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Indraja Kubilytė, head of the museum's restoration team.

The event was conceived for a specific target group - textile restorers. We wanted to invite as many restorers as possible from various Lithuanian institutions: specialists from the M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, P. Gudynas Restoration Centre, the Vrublevskiai Library of the Academy of Sciences, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, the Academy of Fine Arts, the National Museum, and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Film. Three Ukrainian colleagues from the A. Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv also participated under a partnership agreement. There were more willing to participate, but we could not increase the number of participants, because the technical possibilities of the laser workshop are limited, and the work requires special, very expensive glasses - we had only one set of equipment.

We found out that Mr. Ignas Bitinaitis, head of the company Femta, works with lasers in Lithuania. He not only readily agreed to demonstrate his laser work, but also took part in the workshop. Our programme was expanded: we even had two lasers in two rooms, with Jochen Schaal demonstrating the German one and Ignas Bitinaitis demonstrating the Lithuanian one.

Participants tried to control the laser beam, got an impression of the working process, and saw that it is applicable to restoration (the prevailing opinion is that this technology is not suitable for textile cleaning). Ulrike and her husband have found and calculated the right laser parameters for the process (intensity, focus, etc.). Of course, their laser is very sensitive, can clean delicate drawings and is adjustable according to the material being cleaned. Femta's laser is more industrial and would not be able to be set up with the finesse required for textiles, but it can be used for smooth, clear areas. Laser work should be a team effort: the laser technician should work together with the restorer, as the laser is very difficult to set and adjust.

During the textile analysis workshop, we looked at weaving technologies (there were restorers from other fields as well): how to identify and name them, how to fill in the form when preparing a description of the fabric (how many threads per centimetre, what fibre, what weaving technology, etc.). All this is not as simple as it seems at first sight. Using magnifying lenses, we calculate and look at different weaving schemes.

Ulrike Reichert explained how to do this using the CIETA (Centre international d'étude des textiles anciens – International Centre for the Study of Ancient Textiles in Lyon) method. She has taught at the Centre, developed the theory and the fabric samples, and we studied them together. You can usually see the weaving method with the naked eye, but it is difficult to describe the fabric technically. Ulrike talked about how the looms were adjusted to get the pattern and how to draw the pattern. It is important to understand the principle and the value of the work: setting up a loom to produce an intricate pattern was once like now adjusting a computer. You see the fabrics and you realise that back then there was no automation, no calculations, it was all done by hand, and fantastic weaving patterns were created. Now it's all done by computers.

So, the subject of the workshop is very specific, and I was thinking about something that doesn't exist in Lithuania: we don't have lessons in these things. So we got a chance to learn about technology. It was also an opportunity to learn about the methods developed and used by specialists in historic textile restoration in the West. Also, if you want to reconstruct fabrics - there are companies that create exactly the same fabrics from old ones - you need an exact description of them. You can't learn more in a day, you can only get an impression, a impulse on how to think, and if you're curious, you can keep learning. I got this knowledge system a few years ago when I studied with Ulrike Reichert in Germany.

The workshop and the lecture were a gift from our museum to Lithuanian textile restorers: they were free for all participants, thus fulfilling the museum's educational mission.

Milda Tičkaitė, Church Heritage Museum restorer.

I was interested in the laser demonstration: to see how a Lithuanian laser cleans metal surfaces and then how a German laser removes dirt from textiles. The German laser, because it has been used for many years, is very finely tuned. The most interesting thing was to try to use it (it consists of a “gun” with a hose and a pump which sucks up the dust that has risen) and everyone got the chance to do so. Ulrike Reichert demonstrated how it works by cleaning a very blackened fabric: the laser beam, which is finely tuned, removed dirt several times. In restoration, we never remove all the dirt in one go - we repeat the procedure several times to avoid over-cleaning and to preserve the fabric. We have tried the Femta laser to remove dirt from various samples: copper galloon silver strips, leather. We have found that the parameters need to be set very sensitively, without rushing to get a result.

The textile analysis workshop was very engaging. A year ago I took a distance learning course on textile fibre analysis from Italian experts - compared to this workshop, the Italian fabric samples were much simpler, with less emphasis on the loom throwing patterns. Ulrike Reichert showed detailed weaving schemes, demonstrating many examples of old fabrics - intricately woven fabrics, with different weaving techniques, even several throwing threads intertwined. The weaving machine is now programmed and people are no longer involved in the process.

In the workshop, we saw samples of old fabrics and heard comments, and learned special terminology (most of the terms are French according to CIETA). Ulrike recommended us to visit the Centre for the Study of Ancient Textiles in Lyon. It was very interesting to talk to specialists from other museums, to meet peers in a professional environment and to discuss the most common problems encountered in restoration.

Ignas Bitinaitis, CEO of Femta.

At the workshop, I had the opportunity to learn about unusual techniques in laser textile restoration, which we have already successfully tested with our equipment.

Technologically, laser cleaning has proven to be suitable for most of the textiles to be restored. The most objective impression, I hope, was made by the participants themselves, who tested the samples they brought and compared them, knowing what result could be expected and what was obtained. Laser cleaning in textile restoration is not the final solution in all cases, it is just one of the tools - often it is necessary to use a hybrid technique to clean textiles. The main advantage of laser cleaning is that it eliminates the mechanical and/or chemical impact on the material, which is not possible with any other commonly used technology.

As laser cleaning equipment is just a tool, like any other tool, the skills of the restorer and the technique and idea used are very important. For example, some textile samples can be scanned with a single laser setting and the result will be excellent, while in other cases it may be possible to achieve an even better result by selecting different laser pulse energies / densities for different colours of the sample and by masking the desired areas of the sample that are not affected with a simple sheet of paper or aluminium foil (or by limiting the scan area).

To summarise: we have found laser cleaning to be an indispensable tool for the restoration of textiles and other types of works of art, often achieving a higher quality and less damaging restoration result compared to alternative methods. However, as with any tool, the vision and experience of the restorer remain the most important part of the restoration process.