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Historical Embroidery News...

The anatomy of modern gold threads

1/11/2021

11 Comments

 
One of the hardest things in recreating medieval goldwork embroidery is finding embroidery materials that are similar to those used in the past. Although the composition of the gold threads used is not routinely stated in publications and museum catalogues, generally speaking, modern threads contain less real gold or even none at all. But what else can be learned from having a closer look at them? Out come the digital microscope and some matches.
Although I have quite a collection of gold threads, I am going to take apart a few key ones that you are probably familiar with too:
- imitation Japanese thread (#8 from Golden Threads)
- passing thread (Stech 120/130 from M. Maurer)
- "real" gold passing thread (Stech 120/130 Echt Gold with silken core from M. Maurer)
- pure goldthread (vintage Japanese from Hauser Gallery)
All these threads have a thin foil that's wrapped around a textile core thread.
Let's start by having a look at how the foil has been wrapped around the core thread. Interestingly, you can see the core thread between the foil wraps in all specimens. The glare of the gold is such that we don't see this with the naked eye. If you click through the above picture gallery, you will see that the two Japanese threads are Z-spun and the two passing threads are S-spun. You'll also see that the width of the foil is much greater for the Japanese threads than for the passing threads. This probably explains why you don't have pesky pieces of foil standing up in tight turns when you are using passing thread. The changes of you "folding" a single wrap in a turn is less. It is more likely that you'll push two wraps a little apart with your couching thread.

To quantify things a bit: there are c. 13 wraps/cm for the imitation Jap, c. 16.5/cm for the pure gold thread and c. 64 wraps/cm for both passing threads.
Let's unwrap the foil from the core and see what it's actually made of. This exercise reveals the biggest difference between the Japanese threads and the Stech. You can clearly see in the pictures above that both Japanese threads have a golden foil on the outside of the strips and a substrate on the inside. It is white in the imitation Jap and brownish in the real gold thread. The latter is very likely a special high-quality paper, but the white stuff might be an artificial membrane.

The foil of the Stech looks very differently and behaves very differently: it really is a strip of metal without another material. It stretches considerably upon unwrapping. In the pictures, you can see that the foil has a silver colour on one side and a golden colour on the other. According to the manufacturer, the normal Stech consists of a silvered copper thread which is then very thinly gilded on one side. The Stech Echt Gold is a pure silver thread that is then gilded with pure gold on one side resulting in a higher karate.
Above, you see pictures of the cores of the different gold theads. All are yellow, except for the vintage pure gold thread which has a more reddish hue. To determine if they are made of real silk or polyester, I have burnt them by holding them in a flame with tweezers. The core of the imitation Japanese thread burnt with a small flame and the smell was one of something being burnt. The core of the Stech burnt with angry sparks and there was no smell at all. The core of the Stech Echt Gold burnt very quickly with a faint smell of something being burnt. The core of the Pure Gold thread burnt very quickly, but I could not detect a smell. The results hint at the core of the imitation Jap being cotton, the core of the Stech being artificial and the cores of the Stech Echt Gold and the Pure Gold thread being silk.

How do these results compare to the gold threads that were being used in medieval embroidery? Find out in next week's blog post!
11 Comments
Rebecca Brent
1/11/2021 14:55:15

This is wonderful! Such great photos. Vielen Dank, Jessica.

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
1/11/2021 14:58:21

You are welcome, Rebecca!

Reply
Claire de Pourtalès
1/11/2021 15:30:24

Gosh! I love your experimentations!

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
1/11/2021 15:32:14

Thank you, Claire! This was a lot of fun :).

Reply
Linda Hadden
1/11/2021 21:12:34

Amazing, will make me look at gold threads in a totally different light.

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
1/11/2021 21:25:02

Thank you, Linda! This was such a useful exercise; will do this standard now when I buy gold threads from a new source :).

Reply
Rachel link
1/11/2021 21:34:37

Those are beautifully clear. I'm now really looking forward to the next post!

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
1/11/2021 21:37:19

Thank you, Rachel! I was amazed how well these pictures turned out given that my digital microscope is not a very high-end one.

Reply
Vera Orlandic
14/4/2022 23:06:01

Hi Jessica,

I have 2 Japanese tapiseria with gold threads and would like you to give me some guidance here. I have no idea who is the artist or age of thapiseria, or where to look for it.

Please can you help me

Warm regards
Vera

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
15/4/2022 08:47:04

Sorry, Vera, this is outside my scope of expertise.

Reply
Jose Angel link
2/9/2022 22:21:55

Although the composition of the gold threads used is not routinely stated in publications and museum catalogues, generally speaking, modern threads contain less real gold or even none at all. I truly appreciate your great post!

Reply



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