For more than 150 years, silk damask from Bezdan has been woven on Jacquard looms that are said to be the forerunner of modern computerised machines with cards, which significantly sped up the weaving process. We al- so preserve original designs from that era - grapes, tulips, dande- lions... The French turned their loom into a museum exhibit, while this one of ours is a real museum that works – explains Jelena, while leading us into the weaving mill. We come upon a large spinner, the machine which turns cot- ton threads into finished strips, after which they are transferred to the roll of the loom. These strips can have between four and elev- en thousand threads, depending on the size of the loom to which they are to be transferred. The thread is top quality, which means that the cotton is mercerised, bleached and perforated, with a min- imum of 780 folds. - Damask is made from 51 per cent cotton and 49 per cent vis- cose silk. Although it has high gloss and superior quality, it can be maintained normally by washing at 90 degrees – says the director. Thereisalsoanoldspoolmachine,onwhichtheypreparethreads for silk gown trains. Monika Kučora draws wooden conical cores like a virtuoso, winds a silk thread around each one, then arranges them on a board with 76 nails. We didn’t find out why that many precise- ly, but we’re sure that also isn’t without reason. On the shelves stand packages containing over 150 old brands, emblems and logos of modern hotels that can be woven in damask. - That’s our bank of punched cards, which have an incalculable value. The holes impressed on them represent the codes according to which the Jacquard loom functions. This explanation is clear but nonetheless shocking, even for those with only modest knowledge of computer programming. In the first year of the 19 th century, this Frenchman produced punch cards that look the same as those that were used to program the first computers three decades ago. The main hall has rows of looms of various sizes. The unusual boxes on the top, the brain of the Jacquard loom, still represent an enigma to many today. We meet Odri Đerđ, a former ship’s technician who has learned all the secrets of weaving and the maintenance of these machines. - Weaving is a difficult craft. In order to weave only one centi- metre of a pattern, it is necessary to make more than 28 synchro- nised movements of arms and legs, which are constantly moving. A small drop in concentration, a tremble of the left hand, is sufficient for an error to be immediately visible, says Đerđ, before standing up to show us another wonder. When the spool on the loom is used up, the other threads are tied to the new spool using the fingers. This painstaking work is called knotting. We watch unbelieving how the threads are knotted, as sharp as a razor, dipping fingers into plaster dust. The biggest loom has 11,800 of them and this job takes almost five days to complete. The company’s owner is Jelena’s husband, Ranko, but damask has become only her job and her concern. She says that there isn’t much work at the moment and that she dreams of again hearing the looms working in three shifts ...
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