Gathering materials has been a crucial step in the creation of goods throughout history.
In order for us to begin work on our experimental archeology project we needed to start by gathering the necessary supplies.
Before we began our search we decided that there were a few factors which needed to be considered during our hunt for supplies. Firstly, It was important to everyone in our group that the materials were accessible. In this case, material accessibility meant that the materials were available locally, being easily accessible by bus, and that the materials were of a reasonable cost. Considering this, It was important to the group that as many of the necessary materials as possible were borrowed or made out of recycled material. Not only does this support the groups desire for accessibility, keeping costs low, this also ensures the projects sustainability, avoiding unnecessary consumption of materials which would be used for a single project. Considering our focus on accessibility and sustainability there were instances in which we chose to forgo complete historical accuracy. Instead we chose to focus on the functionality of our chosen materials, aiming for materials that would function like their historic counterparts, without feeling like it was strictly necessary to gather completely accurate materials. We felt that this was the right decision for this project as it is practically impossible to achieve complete historic accuracy, especially given the time constraints for this project.
Considering these factors we began our search for supplies.
Necessary Supplies
There were a few supplies which were necessary for us to gather before we began our project. These supplies included; weaving tablets, a shuttle, a belt, and, most importantly, 2-3 colors of yarn.
Weaving Tablets, Shuttles, and belts
We were able to gather a variety of weaving tablets for this project. Two of these sets were borrowed, one made out of wood, and the other out of paper, and a third set was constructed out of a thick sheet of cardstock. The shuttles were also constructed out of a piece of cardstock. Finally, the belts were similarly constructed out of recycled materials, being made of pieces of ribbon and lacing.
Weaving Material: The Yarn
The yarn was the most difficult of the supplies to gather as It was time consuming to find something suitable for our project which was available locally.
Beehive Wool Shop
We started our search at the Beehive wool shop as they are located in downtown Victoria and provide a range of yarns made out of natural materials.
There were quite a few lovely options for wool, silk, and linen fibers which would have provided us with historically accurate materials for our project. This being said, the majority of these fibers were either too thick for weaving or extremely expensive. This is because this shop caters to knitters and crocheters, thus the products in store are not produced with weaving in mind. Considering this we were forced to look elsewhere for our yarn.
Knotty by Nature Fibre Arts
After some online research we found Knotty by Nature Fibre Arts was a local store that sold a variety of weaving yarns. Although the store seems to primarily house dyed wool roving, used for spinning, and knitting yarns there was a small collection of weaving yarn available, with the majority of the collection being 100% cotton. Although cotton is not particularly historically accurate we decided that this yarn fit our requirements best as it was still a natural fiber and was the right size for our project while also being in the right price point. Considering this, we met up at the store and picked out our colors as a group, picking out three matching yarns in a bright green and more neutral brown and beige.
Finally we were ready to weave!