Essay - Ganutell

Introduction

Human beings have always been seeking alternative ways to recreate and preserve nature’s ways. In Malta, the use non-organic materials to recreate flowers for decorative purposes became a craft known as Ganutell. This kind of work can be traced down to hundreds of years ago, scattered all over Europe. Back then, it was known as Klosterbieten, meaning ‘monastery’ as friars and nuns used to craft Ganutell as a means of living (Kerr, 2012, p. 3).

Figure 1: Ganutell flowers with St. Tereża, 

crafted by Ms Tessie Borg (original source)

What is ganutell?

The word ganutell is derived from the italian term canutiglia, meaning “thin tread”. Old works of ganutell generally leans strongly towards religous themes, as ganutell was crafted by groups of nuns in monasteries,  mostly to decorate their churches. In those days, the most beautiful ornaments consisted of bouquets of flowers, which were used to decorate the hallways, sitting rooms and the altars of churches. The flowers were not crafted of silk or plastic; these wonderful creations were made of very fine threads spun together with the thinnest of gold or silver wires. They were then detailed with tiny fragments of glass, seed pearls, sequins or any tiny bead the nuns could find (Ganutell.com, 2017).

Figure 2: Arrangement on an altar,

 Ħal Balzan (original source)

Why did ganutell die out?

After the Second World War, popularity of ganutell diminished greatly for a many reasons. the Maltese populace still faced the harsh aftermaths of the war. Survival became the forefront priority, as people had to start rebuilding what was destroyed by bombs. The destruction brought along with it loss of labour and infrastructure, which meant that there wasn’t any materials in production to craft ganutell. The catastrophy of war not only dispelled all the ornamental initiatives, but altered the entire lifestyle with new post-war materials and concepts (Lanfranco, 34). In fact, nuns who crafted ganutell in monasteries were forced to switch to other more common materials. These flowers were crafted from lama fabric instead of thread – hence, they were called fjuri tal-lama. However, after many years, ganutell gained a lot of popularity and by the 20th Century, spread across the maltese islands (Kerr. 2012, p. 141).

By 1931, the census of population registered the craft as the full-time profession of of five men and ten women in Malta, while only one man in Gozo. However this does not exclude that there were numerous others scattered in small villages producing artificial flowers as a pastime.

Elements and Principles of Art and Design, implied with ganutell

Scale, balance and proportion are equally important in the craft of ganutell. Scale regards to the relative sizes of the flowers and also the relationship between the arrangement itself and the area that it decorates. Proportion is the size relationship between portions of the arrangement. Visual weight has a lot of significance with the height of the arrangement. The lighter the material is, the larger in ratio the arrangment must be. Balance has the greatest importance in church flower arrangements, since the finished design is static and must be firmly fixed. Symmetrical balance comes into hand, as it is subtle, dignified and solid.

Figure 3: Front and Back view of an arrangement

Tools

The tools that are used in the making of ganutell, are various. The spindle, known as “il-magħżel” in Maltese, is used to entwine the thread and the wire into a single entity. Boullion is a kind of corrugated wire that is crafted with the tower (torri). Pliers and cutters are used to cut wires of various thickness as well as calipers for measurements.

Figure 4: Pliers, Cutters and Wire

Figure 5: It-Torri

Figure 6: Il-Magħżel

Materials

Rayon floss is a kind of strand which constitutes of six cotton strands intertwined together and is considered to be the best thread for ganutell work. Varoius kinds of wire are used, starting from 0.1 mm in thickness, up to 0.8 mm. Every kind of thickness has its particular utility. The best kinds of wire have a copper core, which makes it softer and easier to twist and manipulate to the desired shape. Boullion is another special kind of coiled wire, which is used on stamens and the edges of flower petals. Beads are also an important part of ganutell, found in many different shapes and sizes and color.Seed beads, rice beads, tear drop beads, pearls and filigree pearls are some of the few accessories that are crafted into arrangements by artists. Floral tape is used to bind the petals together into a flower.

Figure 7: Wires, Tessie Borg (original source)

Methods

To prepare the thread, the skein of the desired colour is first uncoiled into six loose strands and then tied together at the tail end. A pair of the threads is then hooked to the spindle (il-magħżel) with a wire (0.2 mm, either gold, silver or coloured). The spindle is then spun for a few times until the thread and the wire are evenly entwined together.

One can then proceed to create the petal or leaf. First a wire is cut to the desired length by pliers an then five rounds of thread are coiled around the middle. After that, the thread is taken from top to bottom of the coil, increasing the size of the petal. The work is finished by turning two rounds at the base and snipping of the thread by scissors. That’s how a basic petal is done.

Figure 8: Petal Process, Tessie Borg 

Colour

Colours, when used properly, can guide the viewer’s eyes to what’s important. Saturation and value are two elements of colour which can be both very useful or extremelly distracting. Saturation can be described as the intensity or purity of the subject colour, which is also the culprit to ugly colour work. Value on the other hand, is how bright or dark is the given colour. Saturation and value can create enough shades to create a piece of work from just one colour.

Colour harmonies are extremely important for any piece of work, be it a painting, sculpture, or crafts. The simplest explanation is that some colours look better together than others. Monochromatic colour is the simplest one, composed of only one colour, controled by saturation and value. Analogous colours are colours which are adjacent to each other on the colour wheel. They are easy on the eyes, creating a paceful and comfortable mood. Triadic colours equally distant to each other, creating a playfull mood. Complementary colours are opposite of each other, generally pleasing to the eye and have been used extensively throughout history in general. However, they shouldn’t be used equally. Split complementary takes one end of the complementary colours and splits it into two other colours. This harmony allows for more creative freedom. Tetratic colours are two pairs of opposing each other, which are best used for background and forground elements. This colour harmony is difficult to pull off, but has very pleasing results. (Blender Guru, 2014)

Figure 10: A variety of colours

available for threads, Tessie Borg

Ganutell in the 19th Century

Ganutell works have been featured on multiple occasions along Malta’s history. In 1835, the nuns of St. Catherine of Valetta were commisssioned to make artificial flowers for the Mqabba titular statue, for which they were paid ten scudi.In Victorian times, the industrial revolution, with new machinery and production methods made it possible for the emerging middle class to obtain, at moderate prices, essential and decorative objects for the home when formerly everything had to be commissioned from specialised craftsmen at prices within reach only of the rich (Lanfranco, 34).

Personal experience

Ganutell is a craft which takes a lot of patience and practice before one can even learn the proper art of making it. I remember creating a ganutell petal a few years back, and I can assure you that its very painstaking work (for a complete beginner) and sometimes even tedious. People do not really noticed the ammount of dedication and time that goes into making just a single flower, let alone an entire arrangement, which is very unfortunate. If we aren’t careful enough, this craft might die out agian. 

References

Blender Guru, (2014). Understanding Color. [video online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1FK8n7WgY [Accessed 14 Jan. 2017].

Borg, T, Ganutell; no date. personal Notes. Vocational Educational Training, Level 1

Camilleri, R, no date. personal notes. Untitled.

Ganutell.com. (2017). Ganutell - a beautiful Maltese handcraft. [online] Available at: http://www.ganutell.com/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2017].

Kerr, M. 2012. Il-Ganutell. Malta: PIN.

Lanfranco, G. "Decorative Flowers Through The Ages". Treasures of Malta 7.1 (2000): 31-35. Print.