Orenburg Downy Shawl Goat wool Down Russian Warm Openwork Pattern White approximately 47"x40". Vintage 1970s. Made in the Soviet Union, in a country t

Size Type

Regular

Size

47"x40"

Brand

vintage soviet Orenburg

Orenburg Downy Shawl Goat wool Down Russian Warm Openwork Pattern White approximately 47"x40". Vintage 1970s. Made in the Soviet Union, in a country that no longer exists. The Orenburg shawlis a Russian knitted lace textile using goat down and stands as one of the classic symbols of Russian handicraft. Because of the high cost of down hair and yarn, an original hand-made Orenburg shawl or kerchief is an expensive luxury item. Origins This type of finelyknit, down-hair lace shawl originated in the Orenburg area about 250 years ago, in the 18th century. The Orenburg region of Russia is famous for its shawls, known as Orenburg shawls/scarves/ "Orenburgskyi Platok" in Russian. In the English-speaking world, they are often called "wedding ring shawls" because, although the shawls are quite large, a shawl knit in the traditional fashion is so fine that it can be pulled through a wedding ring (see the last picture). Composition The shawls are made from a blend ofsilkand indigenous goat fiber, similar to cashmere or mohair. Harsh climate and the specific features of the area created perfect conditions for successful breeding of the Guberlinskoy breed that has a light, warm, soft, silky and long-fiber fluff. This particular type of wool is exclusively peculiar to this breed.The goats are brushed each spring to collect the fiber. Each goat gives off about a pound of fiber. The fiber is then hand spun using a supported spindle. It is then plied against a commercial silk thread. The silk helps hold the shape of the lace, preventing it from needing to beblockedas often as it would without the silk. Originally the shawls were made entirely of goat fiber, but this changed. This particular shawl made exclusively from the goat fiber, no silk added. By plying with one silk single and one goat, the price of the shawls decreased, because the labor required to produce a shawl decreased. The silk also increased the strength of the shawl. The shawl After the yarn has been spun and plied, the shawl is then knitted before washing the yarn. The yarn and fiber is not washed until the shawl has been knitted and is ready for blocking and sale. The shawls are knitted into a variety of geometric designs. The shawls are made in many shapes; rectangular, square and triangular. The size varies from a 5ft by 5ft square shawls to a headscarf-sized ones. Color varies depending on the coloring of the goats. Some shawls contain more than one color. Qualities The down hair of Orenburg goats is the thinnest in the world 16-18 micrometers, and that ofAngora goats(mohair) is 22-24 micrometers. Products made of Orenburg down hair are therefore especially soft and fine. The thinness of hair is partly due to the severe snowy winters of the Ural mountain steppes, along with particular qualities of feed and living conditions. The Orenburg goat breed can only be reared in the Orenburg Region. Despite being so fine, the fiber is very durable, more so than wool. The efforts of the French in the 19th century to import Orenburg goats were unsuccessful, as the warm climate of France was not suitable for the development of the fine down hair. Accordingly, Orenburg goats in France degenerated into ordinary goats with rough thick down hair. In the 18th 19th centuries France imported tens of thousands of poods() (an old Russian measure of weight equal to about 36 pounds) of Orenburg goat down hair, which was valued higher than cashmere. The Orenburg shawl became popular in Europe after an enterprise Imitation a la Orenburg organized by an English firm Lipner. 20th century In the 20th century, the wars and theIron Curtain of the Soviet Era cut short the epoch of the worldwide fame of Orenburgs handicraft. However, it did not mean the end of down-knitting handicraft in the region. One of the innovations introduced at that time was the combined use of down wool of both Orenburg and Volgograd goats. The local knitters realised the down of Volgograd goats was very good for knitting white shawls. Another achievement was the foundation of the Orenburg Downy Shawls Plant. Again, as in the 19th century, Orenburg shawls attracted attention, this time within the limits of the USSR. It was considered inappropriate to return from Orenburg without a downy shawl. Western Europe is still buying large quantities of Orenburg goat down hair. Variations The web like structure of the shawl endows the fabric with a special grace. Even though the shawl is large in size and weights 250-300 grams, it can be passed through a wedding ring and easily fits into a shell of a goose egg.There are several kinds of Orenburg shawls. 1) The first is the grey (seldom white) thick down hair shawls. These shawls started the tradition of Orenburg down-hair knitting. 2) The second is the quite dense kerchiefs and pautinkas. They are used for everyday wear and they give a similar warmth to shawls. Such pautinkas are knitted in the Orsk region. 3) The third kind of Orenburg shawls are very thin (c