Hemp Spinning

Visitors to Vilamuseu could help with live recordings

Inicio 07 Dec Fin 31 Dec

We are starting a project of systematic recovery of old hemp twine making techniques with the help of Jacinto Lloret Orozco, 83, the person who knows best about what used to be a fundamental craft  in Villajoyosa.

In the 19^th century, twines/ropes for the fishing nets and boats of Spain left Villajoyosa by the ‘pathways’ of ‘menar’ (making the revolving apparatus go round). Big wooden wheels produced twine and ropes of different thicknesses from the finest nets to the thickest towing lines for yachts and tuna fishing boats.

Cinto Orozco has been a Vilamuseu volunteer since 2005 and has previously carried out different demonstrations of ancient crafts for Vilamuseu recordings. Now the Council for Historic Heritage will start to share these recordings on Vilamuseu YouTube. At the same time it is starting a systematic recovery project of all the ships’ twine/rope making techniques together with all the original Valencian vocabulary. This will take place in the Bou Ferrer and Ancient Navigation Workshop in the new Vilamuseu. For these purposes, good quality hemp has been acquired and the oldest example of a spinning wheel incorporating an electric motor has been installed in the workshop. This will allow filming of all the processes and afterwards they can be transcribed and shared with the public.