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A Fluffy Fairy Tale from Orenburg
A ring, a goose egg and a Cossack sabre: how craftswomen tested the quality of the Orenburg gossamer shawl and why Parisian women fell in love with it.
What tools does an Orenburg craftswoman need to create a fluffy miracle – a lovely stole, shawl or openwork kerchief? Needles, some will say. A crochet hook and a needle, others will suggest. And only seasoned connoisseurs will add: also a Cossack sabre, a goose egg and a ring. Why? To check the quality of an item knitted from the finest down.
The ring test
Many people know that a genuine shawl, made in the tradition of the Ural craftswomen, must pass through a ring worn on the middle finger. And if a lace gossamer shawl slips through a ring from the ring finger, that is the knitter's highest mastery.
The goose egg test
Perhaps not everyone knows about the goose egg test. The sabre was exactly what helped turn this prosaic object into a reference mould. A raw egg was cut in half with the thinnest blade, the contents poured out, the shells washed and dried, and then coated with clay or plaster. The unwritten standard required the gossamer shawl to fit entirely into such a mould. If the item could be completely hidden in the egg, it meant the goat down for the yarn was of excellent quality and the knitter was truly skilled.
How the gossamer shawl conquered Paris
Knowing how strictly the craftswomen monitored quality, it is easy to understand why in the middle of the century before last the Orenburg down marvel conquered Parisian fashionistas. After an international exhibition where Russian shawls were presented in all their variety, French beauties stopped dreaming of jewellery and coquettish hats. They wanted a lovely gossamer shawl – an exquisite and versatile accessory that would adorn both a fur coat and a dress.
Gallant Frenchmen, used to pleasing ladies, grew nervous: the Orenburg down shawl was by no means cheap. They even tried to breed the famous Ural goats at home, but nothing came of it – the climate was wrong, and the structure of the animals' wool changed. This is how Russian nature itself protects the Orenburg shawl in Orenburg: the lace fairy tale can still only be woven in the Southern Urals.
