About the craft
How Long It Takes to Make Down Items
It is important to understand that goat down items differ greatly from one another in a huge number of factors, from the type of item to its size, the complexity of making it, the craftswoman's experience and many others. For this reason, the time spent making an item can vary greatly. What exactly is this value, and how is it calculated?
Making time is a general, approximate parameter that describes the average time needed to create an item.
To estimate it, a whole series of production processes is added up. The total making time includes the following operations:
1. Preparing the down (this includes combing the goat and the operations for preparing raw down – removing dust, washing, picking out guard hairs, separating dandruff and other foreign matter from the down, combing the down (two or three combings depending on the quality of the items), picking out down clumps);
2. Spinning the down (the actual spinning of the down thread, doubling and twisting the down thread with the base thread); This stage is difficult because of its monotony and the constant control over the resulting thread.
3. Knitting the down item (this is the most creative process, in which the knitter's skill and abilities are transferred onto the down fabric and a unique piece of folk craft is created); This is the stage knitters love most, because during it their ideas and creative fantasies come to life.
4. The final stage of pre-sale preparation of the down item (this stage includes washing and stretching the already knitted item on a frame (drying and giving it the correct shape)); This is a very responsible stage that largely determines the final look of the item.
When estimating the time, we use the following formula:
(A(hrs)+S(hrs)+X(hrs)+Z(hrs))/4(hrs) = number of days to make
Where:
A - Preparing the down (in hours)
S - Spinning the down (in hours)
X - Knitting the down item (in hours)
Z - Final stage (in hours)
All data are given in hours. The approximate making time in days is based on an average workload of 4 hours a day.
It is worth noting that the number of days needed can vary considerably, both up and down. This is due both to direct factors – the number of hours devoted to working on the item (many knitters work 12 hours a day in winter and can finish a similar item much sooner, whereas in summer, the season of vegetable gardens and especially careful tending of livestock, very little time is left for the craft) – and to indirect ones (much depends on the knitter's mastery and skills).
That is why we use a kind of averaged making-time parameter, which most closely reflects the objective picture of what happens in production.
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