Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
| Created: | 2014-09-21 19:10 |
|---|---|
| Institution: | Department of Archaeology and Anthropology |
| Editors' group: | (not set) |
| Description: | In Kalmykia, sewing, embroidery and felt-making have been regarded as women’s crafts. Traditionally, women sewed and decorated clothes, hats, bedding, bags and cushions for domestic use. Materials that were used varied, ranging from silk and textiles to skin, felt and furs. Aside from cotton, silk and woolen threads, Kalmyks also used threads made from various animal fibers, including tendon and intestines. End products that were intended to reflect the status and craftsmanship of the family and its female members such as festive dresses, hats, bags, and cushions were decorated with ornaments painstakingly sewed using gold, silver and vividly coloured threads.
Products made of felt were particularly popular. Felt of various widths and refinement was widely used for all kinds of coverings and containers, including the outer cover of the nomadic tent, rugs, mats and bags. For example, the outer cover of the tent was made of thick and dense felt layers, whereas those used for clothes were finer and lighter. Often, felt products were decorated with traditional embroidery, zeg ornaments in particular. Felt-making is a long and labor-intensive process. Firstly, sheep wool has to be sorted according to colour, then combed, cleaned, and beaten with a long stick until it turns into a light, fluffy mass. Afterwards, it is sprinkled with warm water, rolled up, and pressed. The felt roll is lifted and dropped by several people more than a thousand times to give it the required density and durability. |
Media items
This collection contains 16 media items.
Media items
Alena Lidzhieva, About Felt Making and Felt Yurts
27 views
Alena talks about how felt was processed in the past. Women gathered together, spread out sheep’s wool on the floor and beat it continuously with sticks. Afterwards the wool was...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 12 Jun 2015
Alesya Kalmykova, A Master Class in Sewing Zeg Ornaments
29 views
In the beginning Svetlana Batyreva, a Kalmyk scholar who studies art, gives a short talk and introduces Alesya Kalmykova. Svetlana says that Kalmyk dress is different from those...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 13 Mar 2017
Alesya Kalmykova, Traditional Ornaments
13 views
Alesya says that Kalmyk ornaments could be of various shapes and styles, including geometrical, zoomorphic, floral, astral and alphabetic. Geometrical shapes are the oldest among...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 11 Mar 2017
Anna Sangadzhi-Goryaeva, Products Made From Wool
21 views
Anna recounts her mother’s story that before the exile in 1943 the Kalmyks made felt covers and felt boots. In Siberian exile her mother had neither the time nor opportunity to...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 21 Oct 2016
Badma Amulakova, Deesn: Traditional Ropes
13 views
Traditionally, ropes are made from sheep or camel wool. Sheep are shorn twice a year, in mid-spring and autumn. Autumn wool, called mochr, is short and suitable for making felt...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 2 Jan 2017
Badma Amulakova, Orndg
15 views
Badma talks about traditional bedding, including a bed, a blanket and pillow substitutes.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 2 Jan 2017
Badma Ochirova, About Crafts
9 views
Badma says that in the past the Kalmyks had blacksmiths. Also, the Kalmyks used wool widely in making ropes, whips, socks, felt boots etc. Of all wool varieties, the Kalmyks did...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 19 Feb 2016
Exhibition: Sewing, Embroidery and Felt Making
17 views
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 27 Jan 2017
Galina Kotinova, Kalmyk Ornaments
12 views
Galina shows a book titled The Kalmyk Traditional Ornaments by Grigoriy Vas’kin where all the pictures were drawn by Galina herself. She says that Kalmyk ornaments could be...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Wed 12 Oct 2016
Maria Beltsikova, About Felt Making
4 views
Maria remembers how in her childhood Kalmyks lived in yurts and made felt. To make felt, girls sat in a circle, holding long sticks in their hands with which they lashed the...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Thu 11 Jul 2019
Maya Karueva, Ornaments
20 views
In the past, the Kalmyks sewed pillows called tuntg. Decorated on both sides with ornaments called turun zeg as Maya shows, the tuntg was used to keep clothes, be it old or those...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Wed 20 Jan 2016
Natalia Ledzhanova, Valentina Basangova, Embroidery
33 views
Natalia and Valentina talk about embroidery.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sun 8 Apr 2018
Shitlg Boskhomzhieva, How to Make Felt
13 views
Wool is first washed, beaten by several people with special sticks, sprinkled with water, wrapped and rolled on the ground. The longer one rolls, the better the felt becomes. The...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 16 Nov 2015
Tatyana Dordzhieva, About Felt
3 views
Tatyana talks about how to make felt. The ground for felt making is cleaned. A cloth is put on the ground. The sheep’s wool is spread on the cloth and moisturized with water....
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 13 Jul 2019
Vitaliy Zaseev, About Felt Making
12 views
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 20 Oct 2017
Zurgada Antonova, About Felt Making
40 views
Felt is made from autumn wool (mochr). It is made as follows. Clay is spread on the ground and a cow skin is put on it. Then wool is spread evenly on the skin. Four or five women...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (SEWING, EMBROIDERY AND FELT MAKING)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 4 Aug 2017