Crafts

Many crafts were necessary to maintain life in Norka. One could find carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths, shoe and boot makers, tailors, tanners, quilters and weavers. While the emphasis was usually on practical uses, artistic talent could also been seen in their work.

Sarpinka

Industrial weaving was first developed in Sarepta, and as a result the fabric produced by the colonists received the name "sarpinka".

The expensive and difficult receipt of yard from abroad encouraged the Sareptans to produce cotton yarn themselves from cotton imported through Astrakhan from Persia. These efforts were crowned by success. In view of the insignificant population of Sarepta colony they decided to have yard necessary for the production of cloth produced first in Popovka, then in Sebastyanovka, Norka and Lesnoi Karamysh.

Gradually, the production of cloth increased so much that Sarepta, which did not have enough laborers, opened a cloth factory in 1810 in its main cotton cloth producer, Norka. which was accessible for the erection of the necessary structures.

Agents of Russian factory owners soon set up their own factories in the colonies and increased salaries. At about the same time, English machine produced cloth gained access to Russia and could be sold at at a much lower cost than the hand made sarpinka. In addition, the colonist began making their own sarpinka at lower prices. Because of all of the competition, Sarepta transferred all production to Saratov in 1816.

Engergetic German merchants in Saratov entered the sarpinka business and eventually forced the Sareptans to discontinue production in 1821. The Schechtel brothers dominated the market until they bankrupted themselves looking for gold in Siberia. This allowed more powerful entrepreneurs into the sarpinka market. By the 1850s, the market was controlled by the Schmidt, Borel and Reineke families who not only opened factories in their native colonies, but also in Lesnoi Karamysh, Gololobovka, Splavnkha and Norka.

By 1866, there were 69 sarpinka factories in which there worked up to 6,000 weaving machines that produced up to 30,000 pud of yarn, produced dresses and other materials.

A table from Norka