Shoe Museum Lausanne Thread Making Video

YouTube video from the Shoe Museum Lausanne showing Marquita Volken thread making

Notes

• untwisting cord in the hand
• drawing multiple plies at once, winding over elbow and hand
• twisting plies on thigh, both sides at once
• skeining in hand

Supplies

• linen twine
• board bristles
• shoemaker’s pitch (blackish)
• round awl

Process

• winding for a three cord thread
  • start pinching in web of left thumb
  • wind behind the elbow
  • wind through web between first and second fingers
  • back behind elbow
  • through web between second and third fingers
  • back behind elbow
  • through web between third and fourth fingers
  • back through web of thumb, then other fingers
  • end by winding the opposite way through the web of the thumb, coming out at the back of the hand
• rotate the left hand palm down
• untwist the thread past the thumb and split
• pull the other loose end from the start of winding out of the web of the thumb and back toward the elbow, hanging loose
• unwind the threads passing from the back of the web of the thumb toward the elbow one at a time
• unroll the cords from the left arm
• pitching
  • halved over a hook
  • rub up and down with pitch
• twisting
  • rolls both ends of the thread over the hook on the leg at one time
  • rolls with the left hand
  • constantly untwisting the loose, tapered ends with the right hand
• pitch the thread again
• polish the thread
  • heat up the pitch
• butterfly wrap
  • wind into bow-tie shape around thumb and first finger
  • put the loop around the first finger and wind both halves together
  • wind the loose ends around the center
• mounting hog bristle
  • fork the bristle
  • pinch the tapered end between the tines
  • wrap
  • [this is very hard to see]
  • open the fork
  • wrap one tine
  • close the fork
  • “give an opposite twist”
  • pierce thread and pass the bristle through
  • pass the bristle through from the back
  • does two holes
  • first flatten the thread with the awl, then pierce the hole in the flattened portion
  • pierces twice in total
  • then applies more pitch, from back to front
• hang on nails into the wall
  • nails appear to be marked by number of cords