Weaving with copper and Silk

September 29, 2022 10:49 AM

Copper Textiles A selection of tapestries woven with unusual materials featuring copper
posted by Bottlecap (15 comments total)

These are lovely, but I can't help wondering how they handle oxidation. How do you polish the copper as a fiber?
posted by Wretch729 at 11:36 AM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Copper wire for jewelry and craft making is available with a tarnish resistant coating, similar to enameled copper wire used for windings.
posted by jedicus at 11:53 AM on September 29, 2022

Or it turns green and that’s a thing over the life of the piece. Both approaches get used.

I particularly like the one with the wavy twill damask ground fabric. Ripples. The detail shots are more compelling than the wide shot (the framing is lumpy maybe?); the detail shows really show off the luminous wire.
posted by janell at 12:35 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

I met a young woman once who crocheted jewelry from silver wire. Earrings, necklaces, etc. Her work was astounding.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:03 PM on September 29, 2022

@janell handmade textiles don't translate from screen & photo as well as they do in person. It really feels quite different being able to look at it from different angles up close in the same space, rather than from the flattened space of a still image.

These are super interesting though.
posted by kkar at 1:06 PM on September 29, 2022

I bet you could put very thin copper flakes inside a transparent fiber that would protect them from oxidation and make the overall effect much more sparkly — but you’d lose something. I don’t know how to characterize it; there's a special feel to the very idea of metal wire woven into cloth.
posted by jamjam at 1:50 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

For those interested, Habu Textiles sells yarn in unconventional materials, including several steel blends.
posted by praemunire at 2:04 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Or you could intentionally oxidized it so it has a beautiful green patina...like the copper roofs you see on old buildings.
posted by Czjewel at 2:41 PM on September 29, 2022

Came looking for police fabrics, got this instead...
posted by Chuffy at 3:54 PM on September 29, 2022

Characterisation of metal threads in Renaissance tapestries
posted by Ideefixe at 4:11 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

The indian name for supplementary weft weaving with gold & silver threads (traditionally thin metal filaments) i have genuinely forgotten for the moment, but that style spread far and wide across its cultural sphere. So over here it's called songket. Likely that Indic connection is related to the western classical world as well per ideefixe's link. No copper probably because of the tarnishing risk, and in any case, the traditional way of caring for these includes periodically unwrapping and unfolding the cloth so the threads don't become bent from long-term storage.
posted by cendawanita at 9:58 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

There’s an aspect of weaving both silver and copper into textiles that also include natural fibers that others who’ve used cotton dishcloths laced with copper ribbons may also have noticed.

Those dishcloths almost never really went sour, and never rotted. Because both silver and copper are such potent antimicrobials.

I presume that effect in a traditional textile would require enough moisture that the shine would also be compromised, but that might not have been such a concern if those textiles also had greater lifespans, and my guess is that they did.
posted by jamjam at 10:31 PM on September 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

One of my favorite textile projects is Irene Poschs's embroidered computer (previously), which uses glass beads wrapped with gold thread to create relays. Relays can be connected together to create logic gates and flipflops, and from there it's a "simple matter of needlework" to make a full computer.
posted by autopilot at 4:38 AM on September 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

I saw some absolutely spectacular copper textile work last year at an art studio open house here in Ottawa. The artist used cost in various states of oxidizing in her work and is was amazing. I will go see if I can findnher on the web to share with the thread.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:02 AM on September 30, 2022

The photos don't really do the work justice, but Sayward Johnson.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:10 AM on September 30, 2022