November 2020 – Lady Elewys of Finchingefeld, JdL, GdS

Weave Along with Elewys, Ep. 10: Estonian Siksala Snail Motif

Ok, it might not *actually* be a snail, but it looks a little snail-like to me.

…and the “wrong” side! I think I like this side better.

I had asked on the community page what kind of weaving you all would like to see next, and about half of you said something different and more challenging. And I thought I found one…but I think I’ll put it off til next time. That one has 38 cards; a very random, meandering pattern; and seems to go on for days…and days…and days… In all, 182 picks to this repeat… If you want to do that weave with me, and you don’t have that many cards, this is your fair warning to stock up!

So I looked around some more and found one that I think is much more do-able, but still a bit different because it isn’t Norse and not geometric. I don’t have a lot of history on this one because, while there are some papers written on the subject… I don’t read Estonian. Sure, I could rely on Google Translate to help, but many times, as many of you may have experienced, the translations leave a lot to be desired.

The motif that I have chosen comes from a 13th or 14th century grave find in Estonia, the Siksala shawl, found in grave 200. It is currently housed in the archaeological collection at the Tallinn University Institute of History. There are more than a dozen different motifs around this woven and beaded edge, where the weaver did two or three repeats of a design, then moved onto the next one, a bit like a skip hole weaving sampler.

The shawl’s edging is largely complete—almost the entire edge remains, but the body of the shawl has mostly disintegrated.

Rather than try to chart out the entire thing (there is a book available on Ebay for under $8 US that does just that), I have chosen one very pretty motif, and its mirror image, to show you for this video. It’s got really cute snail-like curls—and I love snails!

I hunted around for a new and different piece of tablet weaving and came across a photo of a re-created piece and I absolutely fell in love with it. Unfortunately, the person who posted the image on Pinterest didn’t credit the maker (ALWAYS credit the maker!), I dug around some more and found that these photos actually belonged to my favorite weaver to stalk, Mervi Pasanen. https://hibernaatio.blogspot.com/2012/01/lautanauhaa-virosta-tablet-weaving-from.html

The next kingdom in our Laurel Kingdoms project is the Kingdom of Atlantia, created in 1981 whose borders encompass Maryland; Virginia; North and South Carolina; Augusta, Georgia & Washington DC. Their colors are blue and white. Given the oceanic theme of that region, the snail-like motifs will be a perfect fit for that Kingdom.

Don’t be afraid of the length of this pattern! It’s got the same techniques that you have already done–skip hole, turning cards forwards & backwards–it’s just a lot longer. However, you don’t have to worry about twist build up in the cards–this is a zero-twist pattern. You will need to flip your border cards every couple of repeats.

…or the double-wide. This one prints on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet easier.

Thanks so much for joining me again! Happy weaving, a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all my US viewers, and hope all your lockdowns are swift and comfortable. Check on your neighbors…we all need to look out for each other.

My Inkle Loom: Woodworker Episode

I’ve had a number of folks asking me about my loom, how it was made, where I bought it, etc. The answers are: it’s an Inkle loom–a 19th century invention (so…not medieval at all), unknown maker, and I bought it second hand more than 20 years ago. I think I bought it before I had kids…and my eldest is 23 now.

However, I am here to give you plans, dimensions, photos, and all the suggestions for improvement if I were to make it again. The discussion will be in the video, but this is where I wanted to post all the drawings (for what they’re worth–it’s been many a year since I took drafting, and I am not a proficient woodworker, so your mileage may vary).

This is a view of the back of the loom. If I were to make it again, I would make the slot for the tension peg at least an inch longer–maybe two.

This is a view of the forward end–the weaver’s end–but still the back view of the loom. I have omitted the tension peg in this drawing for simplicity. Note that this drawing is not to scale…I wasn’t sure how to do that at an angle, but I think it makes sense.

This is the view from the forward end–the weaver’s end–of the loom. Again, not to scale, and clearly, not the best drawing ever. The pegs don’t even come close to lining up…sigh.

A simple diagram of the tension peg. The threaded screw fits into the narrow slot on the base, and into the tapped end. The wooden peg pinches the base as you tighten the screw.

The front of the loom. From this angle, you can see how close together the pegs are on the left (weaver’s) end and the three pegs in the middle. If you are using this exclusively as a tablet weaving loom, those pegs can be spread out further to accommodate the warping. I might also add an additional peg on the base between the right-most peg and the one to its left, just above and to the left of the stabilizing foot.

The back of the loom. Note that the pegs are all wedged into place. The stability foot was added later by me, but I strongly recommend it.

Here’s the loom warped up–now you can see how the pegs have been placed to accommodate the weaving. The peg at the lower right is lower than the pegs in the middle of the base, and the large gap between the top peg on the first upright and its second peg leaves room for a string to go directly from the front peg to the back peg if you are using it for inkle weaving.

Inkle loom, warped, for reference. Note how half of the strings go directly from the front peg to the back peg. The other half go through string heddles, then up to the top peg on the first upright, then to the back peg. If you are making your loom for only tablet weaving, you don’t need to worry about that gap.

I hope you are able to translate these images and drawings into a loom of your own!

And when you find that this little guy isn’t enough for you…

Weave Along with Elewys, Episode 9: Easy Peasy Applesies

Kaukola Kekomaki #379

If you were to ask me for book recommendations, and you have!, one of the books that I will recommend to every historic tablet weaver is Applesies and Fox Noses, Finnish Tabletwoven Bands from Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanen.

Applesies–the Finnish Tablet Weaving Bible

This is a collection of 30 patterns ranging from very easy to difficult, and includes period motifs from tablet weaving fragments found from the Finnish Iron Age, which ranges from 500 BC to 1300 AD.

The other comments I’ve gotten from the Tablet Weaving for Absolute Beginners is that the pattern was too complex. If you want to start your first tablet woven band and want a very easy pattern to start with–this is it!

Kaukola Kekomäki drawing of the book from Theodor Schwint: Tietoja Karjalan rautakaudestan from 1893 | Tissage tablettes, Archéologie, Carte — Theodor Schwindt’s drawing of fragment #379.

This pattern comes from a fragment found in the Kaukola Kekomaki graveyard dating from the Karelian Iron Age–as mentioned above. This three-color fragment was found on a dress, a detailed drawing of this 14 mm wide band (slightly over 1/2″) is in Theodor Schwindt’s book, Tietoja Karjalan rautakaudesta (“About the Karelian Age”), published in 1893. The item is labeled as #379.

A variation of Colorful Small Applesies from **Applesies and Fox Noses, Finnish Tabletwoven Bands** by Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanen, ISBN 978-952-5774-49-8.

Some of you may have seen this pattern or similar ones on Pinterest or come across it in Google searches. The web site for these two amazing weavers is https://hibernaatio.blogspot.com where they have several other patterns. You may panic for a moment because there are quite a lot of words you don’t recognize…yes, it’s written in Finnish. But DON’T PANIC–if you look carefully, you’ll see there is also English written in there! Not this pattern, of course, but on the web site. It’s OK.

You’ll notice that this pattern doesn’t have S and Z written under the pattern, and you’ll also see that the pattern is labeled DCBA…upside down! And the card is COUNTERCLOCKWISE! AAAAAHHHHH!

No, don’t panic. Let’s plug that into the tablet weaving draft designer: https://jamesba.github.io/tabletweave/ and make the bubbles look the same as the image.

There we go! Now, if you’ve watched my previous weaving videos, or if you’re familiar with this notation, you should be able to warp this one up! And if you’re not familiar with the Applesies charting system, you also now have the key for how their notations will translate into warping your loom.

Ansteorra where the wind comes sweeping down the plain…

This next piece in the Laurel Kingdoms project is honoring the Kingdom of Ansteorra (which means “one star”–totally appropriate for the Lone Star State!), which was elevated from a Principality to a Kingdom in 1979, which encompasses Oklahoma and Texas. Their colors are red, black and yellow.