The world’s oldest working planetarium, built between 1774 and 1781, was in fact made possible by textiles. The planetarium in Franeker (the Netherlands) was built by wool comber Eise Eisinga (1744-1828) in his own home. There is a display, with video, about the processing of wool in the back of the house where Eisinga used to live and where we now find the planetarium.

The display includes a life size comb stove or pot, where the combs were heated before use. Heating made the combs move through the wool more easily. Combing made the long fibres (called ‘sleevers’) lie parallel to each other, so they could be spun. Combing also separated sleevers from short fibres (called ‘noils’), which could not be spun. The sleevers would then be drawn through a ring or disc to ensure they were the same length.

Eisinga also dyed the wool, and won an international prize in Ghent in 1820 for this skill. He used dyes made from alum, logwood, brazilwood, madder, sumac and indigo, among other substances alum, logwood, brazilwood, madder, sumac and indigo, among other substances.

See for instance the YouTube film: https://youtu.be/NcbDH1u_I1c

Shelley Anderson, 24 May 2015