Braid Making

Braid making is the art of covering the surface of silk threads with precious metals like gold and silver through a series of particular stages. This art enjoys a long antiquity not only in Iran but also in other countries of the world. The discovery of golden threads and wires in the tombs of Egyptian kings in 3500 BC and the very fact that they had uniform surfaces create the idea that wire drawing metal wires had existed at that time. Braid making as a mother field for the other original arts like traditional embroidery, lace making, brocade weaving, filigree making, etc. has had a special and worthy position in Iran from past to the present time.

The preparation of gold for covering the silk thread is by itself a very delicate stage in this art-industry. Having categorized the karat of the gold, the craftsman sticks the gold on the silver through forging so that the produced rod is originally silver but the outward surface of which is coated by a very thin coat of gold. The prepared rod is stretched to such an extent that it may pass through the hole of a die. This action is continued till the rod reaches the required thickness. Up to this point, the stretched wire has a round cutting. This wire passes through a thread spinning wheel to reach a thickness of 0.01 cm and a width of 0.077 cm; that is called tinsel (Naghdeh). This thread together with braid thread is used for sewing all kinds of traditional embroidery The last and the most delicate stage of braid making is wrapping the flattened metal around the silk thread which is called braid wrapping. This action is performed on the thread spinning wheel in such a way that flattened tinsel (Naghdeh) may cover spirally and only the silk thread so it may not overlap at any place of it.