Everybody loves wet cleaning! Wet cleaning is called cuci, pronounced chuchee in Indonesian—and it means washing. Washing is a major part of our conservation project. After many years of exposure and city pollution, the Iwan Tirta batiks are dry and crispy, acidic and soiled. They desperately need cleaning to brighten the colors and neutralize the pH […]
Julia returns to Jakarta: Installment #1
Julia returns to her birthplace of Java, on a mission to preserve a national batik treasure. In early April, Julia returned to her birthplace of Java, to preserve an important collection of batik by Iwan Tirta; a joint project of the US Embassy and Musuem Tekstil–the batik of diplomacy. This is the first of several […]
All that glitters is not gold… sometimes it’s silver, or even copper.
Precious metals have long been used as status symbols, so it is no surprise to find them adorning prestigious royal and religious textiles. Even though metal thread embroideries and weavings have been desired by pharaohs, queens, and sultans for centuries, they have also been found in Asian court repositories and medieval tombs. Metallic cloths, although […]
Passage from India – Part 2
This is the second post on the 18th-19th century Indian textile we’ve had the good fortune to work on of late. If you missed the first post in this series, you can find it here. In this post we’ll present history and possible use of the piece. This kalamkari is a treasure of the venerable […]
New Year Greetings from Julia Brennan and Caring For Textiles
Toile de Jouy fragment, French, circa 1790, made for the American market, part of a larger cloth commemorating George Washington. “Toile de jouy” old French meaning ‘cotton cloth to print decorative scenic designs’. Derived from Indian hand painted prints introduced to Europe by Portuguese and Dutch in 15th c. “Cherub” from Aramaic “ke-rabya” child-like; winged angelic being, whose gift is […]
Passage from India
Part 1: We’re delighted to share with you two posts regarding a wonderful Indian ‘kalamkari’ that we have been conserving and researching over the past few months. In this post, we’ll tell you about a beautiful quilt and the restoration work that we have performed, and next week we’ll discuss its history and the kalamkari genre. Block […]
