We refer to this work as Ganutell or Ganutil craft; using the words Granutell or Granutil is incorrect. In Ganutell flower mounts one can find leaves and petals which do not involve the use of the canutiglia or spiral wire, and although they form part of the whole composition, they are not Ganutell work, but an accessory made from non-spiral wires on their own or twisted with coloured thread, preferably on a hand spindle.

Beginners commence with this latter technique as it is simpler than having to fill up frames with thread, and there are too many who appear to stop at this stage and produce tiaras and small hand bouquets for weddings and other occasions.

Although there are now many learning Ganutel, only relatively few have the real inclination and artistic qualities to reach an excellent standard of technique and proper presentation of Ganutell mounts.

As Guido also says in "Treasures of Malta, Vol IV, No.3, p.35:

"... in the case of paintings, silverware and other decorative art, artificial flowers were to be found either in the homes of rich households, organisations, churches and palaces, all capable of paying for the work which was nearly always made to order and by hand."

(*Guido Lanfranco is a writer on local and natural history and folklore.)

Information taken from the book
Xoghol u Snajja tà L-Imghoddi by
Guzè Galea

During the 18th and 19th century, in the quiet of the convents, nuns used to pray and contemplate all through their lives.

However, in some convents there used to be groups of nuns doing very intricate and beautiful creations with threads, wires and cloths to create items, mostly to decorate their churches, with embroidery, sewing and Ganutell. The latter is work which takes a lot of patience and practice before one can learn the proper art of making it.

In those days, the most beautiful ornaments consisted of bouquets of flowers, which were used to decorate sideboards in hallways and sitting rooms and the altars of churches. The flowers were not made of silk or plastic; these wonderful creations were made of very fine silk threads spun together with the thinnest of gold or silver wires and then decorated with tiny fragments of glass, seed pearls, sequins or any tiny bead the nuns could find.

The canutiglia was the item most used. This was a hollow wire made of strands of gold or silver in the shape of a spring but never thicker than a piece of string.

These groups of nuns were all specialised in their own art. Each group had a "Constructor" who would draw the design to the right scale and mark in the colours. She would draw the flowers, leafs, buds and, where necessary, the wheat and grapes. These Constructors, who required very good eyesight for this fine work, would insert the wire thread into the canutiglia to hold its shape and wind the wire into the bends and shapes required. In this manner, they would form the shape of the border, frame or mould of the flowers or petals.

The other nuns in the group were the "Composers" who would start filling in the empty space within the canutiglia shape with the various coloured silk threads depending on the colour scheme chosen.

The smaller flowers would be worked with the silk being threaded from one side to the other of the border of the petal. When the flowers were larger, they would make bigger petals and fold and shape them round the smaller ones to imitate the natural flower as closely as possible.

The stamens, the centre, and the pistils of the flower were made of a variety of beads and fancy wires, and using three of the same small petals joined together made the buds.

There were times when the nuns would decorate the entire bouquet by adding a butterfly, the wings of which were the most difficult to make. These were formed and made in the same manner as the leaves with the addition of sequins and rhinestones. The butterfly's head would consist of a pearl whilst its body would be made of chenille. Its legs and would be made of canutiglia. Sometimes pieces of lametta (what today we would call bouillon or farfalla) would be inserted in the spaces between the flowers and leaves. These are strips of fancy beading wire that is faceted to create reflections in the arrangements.

The workers would then start tying together the prepared flowers, leaves and whatever else the bouquet consists of, to give it the shape it would finally have. The whole thing was then placed under a glass dome to prevent the flowers from fading and getting dirty.

At other times, once all the flowers were ready, they would tie them with wire into small bunches of various sizes and would use the larger ones to decorate the altars of the church. These bouquets would be placed on wooden stands that were hand-painted and gilded. The smaller bouquets would be placed under the glass domes and put on a sideboard on each side of the gilded ornate clock, which used to be kept under a glass dome as well!

The bouquets were sometimes displayed in china vases that were also ornately gilded. Nowadays these are very rare and are being sold from private collections, mostly in auctions as items of value.