Editing Tapestry (section)

==Production==
Tapestry is a type of [[weaving]].  Various designs of [[loom]]s can be used, including upright or "high-warp" looms, where the tapestry is stretched vertically in front of the weaver, or horizontal "low-warp" looms, which were usual in large medieval and Renaissance workshops, but later mostly used for smaller pieces. The weaver always works on the back of the piece, and is normally following a full-size drawn or painted [[cartoon]], or possibly another tapestry; depending on the set up, this reverses (is a mirror image of) the tapestry image.  The cartoon was generally created from a smaller [[modello]], which in "industrial" workshops from at least the late [[Middle Ages]] on was produced by a professional artist, who often had little or no further involvement in the process.  The cartoon was traced onto the warp lines by the weaver, and then placed where it could still be seen, sometimes through a mirror, when it hung behind the weaver.  With low-warp looms the cartoon was usually cut into strips and placed beneath the weaving, where the weaver could see it through the "web" of threads.<ref>Campbell (2007), xv–xviii; Campbell (2008); V&A</ref>  The [[Raphael Cartoons]], which are very rare examples of surviving cartoons, were cut in this way.

In European "industrial" tapestries the warp threads were normally wool, but in more artisanal settings, and older ones, [[linen]] was often used.  The weft threads were wool, with silk, silver or [[gold thread]] used in the most expensive tapestries.  Some famous designs, such as the [[Sistine Chapel tapestries]] and the ''[[The Story of Abraham (tapestries)|Story of Abraham]]'' set probably first made for King [[Henry VIII]], survive in versions with precious metals and other versions without.<ref>[https://www.rct.uk/collection/1046/the-story-of-abraham-series "The Story of Abraham Series 1540–43"], [[Royal Collection]] website</ref>  Using silk might increase the cost by four times, and adding gold thread increased the cost enormously, to perhaps fifty times that of wool alone.<ref>Campbell (2007), xviii</ref>

The weavers were usually male, as the work was physically demanding; [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]] the threads was usually a female preserve.  Apart from the design and materials, the quality of tapestries varies with the tightness of the weaving.  One modern measure of this is the number of warp threads per centimetre.  It is estimated that a single weaver could produce a square yard of medium quality tapestry in a month, but only half that of the finest quality.<ref>Campbell (2007), xviii; Campbell (2008); V&A</ref>