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Challenges Entered: The Planning Stages
Project: Testing Tablet Weaving- The Practical Application of Trim
My entry in the "Planning Your Project" challenge is an attempt to organize a plan for what will end up being a multi-year endeavor. While considering the question of "what effect did the arts that we study have on the lives of those who historically created them", I started down the path of asking questions about the impact that card-woven trim had on those who made it. While the art of the trim that historical and Society artisans have made cannot be denied, I couldn't help but wonder why this particular method has survived through time - there are other methods that could create beautiful bands of color on clothing and fabric that use less material and tools, and can be completed with less steps. Were there practical reasons why trim was used instead of embroidery, or just contrasting fabric?
My project will be part creation, part research into historical use and placement of trim across time and cultures, and part testing a scientific theory that trim was used as a method of not only decorating clothing but preserving the areas of garments that frequently were worn and needed repair. I plan to study the structural features of card-woven trim, and testing in real time what that structure does in relation to the clothing it is attached to. This test will involve finding volunteers among the heavy fighting community - a group well known for the stress that they can inflict on their clothing - and applying trim to the clothing they wear on the field, and seeing if the trim helps reinforce the areas of their clothing that would otherwise need frequent replacing or repair.
This "paper" does not currently contain documentation, but instead notes the various areas where research needs to be done to confirm my many assumptions and interconnecting theories. There is a general outline of how I plan to collect data, find volunteers, create the trim used for the testing, and the variables that will or will not be the focus of this endeavor, and the logic behind those decisions. It is part rumination, part science report outline, and many moving parts. It will eventually be the foundation for the presentation of my results, whenever that is finished.
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