Tika – The Wonders of Weaving

Sources for the Project

For our project we used a few sources to generate our methods and background. Listed below are the sources we used over the course of this project.

Ave Matsin. (2013). The 13th–16th Century Tablet-woven Bands from Estonia. In Ancient Textiles, Modern Science (p. 64–). Oxbow Books.

Bente Skogsaas. (2022). A Tablet Woven Band from the Oseberg Grave: Interpretation of Motif and Technique. EXARC Journal, 2022/3.

Crowfoot, G. (1952). Anglo-Saxon Tablet Weaving. The Antiquaries Journal, 32(3-4), 189-191. doi:10.1017/S0003581500076836

Finchingefeld, E. (2020, Aug. 27.) Tablet Weaving for the Absolute Beginner: Birka 6. Lady Elewys of Finchingefeld, JdL, GdS. http://ladyelewys.carpevinumpdx.com/2020/08/27/tablet-weaving-for-the-absolute-beginner-birka-6/

Holmqvist, V. (2013). The Use of Craft Skills in Historical Textile Research: some examples drawn from a study of Medieval tablet weaving. In H. Hopkins (Ed.), Ancient Textiles, Modern Science (pp. 49–63). Oxbow Books. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh1dwxf.9

Knotty by nature fibres 2/1. kbnfibres. (n.d.). https://www.kbnfibres.ca/weaving?page=2

Lewins, S. (2015) Tablet weaving for Dark Age reenactors: Motifs from Birka and Mammen. ShelaghLewins.com. https://www.shelaghlewins.com/tablet_weaving/Birka_mammen_missed_hole_10/Birka_mammen_missed_hole_10.pdf

Lewins, S. (2009). Tablet weaving for Dark Age reenacts the narrow Oseberg Band. Shelagh’s Website. https://www.shelaghlewins.com/tablet_weaving/Oseberg_narrow/Oseberg_narrow.pdf

Penna-Haverinen, S. (2010). Patterned Tablet-Woven Band – In Search of the 11th Century Textile Professional. In E. A. Strand, M. Gleba, U. Mannering, C. Munkholt, & M. Ringgaard (Eds.), North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X (Vol. 5, pp. 195–200). Oxbow Books. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cfr79q.38

Oseberg Narrow Band Update

The progress on the Oseberg narrow band has been interesting! The weave went well for the first section of the weave, until the working threads became very twisted. There was a solution offered by my pattern, however, I believe I did it incorrectly. After flipping the cards stated on the pattern, my pattern disappeared! I worked with it for awhile, but found that some of the border threads weren’t even being picked up with the weft. I attempted to reverse my card flipping and continue, which “fixed” the pattern in one way, as it worked properly, however it made a new pattern entirely!

Green, beige, and brown woven band laying width wise across a curled up white and brown tabby cat. — The entire length of my band so far, mistakes included!

A close up of the green, beige, and brown band laying on the white and brown tabby cat. The errors in the band are visible from the bottom of the image. — The entire length of my band so far, mistakes included!

I am still working on undoing this mistake, as I thought I had switched by cards back, but clearly not! After meeting with the group I am going to go through my cards with a finer eye to ensure they’re all correct. However, I’m happy with my band, errors and all, if I hadn’t made mistakes, I wouldn’t have learnt anything! I think part of my error was getting impatient with the stiffness of my threads due to the twisting, which lead to me trying to untwist them like this in the first place. Even when not working correctly, I am still enjoying the process of tablet weaving, with certainly more respect for even the more “simpler” of designs.

-Tika

Challenges & Success

Over the course of this project, we’ve all come to our own triumphs and failures. As we all have different skill levels, and have taken on patterns accordingly, the outcomes of our projects will vary significantly. Here, we will go over how the process has been for each of us.

Tika’s weave

Tika’s weave has been a journey. Starting out with no weaving experience, every step of the process has been quite the learning experience. With a simpler pattern, keeping the threads organized for transport and warping wasn’t too rough. Organizing threads by bundles for each of their 10 tablets worked well for the initial warping, and the first session of weaving went well, with the pattern showing up quickly. The biggest challenge came in repeatedly untangling the loose ends of threads, which required a helping hand, but once done, the weave was going well once more. However, as the weave continued it got more complicated. Attempting to untwist the threads by the instructions on their pattern, Tika’s weave quickly became a mess. The threads remained mostly twisted, the woven part varying in thickness, and the pattern completely disappeared! Assuming something went wrong in the process of flipping cards to untwist them, Tika is still working on repairing their weave. Despite the challenges, they still find the process enjoyable, and look forward to seeing everyone’s final products.

This picture of a close up of the brown, green, and beige woven band. It creates a change like pattern until half-way through, where the weave becomes messy and the pattern changes into uneven triangles. The band is on top of a brown and white tabby cat. — The section of Tika’s weave that went wrong after attempting to untwist threads by flipping cards.

This picture shows a woven band of brown, green, and beige. The tied end is at the top of the image, and the working end at the bottom. The band is on top of a white and brown tabby cat with green eyes, the band is as long as the width of the curled up cat. — The section of Tika’s weave that went wrong after attempting to untwist threads by flipping cards.

Kierrah’s weave

Kierrah’s weave experienced quite a few issues from the get go. As her pattern was rather complicated, the number of threads required made the initial organizing and warping difficult. Additionally, keeping the threads untangled was it’s own task, one that required another set of hands to wrestle the threads in order. Once working, Kierrah was again faced with unexpected problems; knots in the threads, S and Z threading errors, and the pattern appearing upside-down! She was able to work through many of these problems, with great success, but has had to continue weaving in reverse for the pattern to appear correctly. Though challenging, she has found the process to become increasingly relaxing, and with practice, easier with each session.

In this image I am holding my weaving in my hand. The weaving is messy and a pattern is only beginning to show at the bottom of the page. — The beginning of Kierrah’s weaving. At the very bottom the pattern begins to form.

This image shows me holding my woven band, showing off the completed section of the band which has a pattern made up of brown and cream thread. — The beginning of Kierrah’s weaving. At the very bottom the pattern begins to form.

Quynn’s weave

Quynn’s weave had been quite tricky to start. She experienced issues with tangled threads during transport, and ultimately had to warp her tablets twice due to threads flipping and tangling. She also had some difficulty with tension to begin the weave, but once both threading and tension were organized, she was able to begin working on her pattern. The first few inches demonstrate her trial and error in the beginning, but now she is able to work on her pattern.

A dark brown table with white paper tablet cards on top. The tablet cards are strung with green, brown, and beige threads, which drape off the right side of the table. — Quynn’s tablets and threads, in the beginning of her organization.

A woven band of green, brown, and beige, tied at the top of the image on a rattan piece of furniture. — Quynn’s tablets and threads, in the beginning of her organization.

As we have worked on our projects by ourselves, it will be very exciting to see each of our outcomes all together. This project has taught all of us about the process of tablet weaving, and especially the knowledge and skill that it takes to successfully create the beautiful bands which survive in archaeological sites today. Regardless of if a pattern is easier or harder, the skill it takes to create any of these bands successfully is truly impressive. By attempting to recreate some ourselves, we have certainly learnt a new perspective on historical textiles.

Oseberg Narrow Band

Background

My pattern for this project is the Oseberg Narrow band, from a Viking-age burial in Norway. I will be using cotton thread in brown, beige, and green, modifying the pattern slightly to give it a border in order to use all three colors.

This image shows a white background with a light yellow and blue woven band in the center. Below the band is two threads, one of the matching yellow and the other the blue from the band itself. Above the band is a ruler, showing 1-70 mm. — A reproduction of the Oseberg Narrow band. Image from Shelagh’s website.

Warping & Weaving

To begin my pattern I first had to warp my threads, meaning I had to measure, cut, then thread each piece through the tablets in the correct direction. To measure my thread I used the length of a table, and cut each thread the same length across it. I followed the amount of each color, with modification on the borders, based upon my pattern, and first organized the threads into bundles based upon the card they belonged to. This organization method worked out alright for me as my pattern was not too complicated.

Once I had every thread cut, I then had to thread them through their respective cards. I realized that I had been following an alternative pattern when cutting my threads, but it was quickly rectified as both ultimately required the same amount of each color. Next, I had to figure out the difference between S and Z threading.

This image has a white background with table tiles on yellow and blue. The left side of the table lists "A B C D" going downwards, the top of the table lists " 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" going left to right, and the bottom lists "S Z S Z S S S Z S Z" going left to right. The blue tiles are arrange in a flower like shape in the middle. — The alternate pattern I originally started following. Pattern from Shelagh’s Website.

The difference between S and Z threading took me a while to understand, but with the assistance of multiple google searches, I finally had all my threads sorted properly. However, my threads became very difficult to work with once warped. The longer end kept getting knotted, and it took me about 30 minutes to untangle them. This continued to be a problem as I started weaving, as at some point while I was attaching one end to a door handle, the threads had managed to flip. It took me quite awhile to fix this, sorting the ends into two bundles which then tied to my belt, but once I had I was able to begin weaving.

This image shows the end of the weave tied to a silver door handle, the cardboard shuttle between the threads to hold them still for a picture, the tablets arranged vertically, and a hand with black nails holding it up. — The progress on my pattern after weaving for a hour.

This image shows a close up of the woven part of the project. Brown, green, and beige thread make a chain like pattern with brown borders. — The progress on my pattern after weaving for a hour.

My pattern called for all my tablets to be turned the same way, which allowed for me to focus on my tension and keeping my cards organized. I didn’t anticipate how much thread I would need for the weft, so as pictured there is not enough currently on my shuttle. This is a problem that will have to be fixed at a later date, as my partners have already suggested how to fix this. I also didn’t understand how much I would have to pull the weft through, worried that it may unravel, so there are green bumps throughout the section I’ve done. I’m proud of how much I achieved in an hour of work, and while bumpy, the tension is good and the pattern is clear. I foresee this becoming cleaner as I continue, and hope that the end product will demonstrate my learning.

Thank you for reading! Until next time…

-Tika