Manufacturing and decorative techniques
Accustomed as we are today to wearing industrial, mass produced clothing, it is difficult, when we look at a traditional costume, to appreciate the toil and time invested in its creation by women sitting at home at the loom, and expert craftsmen in their workshops. The following section is devoted to a detailed description of the work involved at every stage, from the processing of the raw materials, to sewing, embroidering and decorating, all of which were done by human hands.
Weaving fabrics
Cyprus has a long tradition of weaving, which flourished during the Frankish and Venetian periods (1492-1571), when in Nicosia and Famagusta were imported commercial and craft-industrial centres, at which there were dyers’ workshops. Alongside silks and camlets, gold-embroidered cloth (drap d’or de Chypre) was manufactured from the famous local gold thread and exported.
Despite the adverse condition prevailing under Ottoman domination, Cyprus was an important trade centre and exported various types of fabrics, which are described by the foreign travellers as local products. The art of weaving was practiced mainly at the level of a cottage industry until the early decades of the 20th Century.
The development of weaving in Cyprus was due mainly to the abundance of the appropriate raw materials on the island: wool from the numerous sheep and goats, linen, cotton and silk. Linen has been known on the island since prehistoric times and, like cotton, continued to be grown until the middle of the 20th century. Cotton began the cultivated at the beginning of the 16th century and formed one of the main agricultural products and a basic export of the island. A significant role in exports was played by silk, which was known in Cyprus from the Byzantine period.
These raw materials were not uniformly distributed over the island and the variations in quantity, quality and even colour tones, are reflected in the local textiles of the different regions. The silk of Paphos, for example had a gold shade, while that of Famagusta and Karpasia was white. Solia was famous for its cotton and Morphou for its linen.
The processing of the raw materials for weaving and the preparation of the yarn for use on the loom, were carried out mainly by women. Only the manufacture of silk was not an exclusively female domain, and there were many men silk-workers. The silk-workers, or metaxades toured the villages, set up their cauldrons and doulappia, and made silk from the cocoons that they boiled in water, skilfully passing the thread from the rings and bobbins and winding it on doulappia, after which they made loops of it. Cocoons in which holes had been bored by butterflies were spun by women, who used them to make koukkoullarika fabrics.
The most common type of loom was, and continues until recent times to be, the arkastirin, a horizontal movable loom.
Referring to the then “flourishing cottage industry in weaving”, G.S. Frangoudis stresses that “in the villages, every young woman has her loom and weaves all the fabrics for the family, and it is for this reason that almost all the peasant costumes and household essentials are made of local textiles”. In Nicosia, too, according to Frangoudis, virtually every house had a loom in the courtyard, at which women, both married and unmarried, rich and poor, worked night and day.
Despite all this, there was not a single textile factory on the island at the end of the 19th century. The first shop selling local fabrics, was not opened until 1899, by the young -21 years old- Kostas Christodoulou. As G.S. Frangoudis tells us, Christodoulou had the finest looms brought from Athens in order to found the first textile factory making cotton fabrics.
The variety of Cypriot costumes us due not simply to their decoration, but to a great extent to the fabric, which is invariably handmade. The weaving process itself gives rise to countless patterns in the weave, and colour designs created by the interweaving of different shades in the warp and weft. The fabric itself forms a basis for identifying local variations of costume. Even in garments were no colour is used, such as silk chemises, in which the silk is used in its natural shades, the combination of different materials, differences in weave or thickness of the same material depending on the workmanship, in the density of the weaving, or even in the pattern of monochrome fabrics, all give rise to patters of light and shade and different varieties perceptible both to the eye and to the touch. The famous gathered (sourota) striped fabircs called taista, are characteristic in this respect. Dimity is another example of a monochrome fabric that owes its beautiful appearance to the patterns in the weave, which imitate a herring-bone pattern.
Local fabrics were sold at church festivals held on the name-day of the patron saint or at market in the urban centres and also at the gynaikopazaro (women’s bazaar) held every Friday in Nicosia so that women could sell their handicrafts.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Dyeing
The threads and fabrics used in weaving were dyed by the professional dyers, poyiazatzides, who used various, mainly natural, pigments, such as imported indigo (Joulaki in modern Greek) for blue and local madder (erythrodanon, Rubia tinctorum) for red. Cypriot madder was exported in large quantities in earlier times, though production of it began to decline at the beginning at the 1860s, when it was replaced by the chemical dye alizarine.
Blue and red are two colours found in the earlier textiles. At the same time, a series of vegetable dyes were used by the weavers themselves to create the variety of colours and shades attested in the preserved examples of textiles and costumes.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Dyeing of vrakes
Vrakes were taken to be dyed in their finished form, sewn together in the natural colour of the fabric. They were first placed on cold water for a short tome to make the “swell up”, after which they were beaten with a wooden mallet called faouta. Next, they were dipped -while wet- in a tepid solution of indigo, to which soda was added, and also a little lime to lighten the colour. The vrakes were dipped four or five times in this solution. This gave the garment a blue colour. They were then taken out and stretched out in the sun to dry, after which they were boiled for two or three hours in a cauldron (chartzin) containing water, pomegranate skins and leaves of roudin (taarin), in which the vrakes were left for about 12 hours, from night to morning. Eight, ten or even twelve vrakes might be dyed together, depending on the workload. In the morning they were taken out and hung in the sun to dry. Next iron sulphide (kalangathin) was dissolved in water, and the vrakes were again left in the solution from evening until morning, after which they acquired a dark grey colour. They were then dried and placed once more in a decoction of pomegranate skins, followed by iron sulphide. The process was repeated three times, after which the vrakes came out black. They were then washed in clean water with a little alim, to fix the colour and dried. Urban vrakes were pleated, while they were still wet. To give them shape and make them stand upright, they were stretched on parallel sticks of bamboo canes to keep the shape upright, they were stretched on parallel sticks of bamboo canes to keep the shame and hung to dry. After this they were wound around with the phytill, the white strip cloth that kept them in shape and preserved the pleats.
The starching and ironing of the vraka by using a glass cylinder, a method which was practised in many parts of Greece such as Thrace, Lesbos and Skyros, might once have been known in Cyprus but it has not survived. Here, at least in the first half of the 20th Century, but it has not survived. Here, at least in the first half of the 20th century, ground rice, or nisiasto was used to starch vrakes. The rice was boiled and trained, and the resulting liquid was diluted with hot water.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Printed fabrics
The technique of printing, which is closely associated with dyeing, was used not only for bedspreads or cushion covers, but also for the headdresses that formed part of the traditional costumes worn by both sexes. On the 18th and 19th centuries, Cyprus was an important centre of the manufacture of printed fabrics, which were famous for their fast, brilliant colours. The technique of printing using engraved moulds was practised exclusively by men called pasmatzides. The same technique continued to be used into modern times by mantilarides to decorate printed kerchiefs. The surviving kerchiefs are decorated with elaborate compositions of flowers in a variety of delicate patters, dark and light shades and colour tones. Printed kerchiefs replaced ones embroidered with gold, silver and silk thread, which call to mind the designs of the earlier tsevredes (fabrics embroidered with gold and silk thread).
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Embroidery
Embroidery was extensively used in costume decoration and gave the garments colour, charm and a strong local character. The kind of embroidery and the motifs used allow us to distinguish local variations.
Two kinds of embroidery are used in the decoration of Cypriot costumes: loom-embroidery and hand-embroidery. In the case of the former, the weaver sits at the loom and uses her fingers to count the threads that will form the patters as the passes them through the warp. The colourful loom-embroidered fabrics found characteristically in the Paphos area are called phythkiotika, after the village of Phyti in this region. The most complex loom-embroidered design is called karpasitiko; it is often used to adorn the hems of the podinaria of the pantaloons typical of the costume of Karpasia and Paphos.
The earlier povratzia usually have dense needle-woven designs, covering the entire surface of the fabric and giving the impression of a carpet. They are accordingly called pefkota. In the Karpasia region is to be found a kind of embroidery in which rough silk threads and even thin wire called ttelin, are used along with the white cotton.
Another kind of embroidery that used to be made only at Karpasia is the white embroidery with coloured beads known as petrou(d)es. These were delicate glass beads in green, red, black and blue (ammatopetres) which were string on a twisted thread that was then interlaced between the yarn on the loom, each bead being fixed by hand in the position required for the pattern. This technique was used to decorate both household linen, and certain items of the costume, particularly that sayia of this region, and also zibounia, the hems od the vrakia, and the even the men’s caps.
Hand-embroidery was usually white embroidery with drawn thread work (asproploumin) or used a cross-stich with coloured threads.
A variety of attachments was also sewn to the costume for adornment: seritia, gaitania, garlands and bordoures. One kind of decoration found with the festive Karpasiot sayia was the tsiophas me tellourka, which was made with cotton or twisted metal thread and pieces of felt.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Pipilla
The costumes were adorned with handmade lace, especially the delicate needlework lace called papilla. This was normally used with chemises or the borders of kerchiefs. In the Cypriot Exhibition of 1901, as G.S. Frangoudis notes, “the very fine silk lace (papilla) triumphed,” and was considered to be “the crown of the woman’s work”. He refers specifically to “a trachilia with needlework flowers, seeming almost to be painted, covering the fine silk garments”. He presumably refers to the delicate lacework collars with floras patters that were made in the urban centres, particularly Nicosia and Larnaca, examples of which have survived to the present day.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Silver and gold-work
Silver and gold-work has a long tradition in Cyprus and was still flourishing during the 19th Century, especially in Nicosia. The work shops in this city were in the street of the goldsmiths, which used to lead to the church of Ayia Sophia, now in the Turkish-occupied part of the city.
Jewellery was made and decorated by a variety of techniques, engraved, repoussé, open-work, filigree, cast, and cast open-work, known in the Cypriot dialect as charakti, ploumisti, xiyiristi, triphourenia and chyti respectively.
A variety of tools were used in the engraving technique. In the case of repoussé, the piece of metal was placed on a layer pitch and the design carved on the main side was hammered while the metal was still soft. Open-work designs were achieved by cutting away the sections between the pattern with a saw called a sigatsaki.
The filigree, or triphourenia technique, was a more complicated procedure. The silver used had to be pure and malleable, to that it could be made into wire. The craftsman used a syrtis, which was a sheet of metal with holes of varying sizes, through which the pure silver was drawn, creating wired of different thickness. The basic skeleton of the jewellery was made of thick wire and the decoration added with finer twisted wire.
Cat jewellery, such as finger-rings, crosses etc., and also metal objects like spoons, were made by casting the molten metal in the staffa, a bronze mould full of a special earth, in which the design had worked in reverse.
Enamel, set in wire (cloisonné enamel) was made from crush coloured glass which was melted by the flame of a lamp; the surface was smoothed with sand-paper.
In most items of jewellery, such as buckles and clasps, we find a bination of techniques, and either appliqué decoration or stones in special settings.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Leather
Cyprus was also well-known for the processing and dyeing of leather, which was carried out in Nicosia. According to the annual report for 1877 by the British Consul Watkins, tanning was at that time one of the main industries, with 1,500-2,000 bales of leather being processed in the gnafkeia of Nicosia and its environs. The craftsmen kept their methods a secret, and their leather as softer, had a brighter colour, and was better finished than that in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.
The traditional methods continued into the 20th Century in the many tanneries of the island, and the last one, in the village of Psimolophou only closed in 1984.
The finished leather was used by shoe-makers (skarparides) to make shoes of European style, and by boot-makers (tsangrides) for the Cypriot boots called podines.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Boots
Cypriot boots, or podines, which came up to the knee, were made of goatskin. Sheepskin was used for the lining (astarin) because it absorbed perspiration from the leg. The boots had soles over two centimeters thick. The edges of the sole were protected by thick, iron nails, komodromisima (made by a tradition blacksmith), known as ritzes. After the sole were nailed on, the uppers were secured in place by bending over the nails in a corkscrew pattern, a process known as tzinoma. A horseshoe shaped reinforcing strip was nailed to the thick heel.
The piece of leather were struck together with a glue made of narcissus bulbs. In former times, the “needle” used for sewing the podines was a hair taken from the neck of a pig and dipped in its blood to make it tougher. An eight-shaped stitch was used. The leather was then soaked and beaten with martello, a hammer with a rounded back, to shape and strengthen it. Wooden lasts, or zambes, were used for high boots. Podines could be worn on either foot, since there was no distinction between the right and left in manufacture; this was to prevent the heel from wearing in the same place. The “frankish boots”, or frankopodines, of European style worn with the best costume, however, did have the left foot distinguished from the right.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Traditional Costumes
Clothing was also women on the loom. Amongst the museum exhibits are representative examlpes of clothes worn at weddings on Sundays, as well as everyday traditional costumes (Room E) (Fig.58). The typical female costume in Pafos consists of: the sagia, a sleeved dress, open in front, made of local cotton stripped cloth (alatzia)(fig 5.9). Underneath was a white silk shirt that was decorated with papilla (lacework) and below the vraki (undergarment), made of cotton, that narrowed at the ankle and had woven decoration at the ends. The woven embroidery on the podinaria was restricted to the parts that were visible under the sagia. Around the waist was tied the mantili tis koxas, which had printed decoration and sometimes metal poulia (small decorative pendants) at the ends. While cotton undergarments were also worn in combination with the everyday woven striped dress of alatzia. Generally, the dresses the women in the countryside wore every day when they worked in the field were of dark colours in contrast to the silk wedding dresses. Village women used to wear a lot of jewellery with their bridal or Sunday costumes such as a cross, pendant earrings and silver splingka (a chain with florins and glass beads pinned across the chest) (Fig.65).
In the mid-19th century, the urban wealthy class of Cypriots began to wear the so-called Greek costume of “Amalia” (Fig 6.3) (the name of the Queen of Greece) complemented by a red fez with a tassel. Above the long dress or skirt was worn the sarka (short jacket with sleeves), made of velvet or felt and embroidered with golf or silver thread. The sarka was worn throughout Cyprus in various colours. With their good clothes, rural women also used to wear stamped mantilia (scarves) of fine material.
Stamped kouroukles (thin head scarves) or tsimperka were worn at work every day. The edges of the mantilia were decorated with lacework in various designs (Fig.64)
The main item of the traditional men’s costume was the pleated black vraka baggy breeches) that was worn with a wide zostra (sash), a woven shirt, the gelekki (waistcoat) and the zimpouni (with sleepves) and a black headband. The Museums has several examples of waistcoats, some that are for everyday use made of striped cloth (alatzia) in various colours and others for more formal locations made of velvet, finely stiches and with colourful embroiders around the edges and the openings (Fig 61,62). The latter garments (common throughout Cyprus) were sewn by professional tailors in Nicosia.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Silk- making
Silk was one of the most important products of Cyprus and was exported to several European countries as well as Egypt and Turkey. The production of silk was greatest in the Pafos District where there were many mulberry trees for the breeding of silkworms. The silk of Pafos had a golden colour and was known for its durability. In Geroskipou, one of the places in the Pafos District that produced silk, an English company had set up a silk factory in 1926. The equipment used for the making of silk is permanently kept in the shed of the inner courtyard, The equipment includes: the anapinististiri (a shallow copper basin), which was placed upon the nistia (hearth) and turning doulappi (silk spinning-wheel) (Fig.67). In the right season, the silk makers would tour the silk production centres, temporarily set up cauldrons and doulappia and begin the process of extracting the silk threads from the cocoons that were brought to them (Fig.66) and winding them into large yellow skeins (Fig.68). The silk-maker would pour the cocoons into boiling water in the basin and, stirring them with a special stick, he would pass through hooks and karoulia (reels) and be wound onto the doulappi. The art of the silk-maker was to produce silk of a uniform thickness depending on the wishes of the client. Depending on the thickness of the thread, there were three types of silk: thick, medium and fine, and it was with the latter that a large variety of cloths, were woven. Only the whole cocoons were placed in the anapinistiri (i.e. those where the moth was still in the cocoon and this had not cut the thread). The cocoons with holes were boiled and then spun onto the distaff- it was with these spun cocoons that the koukkoularika cloths were made.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Stampota
stampota (printed cloth, turk. basma) - stampota mantilia (block printed scarves): calico printing, the manufacture of printed cotton used for quilts, cushions and other domestic items, was one of the main crafts which flourished in Cyprus, and mainly in Nicosia, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Travelers to Cyprus, e.g. Mariti, Sonnini, Clarke et. al. were impressed by the colour-fast Cypriot printed fabrics, which did not fade and became even brighter through washing. The Archduke of Austria Louis Salvator, gives detailed information on the technique of calico printing in Nicosia, in the account of his visit to the island in 1873: “A very considerable industry of Levkosia is the dyeing of white English cotton, imported via Beyruth, being dyed and printed here. This is done in the following manner. The dyed stuff is wetted and laid on thick woolen felt. The workman has a colour-box covered with cloth, to prevent the pattern from taking in too much dye. The patterns [stamps?], which are made here, are of hard, generally walnut, wood. This pattern is placed gently on the proper place, and the workman beats on the top of it with a small round cushion fitting into the palm of his hand. In this way the stuff is printed, first on one side, then on the other. If the design is made of several colours, a piece of cardboard is laid over the first print. This kind of work is necessarily incorrect and rude. After washing the calico, it is hung up for drying, either in front of the shop in the Bazaar itself, or on the city walls, especially about the gate of Paphos, which is the nearest to the factories. A portion of these fabrics is consumed at Levkosia for wadded Turkish blankets with red lining turned over at the edges.” (Salvator (1873) 1983, 67). Apart from their local use, printed fabrics were exported to Greece and all over the East. The technique of calico printing was restricted in recent times to scarves; they were made of thin cotton cloth (kouroukla) on which several designs were stamped, usually variations of branches and flowers. Calico printing was practiced by local craftsmen as well as by Armenians who came to Cyprus after 1895. Scarves were manufactured in Nicosia in the workshop of the Kakoullis Brothers, the last calico printers of Cyprus, who continued their family tradition until the death of Nikos Kakoullis in 2004. They used a simplified technique to print and dye the scarves, as follows: first they printed the outline of the pattern in black colour (kara- kalemi); then, using special wooden stamps with plain surface in the shape and size of the design, they covered the decorated surface with gum, so that it remained untouched during the following dyeing of the background of the scarf with black (zeminin, turk. zemin = ground, background). Using a piece of felt (turk. keçe), they spread the black dye over the whole surface of the scarf, with the exception of the gum-covered designs. Then, the scarves were left to dry; after washing them with clean water, they threw them in a cauldron with boiling water and red dye. This step was followed by another washing and drying of the scarves; then, they completed the design by printing the red and yellow patterns, using different stamps with the appropriate motifs carved on each of them. When printing was completed, scarves were once more washed and dried, and then they were handed over to women, who decorated their edges, all round, with handmade needle lace (pipilla). The above mentioned procedure was more complicated when they dyed the background twice (second zeminin). Scarves could be made in different colours, like terracotta (tzeramidin, the colour of ceramic roof tiles), xydin (the colour of vinegar), brown and green. Green scarves were worn by young girls and were the first to disappear with the adoption of European dress. In earlier times, the dyes were prepared by the craftsmen, using plant and mineral substances. The recipes were kept secret. Later, imported dyes could be bought in the local market. The finished scarves were folded, wrapped in paper in a special way, and placed one on top of the other. The pile was then pressed, using a hand-operated press. Scarves were sold in shops in the bazaars, but also in religious fairs, which took place in different places throughout the year. They were worn as headscarves or as shawls around the waist (mantilia tis koxas), complementing traditional costumes (see more details in Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1997, 33-43. Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 2010, 110-111). Printed scarves were also worn by men, as seen in old photographs, e.g. in photos taken by John Thomson in the autumn of 1878 (Thomson 1985, passim).
Bibliography:
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E. 1997: «Τα σταμπωτά της Κύπρου από το 18ο έως τον 20ο αιώνα» [Block-printed scarves of Cyprus from the 18th to the 20th century], in: Τα Ελληνικά Σταμπωτά 18ος-20ός Αιώνας [Greek Printed Textiles, 18th-20th Century], Athens: Folklore and Historical Museum of Larisa, 33-43.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E. 2010: Η Κυπριακή Εθνογραφική Συλλογή του Μουσείου Μπενάκη [The Cypriot Ethnographic Collection of the Benaki Museum], Athens: Benaki Museum.
Thomson, J, 1985: Through Cyprus with the Camera, in the Autumn of 1878, London: Trigraph.
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Kilaniotika scarves
Kilaniotika scarves: A special technique, that of tie and dye, was used till about the third quarter of the 20th century, in the village of Kilani (Limassol district) to make the famous women’s scarves called Kilaniotika. They were made of locally woven silk dimity (textile woven with four heddles) and tie-dyed with plant colorants. The technique applied was as follows: first they immersed the cloth in alum solution, in order to whiten it, and cut it in pieces 70X70 cm. Then, using saliva, they made on the piece of cloth the sign of the cross, which was the main motif, thus dividing the whole surface in four squares, and, using a continuous red thread, they marked with a running stitch the outline of the pattern. The next stage was to tie small parts of the cloth, making knots which would remain white, during the dyeing of the scarf in golden/yellow colour. This was achieved by dipping the scarf in boiling water with pieces of the wild local plant Rhus cotinus. After the scarf was dry, they tied those knots which would remain yellow, and untied those which would become red during the next dyeing with kirmizi (turk. kırmız, kermes, cochineal – red dye) For the third stage of dyeing with blue colour, which would take place in dye-workshops in Nicosia or in the village of Pera Pedi, they tied larger knots and untied those which would become green, from the mixing of yellow with blue. The background became deep red like wine, from the mixture of yellow, red and blue. The scarves or shawls of Kilani were also called eftaloϊtika, because they had seven different colours.
The patterns were linear, made of small dots –a result of the tie and dye technique; the dots formed crosses, rozettes, lozenges and other motifs, in different combinations in each of the four squares of the scarf. The scarves of Kilani were also known beyond Cyprus, particularly in the island of Kastellorizo, where they formed part of the local best wear, the festive dress (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1997, 41-42).]
Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, E.
Gold & Silversmithing techniques
Hammering
Hammering was the primary technique applied for the production of sheet metal. Melted metal was first cast into the rectangular recession of an open-type metal mould, called choletra. After cooling down, the metal ingot was hammered on an anvil until it was turned into a flat, thin sheet. At intervals, the hammered metal was annealed for re-softening.
Sheet metal manufacture was only recently modernised with the introduction of rolling or 'flattening' mills. During rolling, the metal ingot repetitively passes between two adjustable iron or steel rollers, until acquiring its necessary thinness. Rolling mills were introduced in Cypriot workshops during the 20th century and rolling only came into prominence from the middle of the century onwards.
Hadjittofi, P.
Cutting and piercing
Sheet gold was usually cut with a piercing saw, or even with scissors, chisels or files, while bow drills were used to create holes. Pierced work for decorative purposes often resulted in a delicate, almost lacelike effect.
Hadjittofi, P.
Casting
Sand casting was frequently employed by Cypriot goldsmiths to replicate the exact shape of objects (jewellery, utensils etc.) or even components thereof (handles, mounts etc.). During this process, melted metal was poured into a two-part iron or bronze mould box, the staffa, which was filled with a mixture of fine, sand-like soil, carob syrup, water, and alum. After creating onto this mixture an impression of the model to be reproduced, artisans removed the model, and formed a metal gating channel extending between the pattern cavity and the opening at the upper part of the staffa. Both parts of the staffa were then heated over fired charcoals, in order to ensure that the melted metal would flow better inside the mould, and also to avoid porous surfaces. After casting, the metal was allowed to cool and then the cast object was removed from the staffa, receiving further enhancements through filing, polishing, or even chasing, engraving etc. For jewellery casting, cuttlebone was often used instead of a staffa.
Hadjittofi, P.
Wire work
For the production of wire, high purity gold or silver alloy was first cast into a bar using the choletra, an open-type metal mould also employed for the manufacture of rectangular metal ingots. The bar was then hammered, until it became thin enough to pass through the widest perforation of an iron or steel plate, the syrtis, bearing numerous holes of different sizes or even shapes. The wire was then drawn through a number of increasingly smaller holes, until it reached the desirable diameter. At earlier times, during wiredrawing goldsmiths would sit on the ground with their legs straight, place the syrtis against the soles of their feet, and pull the wire by leaning back, using pliers attached to a waist belt. Gradually, this technique became obsolete due to the introduction of the wooden drawing bench, the so-called alakatin, the lever-system of which resulted in the exercise of much greater force and thus allowed the easier production and processing of larger diameter wires. During the second half of the 20th century, Cypriot workshops became widely equipped with wire drawing mills.
In filigree objects, called trifourena, Cypriot artisans employed trifouri, a type of twisted, flattened wire, usually consisting of two extremely thin, closely braided metal threads. Flattened trifouri was characterised by its dotted profile.
Other types of decorated wires were also produced by stamping.
Hadjittofi, P.
Stamping
Die stamping is a technical process during which flat sheet metal acquires a certain three-dimensional form presented in relief or in intaglio on a steel stamp. Dies or other stamping tools employed by Cypriot goldsmiths had various forms and shapes. Stampa, a cubical die with differently-sized hemispheres in intaglio, was usually used in combination with haftziades, small punches with a corresponding spherical edge, for the production of spheres or decorative hemispheres. Sometimes, haftziades were also employed independently, in which case during stamping the metal sheet was laid over a soft, lead substrate. For jewellery making, goldsmiths produced tsiakmaes, namely dies of two corresponding parts, one with the pattern in relief, and the other in intaglio. An annealed metal sheet was placed and struck between them, thus taking the pattern’s shape. In some cases, a piece of lead replaced the second part of the die. Dies in the form of small anvils, bearing floral and other patterns in intaglio, were especially used for the production of decorated wires.
Hadjittofi, P.
Repoussé
Repoussé or embossing was a decoration technique usually applied in silverwork. During this process, a low-relied design was formed by hammering from the reverse side of an annealed sheet metal surface. In order to prevent cracking, the object was fixed on a suitable support, namely a layer of mixed pine pitch, oil, and gypsum, soil, or ash. The pitch mixture was heated until it was soft enough for the object to be properly placed and adhered to; then it was allowed to cool in order to become firm enough to hold the object in place, but at the same time soft enough to absorb deformations and thus offer a suitable substratum for hammering.
Hadjittofi, P.
Chasing
Chasing was a technique usually applied in conjunction with embossing. Once the main repoussé work was concluded, the object was released from the pitch layer by heating, and then it was turned over and placed again on top of a layer of melted pitch mixture, this time with its front side up. Once the pitch was hardened, the repoussé work was refined by chasing. A wide variety of sidera, namely small pencil-like metal tools with differently-shaped points, were used during chasing to sharpen shapes, add extra details, create textured areas etc. Often, instead of a hammer an old file, called mastrakkas, was employed to drive punches.
Hadjittofi, P.
Engraving
Engraving was employed on gold or silver artefacts to create decorative patterns or inscriptions by gouging lines of metal from the metal surface. Engraving tools, called kalemia, usually had wooden handles and differently-shaped points, and were hand-drawn on the metal surface while being held in an oblique position in relation to the metal surface. Engraving was considered a much demanding decoration technique and it is mentioned that only a few artisans were able to successfully deliver complex engraved decorative patterns.
Hadjittofi, P.
Granulation
Granulation was applied to form decorative spherical grains, that were consequently attached onto a metal object’s surface by soldering. In order to produce evenly-sized grains, artisans utilised similar jump rings, formed by wire coiled around a thin mandrel. When cut and fired until reaching their melting point, these rings warped into small spheres.
Hadjittofi, P.
Enamelling
Enamel was used on gold- and silverwares to enrich the decorative effect by creating a vitreous (glassy) coloured surface fused to the metal substrate. Cypriot goldsmiths of the recent past produced glass powder from crashed glass beads, bottles or even window glasses. This powder was usually inlaid into raised wire barriers soldered on the metal surface; then it was fired up to a certain temperature, so as to melt and evenly cover the whole “cell” area, before hardening to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. Alternatively, enamel was inlaid into recesses of the metal surface. The final processing of the enamel surface was done with sandpaper.
Hadjittofi, P.
Niello
Niello was a black-coloured mixture of silver, copper, lead and sulphur, used as an inlay on engraved metal, especially silver. Application technique was similar to the one of enamel: niello powder was added into engraved lines of the metal surface, and then it was heated until becoming fluid enough to evenly cover the incised channels. After hardening, niello was polished to a obtain a smooth surface, at the level of the metal surrounding it. The decorative effect was created by the contrasting colours of the black-coloured niello pattern and the gold or silver-coloured, polished metal.
Hadjittofi, P.
Fire gilding
Fire gilding was a process by which a thin gold coating was applied on a metal surface by means of an amalgam, namely an alloy of mercury and gold. For the preparation of the amalgam, goldsmiths would first cut a fine-quality, thin metal sheet into small pieces, they would heat it in a funnel and then they would add mercury keeping to a 16:2 proportion of mercury to gold. After heating, the amalgam was applied on a clean metal surface using a copper spoon and cotton, and then the object was heated over fired charcoals. Heat caused the mercury to vaporise, leaving behind a coating film of bright gold.
Hadjittofi, P.