Above, Serbian Count Petar Brajan with his wife and one of his daughters, 1340-42, notice the swirling patterns on their fabrics and the locations of beading.
Traditional Slavic embroidery or beading or beadbroidery (my term ):
Gearing up to take on a garb project with my barony I became entranced at looking at images of Russian/Slavic/ East of the Holy Roman Empire clothing. The use of beads/pearls to essentially embroider (or encrust, however you want to look at it) designs on clothing is such a magical embellishment. I took to the internet and a few Russian/Slavic experts I know (Thanks M. Illyana!) and came to the conclusion that simply sewing pearls on fabric was not going to cut it. Yes, some images do look like they have many singular beads/pearls sewn on at random, but when comparing paintings and artwork to extant pieces (from various locations), I think they were using beads/pearls as construction pieces, creating depth and dimension and almost using them like paint on a canvas. Do I know this for sure? I do not, but the experiment is whats fun for me.
The specific fun for me, is looking at images from the period I want to reconstruct, finding images from before and after that time period and experimenting to see if I can reproduce a look, using the materials I know could/would have been used in period. I know that I could probably google "how did the Russians, Slavs etc embroider and bead" but to me that is a little less fun. So after gazing at images for about a week I decided it was time to try putting some beads to fabric and seeing if I could emulate the richness of the photos before me. For the project I will be using all natural materials, including beads and stone, silk and wool.
Gearing up to take on a garb project with my barony I became entranced at looking at images of Russian/Slavic/ East of the Holy Roman Empire clothing. The use of beads/pearls to essentially embroider (or encrust, however you want to look at it) designs on clothing is such a magical embellishment. I took to the internet and a few Russian/Slavic experts I know (Thanks M. Illyana!) and came to the conclusion that simply sewing pearls on fabric was not going to cut it. Yes, some images do look like they have many singular beads/pearls sewn on at random, but when comparing paintings and artwork to extant pieces (from various locations), I think they were using beads/pearls as construction pieces, creating depth and dimension and almost using them like paint on a canvas. Do I know this for sure? I do not, but the experiment is whats fun for me.
The specific fun for me, is looking at images from the period I want to reconstruct, finding images from before and after that time period and experimenting to see if I can reproduce a look, using the materials I know could/would have been used in period. I know that I could probably google "how did the Russians, Slavs etc embroider and bead" but to me that is a little less fun. So after gazing at images for about a week I decided it was time to try putting some beads to fabric and seeing if I could emulate the richness of the photos before me. For the project I will be using all natural materials, including beads and stone, silk and wool.
Below Young King of Men and St. Sava around 1345. Noticing Floral motifs on the rich fabrics and again, lots of beads!
Below, detail from the Blue Tunica, HRE (Not Slavic but a close neighbor), 12th century
For this project the baronial sewing crew is going with a flower or Rose theme as it is what the wearer asked for and flowers and flower like images can totally be found in traditional Slavic embroidery patterns. Generally, from what I have seen the designs range from swirls and flowers (especially on Byzantine and Russian) to heavily Geometric designs (slavic).
When starting this experiment I realized a strong base is needed to begin with and then, almost a cushion type layer to keep the beads intact and immobile. When conferencing with experts and looking for fabric it was determined a wool or silk would be appropriate. Silk was chosen as we are going for opulent, and I think as I construct the full embellishment, I will line it in a wool felt. Looking at a few extant pieces I began to notice that it looked like there may have been embroidery stitches laid down before beads were applied, and many beads had other beads or string like objects (metal or fiber) laid close next to them. This was aesthetically beautiful and also, after tackling this project, I feel, needed to keep everything steady, sturdy and neat looking. Without the edging for instance, the pearls do look more jagged and less well-ordered, which honestly may or may not have been an issue for those in period.
I am nowhere near finished with the beading needed for this piece, but it has been a great experience in something new to me. I will post updates as the pieces comes together and are finished. 400+ beads in and more to go!
I am also pondering the historic impact these garments had on the pearl trade/production......yet another rabbit hole.
When starting this experiment I realized a strong base is needed to begin with and then, almost a cushion type layer to keep the beads intact and immobile. When conferencing with experts and looking for fabric it was determined a wool or silk would be appropriate. Silk was chosen as we are going for opulent, and I think as I construct the full embellishment, I will line it in a wool felt. Looking at a few extant pieces I began to notice that it looked like there may have been embroidery stitches laid down before beads were applied, and many beads had other beads or string like objects (metal or fiber) laid close next to them. This was aesthetically beautiful and also, after tackling this project, I feel, needed to keep everything steady, sturdy and neat looking. Without the edging for instance, the pearls do look more jagged and less well-ordered, which honestly may or may not have been an issue for those in period.
I am nowhere near finished with the beading needed for this piece, but it has been a great experience in something new to me. I will post updates as the pieces comes together and are finished. 400+ beads in and more to go!
I am also pondering the historic impact these garments had on the pearl trade/production......yet another rabbit hole.
Update 10/5
As I continued to work on the piece my one thought was that I wanted to literally encrust the collar. Especially the round part closest to the neck. When I look at images from the region and time frame I just image a collar where one could barley even see the material with all of the pearls and stones. So, after placing the above piece of work on to the collar, which was created from silk and a layer of 80% wool felt....more beading and couching began! I wanted to bring in a more geometric feel to the long part of the collar and this was a great opportunity to enlist the eyes of friends as well as to teach some new folks the art of beading and couching. They were fantastic and worked to create the long strand of beads running along both long sides of the collar. While I continued adding more to the front part of the collar, two of our wonderful folks (Barona Ilyana and THL Brieanne Greenlea) assisted by creating 5 petal beaded flowers that were then couched down to the wool/silk fabric. The decision was made to go light to bare on the back of the collar because we were not sure if/how hair may get tangled in to the beads. Check out the progress pics below.
As I continued to work on the piece my one thought was that I wanted to literally encrust the collar. Especially the round part closest to the neck. When I look at images from the region and time frame I just image a collar where one could barley even see the material with all of the pearls and stones. So, after placing the above piece of work on to the collar, which was created from silk and a layer of 80% wool felt....more beading and couching began! I wanted to bring in a more geometric feel to the long part of the collar and this was a great opportunity to enlist the eyes of friends as well as to teach some new folks the art of beading and couching. They were fantastic and worked to create the long strand of beads running along both long sides of the collar. While I continued adding more to the front part of the collar, two of our wonderful folks (Barona Ilyana and THL Brieanne Greenlea) assisted by creating 5 petal beaded flowers that were then couched down to the wool/silk fabric. The decision was made to go light to bare on the back of the collar because we were not sure if/how hair may get tangled in to the beads. Check out the progress pics below.