String type

Stringart (English thread art ) is a collective term for an image design technique in the visual arts . By stringing different types of yarns together and fixing them on a solid surface, yarn patterns are created.

The term “Stringart” was coined in the early 1990s by the Swiss textile artist Ursula Stirnimann.

Geographically, Stringart images are fundamentally differentiated between the Far East ( China ), the American continent and Europe. While silk threads are mainly processed into miniatures in China, the Huichol Indians in Mexico , for example, use relatively coarse and strong cotton threads. In Europe, however, artificial, silk and mercerized cotton yarns are used. Stringart pictures are often very colorful and expressive.

Technique: Artificial, silk or cotton yarns are glued to a surface, usually a wooden panel. While the Huichol Indians use specially prepared tree resins, in Europe modern industrial adhesives are used more as bonding agents. The yarn threads are laid and fixed individually by hand on the appropriately prepared wooden panels.

The origin of the thread patterns is not exactly known. On the one hand, it is claimed that China is the starting point; on the other hand, it is assumed that missionaries once introduced this technique in Mexico.

literature

• The wool pictures of Huichol , by Dirk Hassler, ISBN (e-book): 978-3-640-08182-0.