Nalbound hats using the Oslo stitch

Behold the story of the creation of two nalbound hats, entered in the Passing of the IceDragon A&S Pentathlon AS52; Category: Fib5 Nalbinding. The hats originated from two questions: can energized yarn (a common beginners mistake) still make something useful? is it practical to re-purpose warp-weighted loom waste for nalbinding? Both questions were answered with a resounding yes, and I have a suspicion not only could WW loom waste easily be used, but that this is what it was used for.

What is nalbinding

Nalbinding is a textile technique usually done with a needle and thread, in which loops are connected to form a fabric. As opposed to working with a needle and tread as a seamstress or embroiderer to mend or embellish existing fabric, someone using nalbinding is creating new fabric. It is a technique still found practiced in many (lesser developed) parts of the world. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 9)

Selected historic finds from Scandinavian context

The oldest nalbound fragment, supposedly a piece of a mesh sieve made of plant fibers, is from a cave in Israel, Nahal Hemar, approximately 6500 BCE. Fragments found in Denmark date from 4200 BCE. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 32; neulakintaat.fi)

 

Cloak tab with silver and gold nalbound decoration from 10^th century Mammen, Denmark.

In a grave of a man buried with expensive clothes in Mammen, Denmark (970-971 CE) were found pieces of nalbinding in gold and silver wrapped silk threads. (Iversen 1991,132)

  

10^th century nalbound sock from York / Yorvik, UK.

An intricate Viking Age artifact is the nalbound sock discovered during the Coppergate excavations in York from 1976-81. Archaeologists from York Archaeologist Trust (YAT) were surveying the ground underneath a demolished factory ahead of the shopping centre being built, and discovered incredibly well-preserved remains of streets in the principal Northern city of Viking Britain.  Waterlogged, oxygen-free soil had stopped not only 1000-year-old timbers from rotting away, but had also preserved a huge selection of Viking artifacts, large and small. The stitch type used in this sock has not been found anywhere else, so it is called York Stitch or Coppergate Stitch (also Jorvik Stitch), based on the place where it was found. (yorkarchaeology)

    Finnish Viking Age nalbound mittens.

Another Viking Age find from Finland includes mittens made with nalbinding. The find also included a pair of shields and helmets, a pair of shoulder brooches on the shoulder, a pair of chain cuffs, a pair of twisted cuff links, bronze twisted ribbons, and two rings on each hand. On basis of the jewelry and money, tomb 56 is dated to the very end of the Vikings. Possibly, English money outside the neckline is from coins of the youngest tomb. The coins were beaten in 1018 AD. (translated from Finnish by author; Vajanto 2003, 22, 24)

 

[above] An 11^th century mitten found in Oslo, Norway. It is made using the Oslo stitch, the same stitch I used on my hats. The material of the mitten is unknown, but likely wool. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 46)

[below] The nalbound hat of Saint Simeon, from Trier, Germany of around 1000 AD. The material of the hat is undyed wool. The linen fabric and tablet woven border on the edge were added later. The hat was believed to provide a miracle cure for headaches. (Claßen-Büttner 2015, 49) 

My project

I made two nalbound hats using the Oslo stitch. One hat is made from homespun dyed and undyed wool, plied into an energized 3 ply for a stretchy hat. The other is made from commercial single ply warp-weighted loom waste, plied into a 4 ply. It is thought that because of the nature of the nalbinding technique, which uses short pieces of yarn as opposed to a continuous yarn like knitting, nalbinding would be a great way to re-purpose loom waste that otherwise would be too short for use.

Hat number one:

I used my first hand spun yarn for this hat (California red roving a friend had processed). As I had a bunch of small dyed balls of roving lying around from a previous Natural Dyeing A&S practice I decided to spin that, about twice the diameter as the white single, to ply together to create a pleasing visual texture. I used my brand new spinning wheel to wind the white single on two bobbins, and the colored single on one, and then plied all three together to make a 3 ply yarn. Unfortunately, I had misunderstood the plying instructions and added twist in the same direction both times. This resulted in quite an energized yarn (more like an elastic band, than a yarn!) full of rat tails. I figured, stretch in a hat is not a bad thing, so let’s make this a learning moment, and go with what I have... and as I hoped, it indeed made an awesome stretchy hat, which fits many heads.

                        

 The highly energized yarn showing many 'rat tail' tangles.

The dye colors came from several different dye baths, including madder, cochineal, copper, iron, onion, logwood, tumeric, black walnut etc. The dyes were all leftovers from the 2017 Gulf Wars fiber classes which I brought back up North for a natural dyeing A&S practice.

Hat number two:

I used loom waste singles of about 3 feet long, this is a typical length for loom waste from a warp-weighted loom as there is quite some length between the top heddle bar (above which is woven) and the hanging weights.

First I tried with a 3 ply, but the grey loom waste singles are thin and with my bone needle (the width determines the loop diameter) it made for an open structure. Next I made a 4 ply and that worked well. At first I plied them with a drop spindle and set them in hot water, but when I realized they would twist themselves, I just put them in hot water in a bundle of four by themselves to twist and turn to their hearts content. It made very nice, fluffy yarn and worked beautifully with my bone needle. I added a small white trim as that was the yarn I used in the selvage of my weave.

       Working on the second hat – the beginning top circle.

The Oslo Stitch

After taking several classes on nalbinding, none of which took, I got lucky with a hand out my sister shared with me. The images in the handout did it, and I learned I do not nalbind using my thumb, which is what most classes teach. I keep the loop between my fingers and use the gauge or diameter of the bone needle to determine loop width.

The Oslo stitch is a simple stitch, described with O/UO: this means ‘over’ / ‘under,’ ‘over’ or the needle goes first over the thread of the loop (or bottom row of stitches), then under, and then over again of the previously made stitch.

 From 'Basic Naalbinding:' the beginning steps to make a circular loop using the O/UO Oslo stitch. This loop would become the top of the hat (the tail is pulled to the inside).

Forming shapes with the nalbound technique is a matter of adding a second stitch to a loop, or skipping a loop (stitching two at the same time). This will increase or decrease the diameter of the fabric. It takes a bit more attention to make a flat hat, than it does to make the typical pointed Viking ‘Hershey’ hat. I made one of both for this project.

 

Both hats on display.

Observations:

- energized yarn makes awesome hats

- I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to ply singles, and what a nice yarn it makes

- loom waste is great for making nalbound projects

Next up, I am challenging myself to make socks, like the Yorvik sock shown earlier in the documentation. It will be interesting to see if I can make a matching set.

Side note:

Yes, I made the bone needle myself. I used a metal hack saw to cut strips from the leg bone, a file to shape it to a point, and sand paper. The hole was drilled prior to filing, and then sanded out. It is from the leg bone of one of our backyard goats. I find bone needles to handle more pleasantly than metal or smooth wood, especially if the bone still has some file marks to give it texture.

Previously published in the AEthelmearc Gazette as Nalbound Hats:
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2018/04/27/nalbound-hats/

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ulrike Claßen-Büttner (2015) Nalbinding What in the World is That? History and Technique of an Almost Forgotten Handicraft. Norderstedt: Books on Demand (BOD).

Sarah Goslee (undated) Basic Naalbinding

http://www.stringpage.com/naal/basicnaal.html

Mette Iversen (ed.) (1991) Mammen Grav, kunst og samfund I vinkinetid. Jysk Arkaeologisk Selskabs Skrifter XXVIII I kommission hos Aarhus Universitetsforlag. Højbjerg, Denmark: Jysk Arkaeologisk Selskabs.

Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha (undated) History of Nalbinding

https://www.en.neulakintaat.fi/17

Krista Vajanto (Master’s thesis) (2003) EURAN EMÄNNÄN NEULAKINTAAT, TUTKIELM A LUISTARIN HAUDAN  56 NE ULAKINNAS FRAGME NTEISTA (Euran Shoulder Needles, research from the fragments of the area of Luistar Hauda 56) Kulttuurien tutkimuksen laitos Arkeologian oppiaine.

http://www.vajanto.net/gradu/euran_emannan_neulakintaat.pdf

Artefacts discovered during the Coppergate excavations in York 1976-81

https://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/resources/picture-library/picture-library-2/viking-age-coppergate/

JORVIK Viking Centre brings the Vikings to life in York once again (2017)

https://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/2017/04/jorvik-viking-centre-brings-the-vikings-to-life-in-york-once-again/

IMAGES

York sock image (as the museum images are now only for sale)

http://www.genvieve.net/sca/nalbound-socks.html

Oslo stitch mitten (probably from Nordland 1961, and also on page 45 of Claßen-Büttner 2015)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/369576713144528185/

Hat of saint simeon (image from Claßen-Büttner 2015, 49 but in color).

http://naalbinding.blogspot.com/2017/12/naalbindingowa-czapka-z-xw-hat-of-saint.html

Felt - nature's nurture

Felt, the oldest known textile used by mankind, is not woven. It uses no loom to make, and needs no special equipment or ingredients. Technically, it does not even need mankind. Take a wild sheep out frolicking in the rain and sun, and felt will inevitably happen. Early man would have seen this too: this matted wool hanging off the sides of sheep, shed wool stuck to branches subsequently formed by the elements into a mass of fibers. And maybe one day a clever one thought: my rawhide shoes hurt, I wonder, what would happen if I pad it with some of this soft, bouncy stuff lying about?

 Icelandic sheep in need of some TLC.

            This is the stuff of myths and legends - and quite literally. Making felt is older than spinning and weaving and many cultures have legends about how felt-making was invented. Sumerians claimed felt-making was invented by their legendary traveler and warrior hero Urnamman of Lagash. Christian legends speak of Saint Clement, the patron saint of hatters, and Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, fleeing from prosecution and footsore had packed their sandals with wool. At the end of their arduous journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks. A favorite with children is the story of Noah’s ark, where the animals herded together in the Ark shed their fleece and during the voyage trampled it underfoot. When the animals left the Ark, Noah was amazed to find the floor carpeted in felt! In Persia the discovery of felt is attributed to Solomon’s son who was a shepherd. Having seen matted wool up close and personal, he was sure it could be made into fabric without the aid of a loom. But try as he might he could not make the fibers stick together, and stomped about on the fleece crying large tears of frustration. Lo and behold! He had discovered felt. Of course, the archaeological evidence points to the existence of felt long before Christian times. Felt is considered to be the earliest man-made fabric, and was critical to the survival of many early communities. However, the legends do contain an element of fact: they all refer to the three things necessary to produce felt – fleece, moisture and agitation.

In history, felt played a central role in the lives of inhabitants in Central Asia, Mongolia and parts of the Middle East. These tribes made clothing, saddles, and tents from felt because it was strong and resistant to wet and snowy weather. They also buried their dead covered with felt, and some of the earliest felt remains were found in the frozen tombs of nomadic horsemen in the Siberian Tlai Mountains and date to around 700 BC. Felt found in the frozen tomb of a nomadic tribal chief from the fifth century BC shows a highly developed technology of felt-making. The earliest felt found in Scandinavia was also found covering a body in a tomb in Hordaland, Norway, and is believed to be from about 500 AD. The Roman and Greeks knew of felt as well, and Roman soldiers were equipped with felt breastplates for protection from arrows, as well as felt tunics, boots and socks.

            Because of its weather resistant properties felt is still in use in many parts of the world, especially in areas with harsh climates. Traditionally, the yurts or tents Mongolian nomads live in are made from felt. Nomadic tribes from South Central Asia also uses felt as tent coverings, rugs and blankets. In Scandinavia and Russia, felt boots are produced and widely used. The kepenek, a Turkish shepherd’s cloak, is thought to have been in use at least since medieval times and protects the wearer from heat in summer and cold and wet in winter. And in the province of Agri, Turkey, men still wear the traditional kullik, a conical felt cap made from lamb’s wool.

14^th century Lappvattnet medieval hat from Sweden, thought to be one of the best preserved medieval hats in Sweden, Scandinavia and possibly even Europe.

             It is generally assumed all felt is made of wool. This is not necessarily the case: for instance early hat-making felt was produced using animal fur, generally beaver fur. The fur was matted with other fibers—including wool—using heat, pressure, and moisture. Beaver felt hats were made in the late Middle Ages and were much coveted. By the end of the fourteenth century hatmakers in the Low Countries started mass producing them, thus driving down the price. A process called ‘carroting’ was invented in the middle of the seventeenth century by which skins were dried in an oven (over-heated fur would turn carrot-orange), stretched and sliced off the fleece. This process used a solution of the mercury containing compound mercuric nitrate and this toxic solution, and the vapors it produced, resulted in widespread cases of mercury poisoning among hatters. The phrase "mad as a hatter" might be more literal than generally realized!

           

Flaundryssh bever hat (Flemish beaver hat)

The Merchant in the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, ca. 1410.

The medieval technique of using water to felt fibers is called wet felting. Only certain types of fibers can be wet felted; including most types of fleece (like sheep, alpaca and camel), mohair (goat), angora (rabbit) or hair from rodents such as beavers and muskrats. The reason why these fibers can be felted and others not, is because these fibers are covered in tiny scales. Moisture, motion and heat within a fleece cause the scales to open, and agitation causes them to latch on to each other, creating felt. Plant fibers and synthetic fibers will not do this and thus do not wet felt. A more modern method of felting uses needles to create the felting effect without using water. The needles have notches along the shaft of the needle that catch fibers and tangle them with other fibers to create felt. Needle felting is used in industrial processes to create large sheets of felt, and in crafting to create three dimensional shapes and adornments.

When choosing felt to recreate medieval garments and accessories, it is good to realize the difference in technique of wet felting and needle felting between modern commercial felt, and felt used in medieval times. Medieval felt would mostly be wool or fur based and wet felted, while modern felt is mostly made of synthetic fibers and needle felted. Keep in mind that while felt is made from scratch, fulled fabrics are first woven and then wet felted, to create a sturdier and more weatherproof woolen fabric. Thus a woolen fabric can be fulled, but is not a felt; and (pre-)felt is fulled to make felt. Not to be confusing, or anything.

How to make your own sheet felt.

Start with roving (wool prepared for spinning) of a type of wool that felts well. Not all wool felts equally, and a simple but effective way to test this is to take a bit, dampen your palms, and rub both hands together with the roving in the middle. The friction, combined with moisture, will create heat and the wool roving should compact and shrink, and thus felt.

 Workshop Felt 101: Layering the roving.

            On a large piece of plastic lay out thin layers of fibers pulled from the roving, all pointing the same way. Expect shrinkage of about 30% so adjust your size accordingly. When you’ve made your first layer (left to right), add another layer on top – now going the opposite direction (perpendicular, thus up and down). Having the layers of fibers cross each other helps interlock the fibers more firmly. When you have about 3 to 5 layers, spray warm soapy water over the whole piece, concentrating more of the water in the central area then at the edges. All fibers should be dampened, but not soaked; a little water goes a long way.

With your hands gently rub the fibers together, like a relaxing back massage. Imagine pressing the water into and through the fibers. If you like, lay some tulle or netting - like the bags used for bulk onions or oranges - over the fibers to help with friction. When the fibers start to tangle, or interlock, take another piece of plastic and cover the top. Roll a pool noodle over the whole piece while flat on the table, up to a hundred times. The piece can be flipped over and rolled from the opposite side as well.

Then take your noodle, and wrap your fiber package around the outside of it, and wrap a towel around that. Secure and go sit down and watch a good TV show, while continuously rolling this fiber-towel-roll randomly underneath your feet, in front of the couch, for about a hundred times and more.

When you think it is done, unroll the piece and gently pull on a little bit to see how well it has tangled. If the fibers are overly wet it can tear easily, so be careful when removing the plastic. Check for wrinkles which can develop if the piece is not rolled firmly and smooth them out. Remove any excess water by rolling and gently pressing with the towel. Move on to the next step, or let it dry to use later, either on the table or draped over a chair or drying rack. You have just made your first piece of pre-felt.

 

Rolling the pre-felt with soap and pool noodles.

 

Rolling the pre-felt with feet.

To full or shrink pre-felt down to its final size.

• Remove the pre-felt from the plastic and gently wring it out. If it does not seem very soapy, add some more soap. Wet with hot tap water and wring out again. Rub the pre-felt between your hands until it begins to feel as if it is shrinking. Open it up and check to see how it looks and rub to shrink areas as you go.
• This is the fun part: throw the felting piece into the sink about 100 times. Do this at random, letting the piece move around so it hits the hard surface differently each time.
• Put some cold water and vinegar into the sink (the acidic vinegar neutralizes the alkaline soap). Submerge the felt and let it soak for a few minutes.
• Empty the sink; rub the pre-felt and throw it some more to shrink it even further.
• Heat up water to the boiling point, pour into the sink, add the felted piece and let it soak for a few minutes. Add some cold water until it is just cool enough to put your hands in. Swish the felt around and press the water out.
• Drain the sink and fill again, this time with real cold water, and add the felt. Swish around until the felt is cool.
• (repeat the previous two steps if you think it necessary)
• Gently press out the water and roll the felt in a towel to remove excess water. The felt can be further dried by ironing it, putting it in the dryer for circa half an hour, or simply by hanging it to dry. Steam can be used to set a three dimensional shape: a stock pot steamer for felt stuffed with newspapers works; a steam iron works just as well (for more info see links below).

Home made sheet felt has many uses: a thick mat can be used to sleep on when going a-Viking Hiking, or used to make armor. A small piece can be added as insoles to thin-soled turnsole shoes. It can be used to make rabbit-fur edged Viking hats (with or without the rabbit fur). It can be doubled over, with plastic in the middle, to felt into a bag. It can be molded over a bowl, or a ball, to make all sorts of hats. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination…

           

DIY pictures are from a workshop I took this summer at ROC Day, organized by the Black Sheep Handspinners Guild of Ithaca, NY. The felting information is summarized from the accompanying handout Introduction to Felting Workshop ROC Day 2018.

For more information on making hats:

http://www.hatshapers.com/Felting_Instructions.htm

- Modern felting instructions on making a felt hat from fibers.

http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2013/09/

- Tips on making medieval hat reproductions.

http://www.larsdatter.com/bycokets.htm

- Links to medieval manuscripts showing many period hats.

http://www.amagyarjurta.com/index.php/scythian-inspired-felt-hat/

- How-to on making a Scythian felt hat, based on a Scythian archer pictured on a Greek vase.

For more on the history of felt:

http://www.feltcrafts.com/history.html

http://www.historyofclothing.com/textile-history/felt-and-feltmaking-history/

https://www.feltmakers.com/history/

Images:

Icelandic sheep portrait https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/541065342706742022/

https://themedievalhunt.com/2015/03/19/the-lappvattnet-hat/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Merchant_-_Ellesmere_Chaucer.jpg

Workshop photographs by me.

Previously published in the AEthelmearc Gazette as Felt: Nature's Nurture, May 3rd, 2018.
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2018/05/03/felt-natures-nurture/

The Wardrobe Project for their Royal Majesties - Team Norse / Viking.

The Norse outfits of Their Royal Majesties came together around one garment, a klappenrock for His Majesty. Starting with the coat we then searched for other extant finds of a similar time frame and culture to assemble a wardrobe. The different aspects of the wardrobe were divided up between 10 people, with each participant working on a part of their choosing. The color choice for the Royal Wardrobe is a mix between Their Majesty’s heraldic colors of black & red and the Kingdom heraldry of red & white. Where appropriate, the garments are embellished with silk trim, silk cord or silk tablet woven trim. Part of the fabric came from personal supply; part was bought especially for this project.

The base outfits of Their Majesties are based on extant garment pieces found in 10th century Danish Haithabu and Swedish Birka. Both towns were important trading villages of the time, creating exposure to a more diverse culture. His Majesty’s coat is based on garment pieces found in Haithabu that are interpreted as a wrap-around caftan, or klappenrock. His pants are based on earlier period Thorsberg Trousers (without the feet). Her Majesty’s coat is based on a pattern commonly known as the Birka coat.

Her apron dress is based on fabric fragments finds from Haithabu with its top adorned with a tablet woven brocade inspired by Birka finds. The under and overtunics are extrapolated from fabric fragment finds from both towns. The hoods are based on the well-known 11th century Skjoldehamn find. Unlike the unadorned extant piece, we added 10th century Mammen style embroidery on silk trim to add a bit of Royal flair.

For the Royal accessories we based the Knight’s white belt and belt pouch on Birka hardware finds. We choose a braided belt for Her Majesty in our Kingdom colors, as there is nearly no evidence for leather belts worn by Norse women. This belt is also based on the 11th century Skjoldehamn find and is thought to have belonged to a Norwegian woman. As Her Majesty would not have a belt pouch, a Haithabu style wood handled bag was made, boldly emblazoned with the Æthelmearc escarbuncle. The beads used in Her Majesty’s brooch string and necklace are based on 8th century Ribe exemplars. Their Majesty’s feet were covered with turnsole shoes based on 10th century shoes from Dorestadt, the Netherlands, another Viking trade center.

It was an amazing experience to see first how the wardrobe idea came together, then was taken apart and divvied up between the participants, to at the end come together again in its final assembly. While this type of collaboration is par for the course in medieval life, it is rare to encounter it in a SCAdian context. I feel privileged to have been part of this wonderful experience and hope the future will see more of this kind of multi-disciplinary, multi-artisan projects!

To download the documentation for this project, please visit:
https://www.academia.edu/35987087/The_Wardrobe_Project_-_a_set_of_Norse_Viking_Clothing_for_Their_Majesties

Women's Set of Viking Winter Clothes based on Haithabu and Birka textile finds.

 

Haithabu in Denmark, or Hedeby in Schleswig-Holstein Germany in our modern times, was one
of the major ports of trading of this area. The textiles that were found here were from the 10th
century, the golden age of Haithabu. The Haithabu garment finds are especially interesting
because they show evidence of advanced tailoring techniques, where instead of just combining
geometric shapes several of the pieces found have been cut into shapes that closely follow the
body.

What is also interesting is that most of the textile finds at Haithabu come from the harbor
where scrap clothing was cut to pieces, soaked in tar and used as caulking in ships. Several ships
were found submerged in the harbor in modern times, and due to the tar protection and low
oxygen environment (below water) the textile fragment were remarkably well preserved. In
addition to the harbor finds, textile remains from the settlement and graveyard of Haithabu were
also analyzed, which proved additional information on what the Viking inhabitants of the town
were wearing.

The textile remains of the settlement and harbor are very similar, with the same garment
types and the proportion of weaves found roughly the same. The grave finds on the other hand
differ from this by generally having textiles of higher quality. These differences could indicate
that the content of the graves reflects beliefs and social standing, while the textiles from the
settlement and harbor may give a truer picture of what people were wearing every day.

Where the available Haithabu information is weak I supplemented my designs with
garment and textile information from Birka, a Viking trading town from around the same time in
nearby Sweden.
 

My entry at the 2016 Ice Dragon A&S Pentathlon Competition.

Now available to read and download from Academia.edu at:
https://www.academia.edu/31139188/Womens_Set_of_Viking_Winter_Clothes_based_on_Haithabu_and_Birka_textile_finds

The Klappenrock: A Viking Warrior's Coat from 10th century Haithabu.

 

"Presented before you is a man’s coat based on textile fragments found in Viking age Haithabu. Haithabu, in Schleswig-Holstein Germany in our modern times, was one of the major ports of trading of this area. The textiles that were found here were from the 10th century, the golden age of Haithabu. The Haithabu garment finds are especially interesting because they show evidence of advanced tailoring techniques, where instead of just combining geometric shapes several of the pieces found have been cut into shapes that closely follow the body. The klappenrock does not seem to occur in Viking-time imagery and it is duly lacking on the Bayeux tapestry. The Haithabu fragments are the first identifiable remnants of a garment which in pre-Viking times was frequently illustrated. Because of the gap in pictorial evidence within Viking times, and the difference in styles of the caftan in cultural and geographical context, it is not straightforward to extrapolate what style of klappenrock the Haithabu fragments would have made."

(don't mind the kid...)

Now available to read and download from Academia.edu at:

https://www.academia.edu/32370239/The_Klappenrock_A_Viking_warriors_Coat_From_10th_C_Haithabu

To make the tassels on the Skjoldehamn Belt, version 2

As my son was in need of yet another belt, I choose to make him one inspired by the Harvest Raid harvest theme. While I did not shear the sheep or spun the wool, each skein started out as natural white and the colors all came from different dyestuffs harvested from our backyard.

The belt itself is based on a belt found with a peat bog body, likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern Norway. The body was found wearing a near complete outfit, including this belt. Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15^th to early 16^th century based on the style of clothing, but new analysis of the find using carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20 years instead.

I dyed seven skeins, and the kid chose four colors to use in his belt. His favorites were Black Walnut, Onion Skin, Iron and Stinging Nettle (mordanted). It ended up creating a camouflage pattern which he is very happy with!

A CHANGE:

I have made few versions of this belt and had an idea I wanted to experiment small scale, making this a perfect kids’ belt project. Instead of using separate thin and colorful yarn for the tassels I re-used yarn from the core (braid), and instead of attaching “hair” made of a different fuzzy yarn I, again, re-used yarn from the core (braid). This difference in technique meant I had to use multiple colors for the belt braid to end up with enough different colors to make a banded design along the cords, and I also had to leave more length of unused yarn at the beginning and end of the braid to have enough to make the tassels.

This blog post is about the alternative way of wrapping the cords and making the tassels. For information on how to make the braid, please see my previous post at:
https://bookeofsecretes.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-make-12-strand-skjoldehamn-belt.html

When the braid is at length, both ends are split into three units of four strand, each of which are separately wrapped to create the tassels. I checked to make sure at least three colors ended up in each tassel cord to be able to recreate the banded pattern. Normally I would split according to placement within the braid, this time I sorted by color making the split a little disorganized looking. Keep this in mind when wrapping to start real tight as to minimize this untidy look.

Instead of wrapping with separate thinner yarn I chose to use this project to try out a different technique. I used one strand of the core four colors instead, alternating as looked pleasing. Keep in mind the pattern of the wrappings; each tasseled end has an alternating center. The banded tassels look symmetrical without being completely identical, which is surprisingly hard to emulate. Shown in the picture below is how I use the new strand (brown) to lock the previous one (grey) in place.

I tightly tied my yarn around the strands at the beginning and manually wrapped yarn around and around, occasionally shoving back the looped yarn to tighten the wrap (see images below). At a new field or band I did not tie off the previous color but wrapped it in with the tassel cords with the new color, until I needed it again.

A tuft of thick felted yarn is present on the original tassel heads at this point of time. It is not clear if the tassels were felted when new; they could have been made felted but they could also have felted afterwards by wear and tear, or even by burial and soil erosion. As there is an area of felting on the inside of the knotted loop made by use, it was not a new belt, but other than that it is hard to say whether the tassel was originally felted or not. To make my tassels I looped back the yarn ends to have three times the bulk of yarn for the head’s “hairdo”.

The tassel necks are wrapped and secured with three rows of fastening stitches. The raised knots are not created by knotting the yarn but created by stitching the ends back into the neck. I used the same stitching technique to wrap and secure my tassel heads as was used on the original (while initially a little hard to figure out, it works surprisingly well to lock in the stitch). See the previous blog post for more detail on the stitching.

 

Then the “hairdo” is cut to length, and the belt is done!

All in all it takes about 6-8 hours to make a Skjoldehamn belt using this (likely) abbreviated technique.

The belt and the skeins of dyed wool at the AS 52 Harvest Raid A&S Competition (received First Place). For the accompanying documentation, please check:

https://www.academia.edu/34790443/Skjoldehamn_Belt_made_from_wool_dyed_with_natural_pigments

These blog posts are to illustrate the technique of making the 12 strand braided belt in detail. For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledg

To make the tassels for the Skjoldehamn Belt, version 1.

The belt is based on a belt found with a peat bog body, likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern Norway. The body was found wearing a near complete outfit, including this belt. Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15^th to early 16^thcentury based on the style of clothing, but new analysis of the find using carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20 years instead. 

The person found was about 40-50 years old. Even though most of the large bones including the skull disintegrated during the excavation in 1936 the remaining bones show no signs of wear and tear and no strong muscle attachments. Together with a slim build and a small stature of 5’ the general archaeological consensus is that the remains are too short and slender for a typical Norwegian male, and could very well be female (or possibly Sámi male or female).

This means this could be one of only a few finds of a female of the (late) Viking age wearing a belt; and the only one I know of where the belt itself is present instead of just indicating hardware (like a buckle), making it a very intriguing find indeed!

This blog post is about how to finish the ends of the braid into period plausible tasseled cords.

When the braid is at length, both ends are split into three units of four strands, each of which are separately wrapped to create the tassels.

I start with the middle cord, and tie up the two outer cords, to keep them out of the way

From the images provided in the thesis (see above) it looks like the wrapping yarn used is thinner than the yarn used for the belt and the tassel necks. Keep in mind the pattern of the wrappings; every tassel cord has a center band and the center tassels are red fields with green/gold/green bands and the outside tassels are green fields with gold/red/gold bands. The cords look symmetrical without being completely identical, which is surprisingly hard to emulate.

I tightly tied my yarn around the strands at the beginning and manually wrapped the cone of yarn around and around (and hiding the tail end of the knot underneath the wrappings). At a new field or band I did not tie off the previous color but wrapped it in with the tassel cords with the new color, until I needed it again.

Adding a third color; from now on the colored yarn can be "picked up" from the yarn making up the cord's core.

All done with the wrapped cords. Notice how to center cord of each bundle is in opposite colors as the outside cords - as is the same on the extant piece.

It is not clear from the original find if the tassel head is made from separate yarn, of by looping back and doubling up on the core yarn, like demonstrated below. In my first version I tied four single ply yarns to the end of the tassel core to make the tassel head, and used yarn from the tassel core to secure the base. Then the single ply wool went bonkers from the humidity and fluffed up quite considerably, making me look for a different technique.
 
Then the tail end of the yarn is looped back and secured with a knot to make the tassel head.

I use a secure flat knot to tie the yarn right at the base of the cords. Then the tassels get combed down, keeping one long yarn separate to use to wrap and secure the base of the tassels.

 Then one of the long ends is used to wrap and stitch the base of the tassel (this is a different tassel, the above only has two red ones to stitch with but as that was not very visible I used one in white to show the stitch).

You can wrap it around the base a few times to secure and then start stitching, or you can wrap and stitch from the get-go. The extant piece is stitched from the base up.

 

The stitch feels kind of backwards. I work from L to R, therefore I wrap the yarn around the back and come up on top, then I stitch under the base of the beginning of the yarn loop, to come back out over the previous yarn loop (but under the new one) and then it gets pulled tight. Repeat until the base is well defined and securely stitched in. In the extant piece the base stitching was done in three bands of two colors.

Then the tassels are cut to length and nicely ruffled up. It is not clear from the extant piece if the tassel fibers are only from the core, added separately, or both. The same for the cord wrapping. From looking closely at the pictures it seems like different diameter fibers are used, making a case that both existing thicker cord yarn, and added thinner wrapping yarn is used to wrap the cords. The extant tassels are felted, but again, it is not clear if the felting happened on purpose at construction, happened during wear, or happened during burial.
 

This blog post is to illustrate how to make the tasseled cords of the 12 strand braided belt in detail. Look for my earlier blog post on how to make the braid itself, and for a later post on an alternate way of wrapping.

For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:

https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is base in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge

All photographs are (c) by Susan Verberg, 2017
All illustrations are from Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation.

To make the 12 strand Skjoldehamn Belt braid

This belt is a 24 yarn, 12 strand braid, and is based on a belt found with a peat bog body, likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern Norway. The ends of the belt were decorated with tasseled wrapped cords, in the style of modern Scandinavian Sami people. The body was found wearing a near complete outfit, including this belt. Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15^th to early 16^th century based on the style of clothing, but new analysis of the find using carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20 years instead. Chromosome research indicate the body to be a female.

This blog post is to illustrate the technique of the 12 strand braid used in this belt in detail. For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:

https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge

The braid of this belt works best with a fairly low twist yarn. The stiffer the yarn the bulkier the belt, and it can get too bulky for wear. Do a small test piece to make sure your yarn braids well. I prefer to use weaving yarn, or yarn which does not have much stretch (unlike knitting yarn) as this make for a sturdy weave.

First measure 12 pairs of yarn, at least twice the length of the intended finished product. Wind the pairs on a bobbin, preferably a kumihimo bobbin (large size) but if not available, a piece of cardboard works as well (but does get easily tangled). Keep the L and R sides separated, for instance with a chip clip. For the beginner, please start with two contrasting colors as it really helps to keep the sides separate.

I use an inkle loom as a holder. I've placed it on it's rear and use the first / top bar or peg to give me a working height to do a nicely tensioned braid. When I've braiding enough length to be too low for comfort, I use the other pegs to loop back and forth in between to keep the braid shed at a comfortable working height.

 

To start I measure out about 2 feet from the end (if using the braid yarn to make the tassels) and put in a knot. I put in some random other knots in the tail to later use to secure to the loom pegs in just the right spot.

I use a chip clip to flatten the yarns into two sheds of 12 strands, 6 strands on each side.

Pick up the outermost R (white) strand, go OVER three, and then UNDER the last two OF ITS OWN SIDE. Then pick up the outermost R (red) strand, go OVER three, and then UNDER the last two, which is now one red and one white.

 

Repeat this movement, take the outermost, and go under the last two of THE SAME SIDE. After six passes on both sides, the red and white will have reversed sides.

When tightening the weave DO NOT overtighten. Gently pull together; pull taught, but do not really pull tight. If the weave is overtightend then the edges will get compacted and not work well. With my fingers, I keep the strands of the braid flat and in order while braiding so I can easily see where I am going, and which strand is the actual last one. If not sure, pull gently and see which herringbone tightens up. My biggest problem with this project are the bobbins - my frugal cardboard pieces *love* to wrap themselves around their neighbors and get stuck. When I then shift attention to untangling I sometimes let go of strand(s) and loose track of which went where... As I've made three of these so far and see myself making more, Kumihimo bobbins are now in my Amazon queue!

With this braid, the actually braided part is the herringbone pattern in the middle - the edges are the strands looping over from side to side (follow one of the colored bands and you see the zigzag pattern the strands make throughout the braid). This image (above) also shows that one side - counting from the center - has on the L three whites, two over and one under, and to the R had three reds, one under and two over. The side which starts with two over, side-by-side, as seen FROM THE CENTER, is the side which is braided towards. So in this shed, pick up the outermost white, go under the two red, to align with the two side-by-side whites. This is your visual queue as to where you left off and is slightly counter-intuitive for some reason.

When it's time for a break, I use my trusty chip clip to clamp one of the sides. It is better to clamp one then to clamp both on one clip: it is absolutely necessary to keep both sides separate to start back up, but not really important if the strands themselves stay in order. When you lost track of which strand to use next and have no idea how to proceed, slowly back up and unbraid until you have all red, and all white, on separate sides again. Then look for the side with the two-over, and start again.

This image shows how the pegs on the loom can be used to wrap up the length created while braiding, to keep your braiding shed at a comfortable height. If a suitable inkle loom is not available, you could also use a wood clamp on a table's edge and clip or tie your braid to the top, or the back of a high-backed chair.

Next Up: How to make the cord and tassel, two versions.

Some more information on this belt, includes an alternative to making the tassels:

https://www.academia.edu/34790443/Skjoldehamn_Belt_made_from_wool_dyed_with_natural_pigments

Illustration from Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation, at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge