It was hard to say the final good byes to the last of our tour group– 4 of us stayed on for 3 intensive days at Fondazione Arte Della Seta Lisio outside of Florence. Lots of textile people have come here to learn about Jacquard looms, velvet, and other complex textiles. We all just call it Lisio. [click photos to enlarge]

However, the first picture shows the view from my hotel window in Florence. It is in a great location. I have walked several times to the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. Hotel Loggiato Serviti. It is 5:00, my window is open I hear church bells and a soprano operatic singer singing her scales and warming up hitting the high notes. A bird is chirping, too.

The second and third pictures are of the velvet the 4 of us wove–one of the weavers there wove some, too, so we would have a piece big enough to take home. Cutting it off the loom is often celebrated but we were too eager to get our hands on it. We cut it into 4 swatches. I was lucky and got a piece with a selvedge.

The blue fabric is a new velvet woven at Lisio made to look old. Just like we like jeans to look old today, textile designers have woven fabrics to look older for centuries!

The swatches are velvets that we used to analyze different kinds of velvet. It was a challenge to find the fine threads with out little magnifiers. Our teachers were great and made lots of diagrams and drafts so we could see the different constructions.

It’s 5:45 now. The bells are ringing again and they did at 5:15, too. Lovely, lovely. I am pretty tired so it is a treat to relax in my room and hear the bells and the singing is still going on.

Off by myself tomorrow for the CinqueTerra area to relax.
Going home on the 28th.