A Double-Faced Tablet Woven Band – Pt 1

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Eirny

I had been doing tablet weaving, also known as card weaving, for a number of years. Most of my tablet weaving efforts were focused on making simple woven-in designs on narrow straps – they make good belts and garter belts. I had even sewn several pieces of tablet weaving together (side-by-side) to make a rather fun red and white belt pouch. At some point I decided that it was time to “up the game” so I taught myself how to do a new, more specialized tablet weaving technique called double-faced weaving, and thus the origins of this project! As with my previous Leather Purse with Metal Frame blog series, I will divide up the original documentation into sections and then post a follow-up with pictures and any additional information that I can find to help clarify the process.

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The technique used to produce this band is called double-faced tablet weaving. The technique was originally introduced to me as Double-Faced Icelandic Tablet Weaving, because of its presence as a technique in Iceland, but this limits the technique to only one geographic group. Collingwood assures us that double-faced weave inscription bands are also known from England, Greece, Tunis, Persia, Turkey, India, Sulawesi, and Burma, as well as Armenia, Abyssinia, and Bulgaria.¹ While Spies documents the finds of double faced 3/1 broken twill in Scandinavia at least as far back as the 6^th century.²The technique produces a band with a reversible design. The presence of graphic designs, writing, and even dates, on tablet woven bands is also easily documented to period. There are several bands, known as “Jerusalem bands”, the earliest of which date from at least the early 1600’s.³ The “Bishops Band” also known as the Cingulum of St. Witgarius (the Bishop of Augsburg) dates from 860-876 AD and comes from southern Germany, ⁴ the Stole of St. Cuthbert, dating from the 10^th century, comes from Durham, England,⁵and the maniple of St. Ulrich (Bishop of Augsburg) dating from 10^th century in Augsburg, Germany, are all examples of double-faced tablet weaving.⁶

Dealing with Sterling Silver Jewelry Shapes that are Difficult To Polish

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Eirny

Dealing with sterling silver jewelry shapes that are difficult to polish can be challenging.

Yesterday I was working on a large sterling silver jewelry project – a coronet for a friend who is a historic re-enactor. There are a LOT of differences between working on small pieces of jewelry, and working with something this large. And that reality prompted me to make a couple of quick tools to make the polishing safer and more effective. As I was working, I realized that a couple of the things that I had figured out might be of use to others, so here are two quick tips for polishing large objects.

The sterling silver jewelry piece that I was working on was challenging because it was large with lots of pointy bits that made it waay too dangerous to polish on a big polishing wheel. The opportunity for it to catch in the wheel and either do damage to me or the piece was a serious concern. So that meant it was time to haul out the flex shaft for finishing! But how to hold and polish the piece at the same time? The piece is essentially a large oval, made from a strip of sterling silver one inch wide and 25 inches long. The band is decorated with sterling silver annulets (think donut shapes) and a specialized form of a sterling silver cross with a pointy bottom and exaggerated pointy arms. The annulets are completely soldered flat to the band, but the crosses stick up above the top of the band with all of their pointy goodness just waiting to hook onto any polishing wheel that comes near them. I often polish smaller pieces by simply holding them in my hand, but that was NOT going to work for this large piece of sterling silver jewelry (well it’s more of an accessory than what we think of as jewelry). I am fortunate enough to have a jewelers’ bench in my Studio, so I put the bench pin into the front of the bench. Now for those of you who don’t have something like a bench pin, well, I would probably lay a chair down on the floor on its side, sit on the floor or a stool, and use one of the legs as a support. The chair leg can serve the same function as a bench pin in this application.

I always have a pile of those white terry cloth shop towels in my Studio. They are inexpensive, and handy for everything from spills to padding, which is exactly what I used one for! I folded the towel in half, wrapped it around the bench pin and then held it in place with some masking tape. Now I had a clean, slightly rounded and padded, non-scratch support (a temporarily modified bench pin) that I could rest my massive sterling silver jewelry on for polishing. If I were using a chair leg, the towel would protect the chair and give the same kind of padding ( I would NOT do this with grandma’s valuable antique chair, just in case). The piece, remember it is a large oval, could literally hang on the towel-covered bench pin (or chair leg) and easily be held in place with one hand while I polished it with the other. There is another seriously important aspect to this arrangement. When it was time to polish the tops of the sterling silver crosses, even the flexshaft wanted to hook onto and dance around the piece. Solution? Press the top of the crosses down into the towel just slightly. The polishing buff could easily do its job on the front of the crosses without catching the edge of the piece. It does get the towel dirty, but that is what those towels are for – they are called shop towels for a reason!

My goal when I whipped up this quick little modified bench pin support was three-fold – protect me, protect the piece, and allow me to polish the piece until the sterling silver gleamed. Mission accomplished! I hope this gives you some ideas for making your own workshop safer and more productive! I’ve included a picture so you can see my “high-tech” support system and what the sterling silver piece looked like while it was being polished. Enjoy!

Follow-up on The Leather Purse with Metal Frame – pt 2

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Eirny

A shot showing the shape of the bottom of the purse frame and how the leather bag portion of the purse was sewn on. You can see the stitching around the frame and the line of stitching down the back of the purse.

The bottom of the leather purse bag, showing the bottom “inset” as well as the flat lap seam which lays against the wearer when the purse is in use.

A close up of the toggle and exactly where it goes through the leather of the purse in relation to the bottom half of the purse frame. This form of leather toggle is definitely period. I saw exactly the same type of toggle used on Viking Age Anglo Saxon ankle boots in the Museum of London. (And yes, I left nose prints on the glass figuring out exactly how they were made!)

A picture of the purse, laid out completely, from the back side. The leather bag is not cut perfectly symmetrically, but it looks good and hangs straight when it is on.

The next picture is a close-up of the support loops that go onto a belt, the metal support loops that are soldered to the purse frame and the pivot mechanism. The leather loops have two rows of stitching to hold them closed and would normally have this seam rotated against the wearer’s body. On period frames the metal loops that attach to the purse frame would have been cast in one piece with the frame itself.

I hope these pictures help to make the previous Leather Purse with Metal Frame blog pages more useful! About a year after I made this purse I switched from using a belt pouch to carrying an over the shoulder bag, which allowed me to carry more craft projects with me. Due to my current position as an SCA Landed Baroness, I am once again considering switching back to a belt pouch. I need to have room for a smart phone, cards, a small notebook and a pen, and lip balm. So stay tuned to see what sort of new purse I decide on – something a little smaller I think with a cast frame! Enjoy!