Damask

[Rafael Nowning]

Damaskˈdməsk/; Arabic: دمشق) is a woven, reversible patterned fabric. Damasks are woven by periodically reversing the action of the warp and weft threads.[1] The pattern is most commonly created with a warp-faced satin weave and the ground with a weft-faced or sateen weave.[2] Fabrics used to create damasks include silk, wool, linen, cotton, and synthetic fibers, but damask is best shown in cotton and linen.[1] Over time, damask has become a broader term for woven fabrics with a reversible pattern, not just silks.[3]

There are a few types of damask: true, single, compound, and twill. True damask is made entirely of silk.[3] Single damask has only one set of warps and wefts and thus is made of up to two colors. Compound damask has more than one set of warps and wefts and can include more than two colors.[3] Twill damasks include a twill-woven ground or pattern.[4]

The word damask first appeared in a Western European language in mid-14th century French records.[9] Shortly after its appearance in French language, damasks were being woven on draw looms in Italy. From the 14th to 16th century, most damasks were woven in one colour with a glossy warp-faced satin pattern against a duller ground. Two-colour damasks had contrasting colour warps and wefts and polychrome damasks added gold and other metallic threads or additional colours as supplemental brocading wefts. Medieval damasks were usually woven in silk, but weavers also produced wool and linen damasks.[10]

In daily nomadic life this form of weaving was generally employed by women, specifically in occupations such as carpet-making.[11] Women collected raw material from pasture animals and dyes from local flora, such as berries, insects, or grasses, to use in production.[11] Each woman would create a specialized pattern sequence and color scheme that aligned with her personal identity and ethnic group.[11] These techniques were passed down generationally from mother to daughter.[11]

You might be forgiven these days if you think of damask as a type of pattern, featuring elaborately scrolled motifs arranged in a lozenged grid. And certainly, those designs are quite common amongst true damasks. However, real damask is actually a type of fabric which uses a variety of weaving techniques (most commonly satin and twill variants) to create areas of different sheen in the cloth. Because the different textures reflect light differently, the patterns show as variations in tone, and sometimes the weave is given even further emphasis by using different colours in the warp and weft. The fact that the pattern is woven into the cloth means that the fabric is always reversible (other fabrics that use multiple colours and are not reversible are called brocades).

The Jacquard loom was invented in 1801, and it changed EVERYTHING. Its system of card-controlled weaving meant that damasks were no longer reliant on the painstaking process of complex hand-weaving, but could be produced more quickly and more cheaply than ever before; and so damasks increasingly made their way into the middle classes during the 19th century and beyond.

Damask originated in China around 300 B.C., but developed into a major weaving technique during the early Middle Ages. The production of damask in the Middle Ages centered around Byzantine and the Middle East. The fabric takes its name from the city of Damascus, which was an active trading port on the silk road.

At Pattern Observer we strive to help you grow your textile design business through our informative articles, interviews, tutorials, workshops and our private design community, The Textile Design Lab. Learn more here.

At Pattern Observer we strive to help you grow your textile design business through our informative articles, interviews, tutorials, workshops and our private design community, The Textile Design Lab.

A new lease of life for the traditional damask with Renaissance motif. Thanks to the presence of woolyarn, the motif stands out with greater impact against the ground, an effect that is further enhanced by a special finishing process. The contrast of the bulkier more opaque wool yarn with that of fine luminous silk creates an interplay of light on the monochromatic surface and gives Pure Damask its soft hand.

The classical damask motif makes a comeback in this contrast of glossy and matt yarns, which create a sophisticated play of light on the self-coloured surface and give Pure Damask FR its soft hand-feel.

With a long history dating back to 300 B.C., damask weaving is one of the most elegant techniques used for fabrics and wallpapers. Based on a characteristic nature-inspired symmetrical design, this Type II wallcovering gets its edgy vibe from printing a distressed interpretation on our coordinating Watercolor Canvas. Most of the neutral backgrounds have metallic highlights reflecting the luxurious style of damask fabrics.

While silk remained the most popular damask material throughout the Renaissance and Enlightenment, weavers still experimented with woolen and cotton damasks as well. In Western Europe, the silkworms of Asia were very far away, so silk damasks became something of a luxury item reserved for nobility.

Damask and brocade are woven differently even though they are used for some of the same purposes. Brocade consists of multiple thread colors all woven together into a pattern, and damask usually consists of a single thread color.

Traditionally, it has been very difficult to weave damask fabric. With only conventional looms available, a single damask tapestry, for instance, could take weeks to weave. The invention of the Jacquard loom made things easy, and now that these mechanical looms can be computer-programmed, the damask weaving process looks nothing like it once did.

Modern damask weaving follows the same basic principles as the traditional manufacture of this textile, but instead of human hands, robotic arms are now doing the dirty work. The computerized Jacquard loom automated away the jobs of thousands of weavers, but it gave all of us access to the beauty of damask fabric that had once been only accessible to the elite.

Scarves, handbags, and luggage are all common accessory applications of damask. In accessories that are worn close to the skin, soft fibers like silk are used, but synthetic fibers are commonly used for luggage and other heavy-duty damask items you might need throughout the day.

Since damask is a fabric pattern rather than a fiber, its only direct impact on the environment occurs during the final weaving process. On its way there, however, a finished damask garment goes through a variety of stages. At each of these stages, the choices that manufacturers make determine how damask manufacture affects the environment.

While it can be reduced, there is no way to fully eliminate the damage that synthetic fiber production wreaks on the environment. At the time when petrochemicals were first harnessed for fiber production, nobody could have known just how wrong things would go. These days, however, we have mountains of plastic in the oceans, and amidst the outcry over climate change, no one seems to spare a thought for the ongoing pollution crisis.

Once yarn suitable for damask production has been acquired, the choices that manufacturers make can drastically alter the way that damask affects the environment. The use of toxic dyes, flame retardants, and other post-production treatments, for instance, can poison nearby soil, waterways, and lungs.

GRS provides certification to companies that use recycled materials in their products. In the textile industry, GRS certification mainly pertains to synthetic fibers, but wool and the cellulose in cotton can also be recycled.

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Introduction: Pain and anxiety are a major problem of burn patients. Despite the use of different medications, patients still suffer from these two problems. Aromatherapy along with medication may help in alleviating these symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the effect of inhalation aromatherapy with damask rose essence on pain and anxiety in burn patients.

Methods: This three group clinical trial was conducted on 120 patients with burns less than 30% TBSA. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups, aromatherapy damask rose essence, placebo, and control. The pain intensity was assessed using visual analogue scale prior to intervention, immediately before, and 15 min after dressing. Anxiety was measured using Spielberger Inventory at before intervention and 15 min after dressing, also the prolonged effect of intervention on pain was assessed by number of the analgesics drugs received for four hours after dressing change. The intervention included inhalation of 6 drops of 40% damask rose essential oil in the damask group, and six drops of distilled water in placebo group one hour before dressing change. The control group received no intervention.

Results: Baseline state-trait anxiety and pain intensity were similar in these three groups (p > 0.05). We found a significant reduction in pain intensity immediately before and after dressing and state anxiety after dressing in the damask group compared to the placebo and control groups (p 0.05). Also, we found no significant difference among three groups in frequency of analgesics drugs and trait anxiety after intervention (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Inhaled aromatherapy with Damask rose essence reduces subjective pain intensity and state anxiety in burned patients. Therefore, it is recommended considering use of damask rose essence, as an easy and affordable method along with other treatments.

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