Tablet-woven trim for a 12th C.

Tunic
Estrella War A&S Competition Woven Textiles Category

Item:
Gold and red cardwoven trim produced for use on a tunic intended for a 10th C. Viking man.

Materials:
#10 cotton crochet thread. Lots and lots of time.

Inspiration:
Author: Heather Jeffcott 2/18/2011 1

A book cover. This picture was provided to me when I took on this project. The finished tunic was to be worn by Lord Leot mac Grigair, upon the occasion of his elevation to the Order of the Laurel. As time was a factor, I was told that inkle woven trim would be just fine! Since this was for an elevation garment, and because I am currently obsessed with cardweaving, well, I decided that the trim would be cardwoven or nothing at all!!!

Figure 1: Book cover -- original inspration

As you can see from the picture, there appear to be two different styles of trim involved a gold trim and a black and white trim. Looking closely at the book cover, I thought I could make out a spiral pattern and so I decided to use that. I had seen a pattern on The Loomy Bin cardweaving website that would do very nicely. I hadnt woven the pattern before, but that didnt stop me from giving it a go. At first blush, most of the medieval illuminations which document cardweaving pictorially give the impression that this is a late-period craft, but archeological evidence shows a much different story. Cardweaving has its roots in the textile weaving techniques of ancient Egypt (although it has yet to be proven that cardweaving was used at that time) and archeological finds such as those at Birka, Oseberg, and Hallstat prove that cardwoven materials were being produced by Western European cultures in the 10th C. This made cardweaving perfectly appropriate for my project. I first got my feet wet in the cardweaving craft by attending Lady Alamanda de Clarets Introduction to Cardweaving class. Since then, my pursuit of the cardweaving craft is self-taught and comes from intensive study of the cardweavers bible, Peter Collingwoods The Techniques of Cardweaving and trying out the patterns and techniques. I have spent the bulk of the last two years researching extant examples of cardweaving equipment and woven finds as well as discovering patterns and techniqueson the web and then trying them out. To date, I have produced over a dozen different cardwoven works including the one entered here.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 2:Wool trim with horsehair weft from Halstadt find, circa 800-400 BC. Pattern executed in a 3-1 broken twill weave technique. Site of find: Hallstatt, Kernverwsserungswerk mine, 1990, item on display at Museum of Natural History, V

Figure 3: tablets and tablet woven bands. Photo taken by eodri elfri aka Jeremy Sharp July 9, 2008, museum of origin unknown. I believe these are pieces from the Oseberg find. The photographer didnt say. http://www.flickr.com/photos/theodric/2689704425/s Notice the zigzags and twisting figures in the photograph as well as the mix of several types of patterns within one piece. This provides some justification for my use of the spiral pattern!

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 4: Textile "layer cake" from the Oseberg find. Also on display at the Viking Ship Museum, photographer Costume Girl . The photograph is taken from her blog of her trip to Norway. http://adventuresofafartraveler.wordpress.com/page/2/ A lovely diamond patterned trim has survived in the picture above!!!! Much of the trim found at Oseberg is wool or silk or wool-and-silk, often over a horsehair weft. Sometimes gold or silver wound over wool or silk to form a type of brocade. This piece provides some evidence that diamond-style patterns were developed th th early on. In the 15 and 16 C., diamond patterns are sometimes used to make up a ground or background against which to weave another fancy figural pattern, but this example as well as the Halstatt pieces provide evidence that mixing patterns within a single work was done in the th 10 C. as well.

Equipment (illustrations follow the list):

(1) Stick shuttle. My shuttle is heavy enough that I used it as a beater as well. Pre-1600 illustrations of women tablet weaving invariably show them using a small bobbin to hold the weft thread and a large leaf-shaped beater of considerable heft. For convenience, I use a single stick shuttle for both purposes. (2) 4-hole tablets or cards(These terms will be used interchangeably throughout the text) made from modern playing cards. Also, needed a rubber band or a tie of some type to secure the cards when I was not actively weaving. Extant tablets have been found made of wood, horn, bone, and leather. Tablets have been found which are 4, 6, or 8 sided, usually with a corresponding number of holes. Sometimes, there are extra holes in the tablets whose use can only be speculated. (Collingwood, extant examples) The size and shape of my cards approximates extant examples on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. (3) Two different types of looms, both improvised out of modern equipment. Loom #1 a modified wooden inkle loom. This one has become my loom of choice simply because it is small and extremely portable.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Loom #2 an upside down ironing board. I improvised this when I had to go on an out of town trip and wanted to be able to cardweave. My loom wouldnt fit in my suitcase so I untied the work from the loom (after securing the card with a rubber band) and packed that in my suitcase. Since all you need to card weave is two fixed points between which to tie and tighten the weave, all I need was something to tie the warp to once I got to my hotel room. An inverted ironing board turned out to be perfect. I could even adjust the height! In both cases, the actual weaving techniques used were based on self-taught methods learned using a modern reproduction Oseberg-style tablet weaving loom .

Figure 5: 10th C. Extant tablet weaving loom with cards and warp still attached. The loom shafts have been broken (to prevent their reuse?) but pieces of a work-in-progress still remain. [Illustration page 187., Collingsoods The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. Tabletweaving as found in the grave at the Oseberg ship burial.] Scan found at http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/Oseberg/textiles/TEXTILE.HTM , article The Textiles of the Oseberg Ship by Anne Stine Ingstad .

Figure 6: my reproduction "upright loom." I purchased this loom from Whitewolf and Phoenix, tablet weaving suppiers. The loom is based on one excavated from the Oseberg ship find. Cards seen here are very large, about 4 on a side, much larger than has been discovered in archeological finds, but they are very easy to work with and support heavy threads with ease. In general, the finer the threads woven, the thinner and smaller the weaving tablets/cards must be as the weight of the suspended cards will snap the threads. Interestingly, I have come across no pictorial evidence of a modern board loom in which the cards are supported instead of being suspended -- the weft is wound around a board upon which the cards then rest. This seems a very practical solution for weaving extremely find threads, but I have not come across evidence of the use of this type of tablet-weaving loom pre-1600.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 7: Loom #1, my modern wooden inkle loom cum tablet weaving loom. Worked even better for tablet weaving once I removed the middle bar which usually supports the warp threads which go through the heddles in inkle weaving -- that bar got in the way. The weaving seen on the loom in the picture on the left is the warm-up project I did to familiarize myself with the pattern before I wove the final piece. In the picture on the right, you can see the loom with the center bar romoved and also get a good side view of a work in progress.

Figure 8: pseudo-"Oseberg style" loom. All you need to cardweave are two fixed points between which to tie the warp.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Examples of Tablet weaving looms in illuminations:

Figure 9: Mary weaving in the Temple, a book of hours (KB 76 F 21, fol. 14r), c. 1400-1410, http://racer.kb.nl/pregvn/MIMI/MIMI_76F21/MIMI_76F21_014R.JPG

Figure 10: Plate from the Manesse Codex showing a women cardweaving. Notice that six-sided cards are being used here and the finished work is being taken up by a reel on the wall. The free-standing loom is probably a floor-standing warp spreader. She also has a large beater to pack the warp firmly.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 11: Mary weaving, a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 30v), c. 1425-1430, http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/single_image2.cfm?imagename=m453.030vd.jpg&page=ICA000140459 I particularly love this illumination because it clearly shows the weaver actually sitting IN the weave!!!! This becomes essential when weaving a complex pattern from a sideways orientation!

Figure 12: Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: fingerloop braiding and weaving on a band loom , http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/zi1800_0080a.jpg

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 13: This illustration clearly shows the bobbin and a leaf-shaped beater. The Holy Family at work, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (PML M.917, fol. 149), c. 1440 , http://www.themorgan.org/collections/works/cleves/manuscript.asp?page=69

Figure 14: tablets and awls at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. Items are from the Oseberg find Photographer Costume Girl. The photograph is taken from her blog of her trip to Norway. http://adventuresofafartraveler.wordpress.com/page/2/

Author: Heather Jeffcott

2/18/2011

Figure 15: Viking-age horn tablets: SHM 4683, SHM 5208 , http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=28647

Figure 16: A third tablet from the same display. http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=28688

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Pattern and method:

While early cardweaving patterns were most likely passed down by teaching and word-of-mouth, there is evidence that pattern books were used, at least in the 16th C. This makes sense as mass market publishing begain to be more common and books for other sorts of weaving were also being published around this time. One example is the New Model Book of bobbin lace patterns first published in the late 126th C.

Figure 17: Use of a pattern book while weaving! Mary at the loom from a fresco at the Church of St. Primus and Felicianus, Slovenia, 1504; detail shows her pattern-book, http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7010352.JPG

Figure 18: Closeup of pattern book. http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7010353.JPG

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The pattern I used was one found at The Loomy Bin website. The Loomy Bin is a marvelous resource of proven patterns provided for use by all. The warping pattern and turnings pattern that I used can be seen below. The pattern is one called a kivrim or bent pattern. Similar patterns can be found in an early Finnish design called a Finnsh S (Collingwood).

Figure 19: threading diagram, Kivrim Techniques and Anatolian Bands, http://www.theloomybin.com/cw/kivrim.html

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Please note: the rest of this writing assumes that the reader is more than a little familiar with the intricacies of cardweaving theory. Nonetheless, before I get into more detail about the illustration above, a quick overview relevant to the above illustration and the following one is probably in order. Cardweaving differs from regular weaving in that the shed is changed by turning the cards. As the cards turn, the shed isnt just changed (upper threads are lowered, lower threads are raised), but are twined around each other like a rope. This rope can have a direction or twist that, like a screw thread, can be right- or left-handed in direction. Reversing the direction in which the cards are turned, reverses the direction of the twist. In this pattern, there are four warp threads per card so each set of four threads makes its one rope as the cards are twisted. The process of passing the weft thread back and forth through the shed as these ropes are twined draws the ropes together and forms a fabric. Thus, the choice of thread used has a very large impact upon the thickness of the final product. A very fine thread will make a finished product suitable for trim while a thicker thread will produced a finished product more suited to a strap or a belt. In the threading diagram above, every block of color indicates a thread. Every vertical row corresponds to one card. The four horizontal rows each correspond to an individually lettered hole in the cards, usually numbered from A thru D in a fashion rotating around the card in the direction towards the weaver. Thus hole A will be at the top of the card on the edge closest to the weaver while hole D will be on the top side on the edge away from the weaver. The angled lines at the below the colored squares indicate the angle of the card after the card is threaded. The angle of the card oncethreaded is actually opposite the direction of the resultant twist when the card is turned forward (away from the weaver). The threading diagram here is actually quite easy to make up as the cards are threaded identically. Every four cards the threading direction can be reversed by simply twisting the cards so that A becomes D. Since the cards operate in groups of four, the hole numbering quickly becomes irrelevant as thread position becomes more important than numbering. Now, all that said, you can see by looking at the threading diagram above that the pattern looks like a series of diamonds with four cards making up each side. If the cards are turned continuously forwards, a series of chevron stripes will be produced with the pattern repeating every four turns. However, if the cards are turned four turns forward and then four turns backwards, a series of diamonds the desired background! will be produced. I could have stopped with just that pretty pattern, but I wanted a little more pizzazz in my finished piece I wanted the spiral. With a little study of the pattern, I noticed that it was grouped into fours. Four cards side-by-side were all threaded the same direction and so each group of four cards acted as one. Every four turns, the contrasting thread would come to the top. As the cards were threaded so that the placement of the contrasting thread was offset one position from that of its neighbors, then each successive turn of the cards would draw a line by bringing the next contrasting thread to the top. If the direction of the turning was reversed, the direction of the line being drawn would reverse. This greatly simplified how I thought about the pattern.

Author: Heather Jeffcott

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Figure 20:Turning Pattern

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I drew a grid on top of a printed copy of the turning pattern and made a notation indicating where the cards would turn forwards and where they would turn backwards. In the picture below, every blackdot indicates that the card in that position reverses direction at that point. From here, its a numbers game: examining where you are in the pattern, then counting groups of four to discover which cards are turning forward or back at that particular point in the pattern. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that I translated the pattern into an easy-to-follow shorthand grid and followed that in order to weave. Once simplified, the turning pattern was much simpler than it originally appeared.

Figure 21: modified turning diagram

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To accomplish the weaving itself, there are two different methods: the one pack method and the two pack method. Both methods may be accomplished with the weaver standing or sitting depending on comfort desired or the viewing angle needed to monitor the progress of the woven pattern. In the one pack method, all the cards are kept bundled into one pack and card are individually turned forwards and backwards or the pack as a whole is turned forwards and backwards.

Figure 22: Standing while weaving. Arachne (fol. 29) and Penelope (fol. 58), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598), beginning of the 15th century, http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=IFN-8100285&E=JPEG&Deb=19&Fin=19&Param=C

Author: Heather Jeffcott

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In the two pack method, the cards are separated into two working packs depending on the direction the cards are turning and each working pack is treated as a whole. Individual cards are moved between the packs depending upon the direction they are required to turn at a given point.

Figure 23: Illustration of use of two-pack technique!!!! Annunciation, Festal Missal (KB 128 D 30, fol. 37r), c. 1460, http://racer.kb.nl/pregvn/MIMI/MIMI_128D30/MIMI_128D30_037R_MARGE.JPG

Final Words: This project is but the beginning. I am extremely pleased with how it turned out, but I have barely scratched the depths of what I plan to accomplish. The other trim constructed for this project (but not entered!) is a pattern of my own devising and the barest beginning of pattern manipulation through the weave itself. Future projects will include an exploration of twill weaves and a technique called the Hotchdorf method, a dropped-hole technique where one or more holes in the cards are not threaded thus exposing the warp threads and adding more depth and texture into the weave. The results are breathtaking. I can hardly wait.

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Bibliography Collingwood, Peter. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1982. New Edition: McMinnville, Oregon: Robin and Russ Handweavers, 2002.
The New Model Book republished as Fascinating Bobbin Lace, Patterns from the first book of bobbin lace to be printed. by Clair Burchard. Stuttgart: Haupy, 1986. ISBN 3-258-03610-1

Web-ography:
Hallstatt Tablet Weaving by Lady Czina Angielczyka, Copyright 2009. An extremely well-researched and documented paper on the authors work reproducing one of the weavings from the Halstatt find. Has a very thorough bibliography. http://www.leatherchain.com/research/hallstatt.htm

The Adventures of a Far Traveler, blog by Costume Girl. A first person account of a trip to Oslo, Norway, including a photographic record of items she personally viewed at the Viking Ship Museum. Many of these same items are mentioned in Collingwoods book. http://adventuresofafartraveler.wordpress.com/page/2/ The Textiles of the Oseberg Ship by Anne Stine Ingstad.http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/Oseberg/textiles/TEXTILE.HTM Swedish Historical Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, pictures of extant horn tablets for tablet weaving http://www.historiska.se/home/ Specific images: http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=28688 http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=28688 Mary at the loom from a fresco at the Church of St. Primus and Felicianus, Slovenia, 1504; detail shows her pattern-book, http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7010352.JPG Annunciation, Festal Missal (KB 128 D 30, fol. 37r), c. 1460, http://racer.kb.nl/pregvn/MIMI/MIMI_128D30/MIMI_128D30_037R_MARGE.JPG Arachne (fol. 29) and Penelope (fol. 58), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598), beginning of the 15th century, http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=IFN8100285&E=JPEG&Deb=19&Fin=19&Param=C

The Holy Family at work, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (PML M.917, fol. 149), c. 1440 , http://www.themorgan.org/collections/works/cleves/manuscript.asp?page=69

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Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: fingerloop braiding and weaving on a band loom , http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/zi1800_0080a.jpg
Annunciation, Festal Missal (KB 128 D 30, fol. 37r), c. 1460, http://racer.kb.nl/pregvn/MIMI/MIMI_128D30/MIMI_128D30_037R_MARGE.JPG Kivrim Techniques and Anatolian Bands, http://www.theloomybin.com/cw/kivrim.html Mary weaving, a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 30v), c. 1425-1430, http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/single_image2.cfm?imagename=m453.030vd.jpg&page=ICA0001 40459

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