by Heather Luke | Jun 23, 2015
A 17-18thC lace making technique using a tape or braids to outline the motifs rather than a foundation thread. First a narrow tape is made with bobbin or needlework, which is then wound and placed onto a pattern and either fixed to a bought mesh, or connected using...
by Heather Luke | Jun 23, 2015
Any length of flat material, usually woven, used to fasten, tie or support. 1. Decorative Tape Narrow bands of woven tapes or ribbons can be used in interior furnishings as decoration – to finish an edge, create a line or identify a form, as fixings – to...
by Heather Luke | Jun 23, 2015
A very ancient type of bark cloth, predominantly made in the Pacific Islands, primarily Tongo, (ngatu) Samoa (siapo) and Fiji (masi), from the bast fibres of the paper mulberry (Morus papyrifera), breadfruit or fig tree. This hand-made cloth is decorated with symbols...
by Heather Luke | Jun 23, 2015
A key step in the ancient process of preserving skins and hides and turning them into leather; tanned leathers have been known to last thousands of years. Skins are first cured (with salt) and cleaned before being soaked in a tanning agent, and then finished....
by Heather Luke | Jun 23, 2015
A natural, vegetal, yellow-brown acid and astringent found in many plants, notably Camellia sinensis–the tea plant– in coffee, vines and in oak or fir trees. Used as a leather tanning agent and in textile preparation as a mordant to fix dyes; at home the...
