Birka B2 Progress Report

Background

For this project I chose to reproduce the tablet woven Birka band B2 which originated from the archeological site, Birka, which is located on the Björkö Island in Lake Mälar, Sweden. The band in question dates to the 9th-10th centuries and was discovered in grave 824 In two separate pieces connected to two oval brooches.

This image is of field notes from the grave 824 at the Birka site. The image shows a drawing of the artifacts found in the grave including human remains in the center of the image, two brooches on either side of the remains, and two scraps of a tablet woven band.
Field notes depicting grave 824 from the archeological site at Birka. The Birka Bands are depicted in the image at the top of the image by two large oval brooches.
This image shows the original Birka B2 Band with a view of the front and back of the band. The image is in black and white.
Photograph of the original Birka band, including an image of the front and backside of the band.

Pattern

The pattern I used in the reproduction of this band was written by Shelagh Lewins and was made available for free download through her blog. The pattern utilizes a missing whole technique and in an attempt to replicate the motif present in the original brocade band.

This image depicts a reconstruction of the Birka B2 band, woven in red and yellow threads.
Image of the reproduced band produced by Shelagh Lewins with the use of the pattern she developed.

Creating the Warp

In order to begin weaving I first had to make up the warp as directed by the pattern. The warp is the direction of threads which will be threaded through the tablets and woven into.

On the left hand of the image there is an image of the tablet woven band designed after Birka B2. In the middle of the image there is a diagram outlining the weaving instructions. Finally, on the right side of the image there is a diagram outlining the warping pattern.
An image of the threading and weaving diagram as provided by Shelagh Lewins.

I began setting up my warp by picking my colors, ultimately deciding to solely use the brown and cream we had purchased as a group. Following the warping diagram from the right side of the image I cut my threads to my desired length prior to laying them out on a table. These were taped in place so that I could keep the threads organized.

As we set up our warps as a group on campus my warp needed to be transported home prior to being threaded through the tablets. To do this I chained my warp threads together to stop them from tangling.

In the middle of the image there is a group of fine brown and cream threads chained together to form an organized loop. resting atop the threads in a cone of cream yarn. These are both sitting on a colorful quilt.
This image showcases the warp which I will be using for this project as it was packaged for transportation alongside the thread which I will use for weft.

At this point I began threading my tablets, following the diagram from left to right, placing the threads in the designated holes on the tablets. Unfortunately, although my threads had been taped in the proper order and chained together in an effort to keep them organized it did take me a while to figure out how to thread my warp as a few of the threads seemed to have shifted positions. This meant I had to spend some time reorganizing my threads to get them back in the proper order.

This image shows three wooden tablet weaving cards in the process of being threaded with brown and cream cotton yarn.
This image shows three of the tablets being threaded with yarn.

Unfortunately, it also seems that throughout the transportation of my warp some of my threads were tangled, which meant I had to spend a great deal of time untangling the threads before I could begin weaving.

This image shows a hand holding 20 tablet weaving cards threaded with brown and cream threads.
This image shows the threaded warp after it was untangled.

Thankfully, after about 1-1.5 hours of work with a helping hand I was able to get my threads untangled and am now ready to start weaving!

Until next time,

Kierrah