the drappi mezzani was officially countenanced by state officials, even 
>though no law was issued on the matter." (p. 169)
>
>Mixed cloths, a final form of lower quality silk, were the primary types of 
>cloth produced by the East and Southern Mediterranean countries in the 
>early Middle Ages, but regulations from the 1360's onward began to curb 
>this practice in Venice and other Italian regions. (p. 161-162) However, 
>laws were amended once again in the last quarter of the 16th century to 
>allow the manufacture of various mixed cloths made with a warp of silk and 
>a weft created from various combinations of wool, cotton, flax, and waste 
>silk. Venetian weavers petitioned the silk guild in 1575 to be allowed to 
>make these types of fabrics which were produced throughout Europe, and as 
>stated by Pasqualin d'Alessandro, "are continually imported in very great 
>quantities to the detriment of us poor weavers, who are forbidden to 
>produce such kinds of fabric since they are forbidden by law, which laws 
>were issued a long time before the invention of these new types of 
>fabrics." (p. 172)
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The bigger picture:
>Although most of this information on lower grades of silk is specifically 
>based on the Venetian silk industry, the author also covers similar trends 
>throughout Italy, Europe, and the Levant. Mola begins this further 
>exploration by stating that "the Venetian production of low-quality and 
>mixed cloths fell within a general trend that affected nearly all of the 
>other Italian silk industries in the second half of the 16th century. 
>Indeed, one of the principal transformations in the manufacture of silk 
>cloths in Italy during the late Renaissance was the return to the 
>production of fabrics woven with less noble materials, an older tradition 
>that had faded away almost everywhere between the 14th and 15th centuries." 
>(p. 177)
>
>The author goes on to give numerous examples of the use of these materials 
>in other regions, such as the cities of Genoa, Reggio, Emilia, Modena, and 
>Lucca, who "were accustomed to using waste silk together with first-choice 
>threads in cloths exported to France, Flanders, Germany, Bohemia, and 
>Hungary where they were appreciated for their low price." (p. 177) In one 
>of my favorite antidotes, Mola's research finds that young unmarried girls 
>in Lucca were forbidden by a 1572 sumptuary law from wearing the finest 
>silks, so they avoided this regulation by "avidly seeking fabrics woven 
>with second-choice (doppi) and waste silk," or fabrics made from silk and 
>wool blends. (p. 179) German businessmen bought these lower grades of silk 
>cloth in huge quantities, and in Flanders, the predominant fabric for local 
>production combined a weft of wool with a warp of first-choice, 
>second-choice, or waste silk. (p. 182)
>
>Many other specific facts are given about the use of these lesser silk 
>fibers in various regions, and all of these findings attest to the 
>widespread use of these material throughout most of Europe during the 16th 
>century. Mola's research seems to suggest that while the finest silks were 
>indeed free of any imperfections and dominated the international luxury 
>fabric market, another world of lower-grade silk materials were able to 
>successfully co-exist with the finer versions, and these fabrics, contrary 
>to modern beliefs, played an important role in the production of garments 
>in the late Renaissance.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Comparison to modern textiles:
>Although this information opens up some exciting new possibilities for 
>authentic garment construction, it is still difficult to say which modern 
>fabrics can or cannot be used in the recreation of period attire. 
>Second-grade or "double silk" is described almost exactly the same way in 
>period texts as modern fabrics such as douppioni (whose root comes from the 
>same source as doppi, the Italian Renaissance term for double silk fibers). 
>Modern silk douppioni is defined as having uneven and irregular threads 
>that are reeled from two or more entangled cocoons. Our modern tastes have 
>grown to appreciate the slubby textures of fabrics like douppioni, 
>Shantung, and pongee (which are also made from double silk), and lower 
>grade fabrics such as Indian douppioni tend to emphasize these 
>imperfections. On the other hand, 16th century buyers would not have 
>appreciated these flaws within the weave, and slubby silks probably would 
>have never been used for the nobility's finest clothing. However, lower 
>grade silk fabrics that might possibly resemble modern douppionis or 
>Shantung seem to be within the realm of possibility for less-formal wear.
>
>Waste silk is even more difficult to match up with modern counterparts 
>because of the wide variety of fibers and weaves associated with this 
>material. Modern silk noil and spun silk, once again, are defined in the 
>same way as waste silk of the Renaissance, but it is difficult to ascertain 
>from the text whether or not low-grade silk fabrics of the 16th century 
>would look anything like the spun silk fabrics we are accustomed to seeing 
>today. In fact, the production of fabrics with either second-choice or 
>waste silks in the 1500's often hid these fibers beneath the complicated 
>weave of satin, velvet, or brocades, so they might look more like modern 
>silk brocade (which typically uses lesser quality fibers in the weave) than 
>nubby silk noil. But there are also period descriptions of plain weave 
>fabrics that used waste silk threads, so it is just impossible to know for 
>sure. However, I feel that modern spun silk fabrics should not be entirely 
>ruled out simply because they are made with short fibers, since this book 
>gives abundant evidence that waste silks were used in the production of 
>fabric from the that period.
>
>With this being said, I still feel the need to point out that most of the 
>research presented in this book deals with lower grade fabrics that 
>retained a warp of true silk. The use of waste silk for the long warp 
>threads would reduce the strength of the cloth and impair its durability, 
>and most of the laws permitted the use of lesser fibers for the weft alone. 
>Douppioni and some finer spun silk materials still use the higher quality 
>reeled silk threads in the warp, so this would not be an issue with those 
>fabrics, but most of the modern silk noils use waste fibers for both the 
>warp and the weft. Mola's research rarely discusses fabrics made with a 
>warp of waste silk in the 16th century, except when it was combined with 
>other types of fibers (for example, the Flemish silk-wool blends mentioned 
>in the previous section), and the only example I could find of 100% silk 
>fabrics made with a warp of waste silk was from a 1335 Florentine law 
>permitting its use in light cloths, but this practice was later overturned 
>in the 15th century. (p. 179) Although it appears that using a warp of 
>waste silk was not unheard of in the Renaissance, fabrics resembling modern 
>noil with both a warp and weft made of waste silk were probably extremely 
>rare.
>
>And finally, mixed cloths made from a combination of silk and cotton, wool, 
>or flax are also documentable, especially before 1350 or after the first 
>half of the 16th century, but the availability of these fabrics would 
>probably vary depending on the location and exact date. This also does not 
>account for the types of weave, which would need to be carefully researched 
>if you are looking for complete authenticity, but it does open up a nice 
>range of silk blend fabrics that could be considered for the construction 
>of historical clothing.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Conclusion:
>I realize that this information goes against some of the common knowledge 
>espoused by Medieval, Renaissance, and Elizabethan costumers, but I was 
>completely thrilled when I found this new source of documentation, and I 
>encourage anybody who is interested in this subject to read this book and 
>see the evidence for yourself. I have attempted to condense an enormous 
>amount of information into a fairly brief article, but there is much more 
>wonderful research on this topic as well as information on dyes, weaving 
>techniques, sericulture, centers of production, the silk guilds, and the 
>socio-economical impact of the silk industry in Venice and other regions 
>during the Renaissance. It's not exactly a light read, but the research is 
>astounding and you could spend weeks just going through the 150 pages of 
>glossary, notes, bibliography, and appendixes! As always, if you have any 
>comments, questions, or additional evidence either supporting or refuting 
>the use of lower grade silks in the Renaissance period, I would love to 
>hear from you!
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Mola, Luca. The Silk Industry in Renaissance Venice. Baltimore: The Johns 
>Hopkins University Press. 2000.
>
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