A 9-strand braid in the Fill-the-Gap family

I saw this 9-strand straw braid on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/reel/1282550473504103 ) and immediately saw how easy it would be to translate to other things besides straw.

It's in the fill-the-gap braid family, where a simple, repetitive, easy-to-memorize pattern leads to a lovely braid.

And indeed it did.

I took a piece of cardboard (square because I'm lazy, though round or other shapes are fine), put a hole in the middle, and cut 16 slots around the edge (4 per side on my square piece of cardboard).  This disk doesn't have to be perfect -- it's only to hold the yarn under light tension.  I did 16 slots so I'd have a blank slot between groups of yarn as I rotated around the disk.

Obviously one doesn't need any kind of disk -- it can be done in the hand, or on a marudai, or by means of whatever other aids you find useful.

Take 9 strands of yarn (or thread or straw or whatever).  Since I'm using yarn, I knotted the end and pushed it down through the hole.  Then I  put two strands per side (each in two adjacent slots).  I put the last piece on one of the sides, next to the two strands that are already there.

Take the outermost strand on the side with 3 strands and jump it over to the other side of the adjacent set of 2 strands.  Repeat.

Here's a rough diagram.  You can see how there are 3 groups of two strands and 1 group of 3 strands.  The strand that is marked in blue jumps over to the other side of the adjacent group of two (the intended destination is shown as a dashed blue line).  Rotate (or not) the disk and continue doing the same thing.

You can go either clockwise or counterclockwise as long as you are consistent with the traveling strand going over four other strands.  Dunno how easy it would be to reverse direction but it's probably not impossible.

I'm sure this generalizes to a lot of other set-ups, too -- quite possibly any multiple of X while using that multiple plus one.  The fill-the-gap works on the opposite principle -- a multiple of X while using that multiple minus one.  There are many other possibilities, of course.  I might have to do some playing around...

I may post a photo of the completed braid, especially if I also do a few more experiments either with different colors or with different braiding patterns.  Or not, because there are other things ping-ponging around in my brain at the moment and one of those might emerge first.

The two-hole band from the Brooklyn Museum

Hmm, I forgot to post a follow-up when I finished the two-hole band from the Brooklyn Museum.

I finished it in about a week, definitely before starting the next band.  It's about 7/8" wide, about 67" long.  As a reminder, it's a 32-card band, two 4-threaded edge tablets (one on each side), and 30 2-threaded pattern tablets.  I think it's a little bit wider than the original, not that I care about that.  The pic above is unblocked and shows both sides.

I didn't change the weft tightness at the other end to match my experiments at the beginning, mostly because I was tired of the band and just wanted to get it done.  Also, with a band this long, it's not hugely noticeable.

I am totally fine with turning edge tablets every other time rather than every time.  I think it might make a little bit of difference in how firmly I can beat the weft, though I don't think it's a huge overall impact.  It did mean that I didn't have to work out excess twist all that often.  The pattern area is twist neutral, so twist only accumulates in the edge tablets.  With turning each edge every other time, twist accumulated half as much.

The band is cute enough.  I rather like the little one I did better, though (the one from the bands in the Louvre).

Other than that, I don't have much to say about it!

Next up -- I don't know.  As usual.  Maybe I'll chart out several possible Coppergate bands (i.e. make charts that are consistent with the evidence I have, which may not be fully accurate).  Or maybe I'll do something entirely different.

I am doing more reading about pre-medieval Anglo-Saxon tablet weaving -- there are a few other papers written by Penelope Walton (Rogers) about cemetery finds.  There's quite a lot of variety in the techniques that were used.  Interesting...  I'm still trying to match some of her terminology to my understanding of what those terms refer to.  But it's all very cool, and I hate that it's so hard to do good internet searching these days to find out more.

Initial Musings on the Anglo-Scandinavian Band from Coppergate (York, 10th century)

Long and boring rambling about something I've been reading about lately:

I've been thinking about weaving a version of the Coppergate tablet-woven band.  It was found during an excavation in York.  The actual find is a group of eight tied cords, but the appearance of the cords and how they are arranged imply that this was once a tablet woven band, and that its weft has long since rotted away.  It is artifact 1340 in the report The Archaeology of York The Small Finds 17/5, "Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate" by Penelope Walton, 1989.

Some of the cords have a space for a missing ply, and that is interpreted to have been a vegetable fiber, also rotted away.  The rest of the cords are silk.

The original colors are hard to determine.  "Most of the cords are now dark brown, but one is a lighter shade, and adjacent to this is the 4-ply cord, consisting of two black and two light brown warp threads. Originally the darker threads were probably red and purple, as dyestuffs madder and ?indigotin plus madder were detected."  Later in the report, it is stated that actual madder (Rubia tinctorum) was used based on properties that make it distinct from other local possibilities such as wild madder and lady's bedstraw.  Indigotin is interpreted as woad (Isatis tinctoria) based on the local presence of woad and also on historical reasons why imported indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) would have been unlikely.

Yellow dyes, if present, would be gone.  The archaeological dig did discover Genista tinctoria (dyer's greenweed) in addition to woad and madder, so yellow is entirely possible as one of the dye components.  Red + blue does seem likely to have been purple.  But the threads that are merely light brown warp threads?  Or the ones with madder?  Were they dyed with yellow or dyed with yellow in addition to the detected dye colors?  If so, the ones with madder could have been red or could have been orange.  Also, madder itself has a range of red-toned colors, including pink, salmon, coral, red, orange, and even brick red.

The light brown silk could have once been yellow or green (if there's some blue left in it).  It's possible that the light brown silk was undyed and thus a golden yellow, but why would they have done that when linen would have been a reasonable substitute?  Or maybe it was a light tan or otherwise some kind of brown, which is also relatively easy color to achieve.  Or a madder or indigo exhaust bath, with a lighter color that has since deteriorated beyond detection.

The missing warp thread, if indeed linen or another similar bast fiber, might well have been white.  I know the Coptic bands tended to use linen for white and dyed wool for colors.  Other Anglo-Saxon bands such as the chasuble for Sts. Harlindis and Relindis mix dyed silk and undyed linen.  Linen is cheaper than silk and makes an easy white, I suppose, especially when bleached.  Dunno if it would have been dyed -- doesn't indigo stick to pretty much all fibers without needing a mordant?

The cords are twisted  ZSZSZZSZ, but in my opinion, it's certainly possible that they might not be in the original order any longer.  Given that there are five Z and three S, it is obviously not as simple as an alternating S Z configuration. 

Here is what the entire band looks like.  This pic is taken from another publication by The Archaeology of York 17/11 The Small Finds "Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate" by Penelope Walton Rogers.  I'd provide something larger, but alas, the resolution isn't quite good enough to see enough details.  The light-colored cords are definitely light-colored in comparison to the dark ones, though.  And the number of cords varies along the length as, one supposes, some of them disintegrated over the years.  The remaining bits are 1.47m in length.

Here is a section near the top, blown up to almost the limits of reasonableness, which shows the two brown shades that remain in the band after all these years underground.

It might be possible to put some of the cords (i.e. tablets) in order since some of them do seem to be in approximately the same place for the entire length of the band.  But this could be from how it was excavated, preserved, and displayed, I suppose.

I've found some references online to people who have made a plausible re-creation.

https://eoforwicproject.com/2021/09/20/a-10th-century-tablet-woven-band-of-silk-from-york/ wove a band based on the known information.  She credits Alicja of Hrafna Norse Crafts, who did some interpreting and also provided a chart here: https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A1411484119062360%2C%22entry_point%22%3A%22MOBILE_POST_ATTACHMENT%22%7D&path=%2Fnotes%2Fnote%2F&state

Hrafna interprets the cords as follows:

1 tablet -- 2 threads of madder + indigotin, 2 lighter colored, all silk

1 tablet -- 3 threads of lighter colored silk, 1 missing (linen?)

6 tablets -- 3 threads of madder (silk), 1 missing (linen?)

She believes that this is an asymmetric band, with a 2-tablet edge on one side (both Z oriented), and alternating SZ red-and-white stripes for the rest.

Other possibilities (I'm just noodling around here):

The 6 tablets with madder could be in the center, and there is one edge tablet on each side.

The 6 tablets with madder could be aligned into chevrons (ZZZSSS or vice versa) rather than alternating S and Z.

The 6 tablets with madder could be aligned to make horizontal stripes, or they could be some other pattern such as diagonal lines or chevrons or spots.

The other two tablets could be somewhere besides the edge(s).

There are definitely bands out there with horizontal stripes and asymmetric bands, so Hrafna's interpretation is perfectly reasonable.  There are also bands out there with chevrons.

Anglo-Saxon brocaded bands I'm aware of are variable, with arrows and diamonds and patterns that I'm not sure what they're supposed to be.  Those are from a different part of the island, though, possibly a different culture, possibly a different time, and of course brocaded rather than threaded-in.

Also, I believe that Hrafna's interpretation is that the madder-and-missing-thread tablets consist of 3 S and 3 Z, with the other two both being Z.  But it's not clear from Walton's text whether this is actually what's going on.

Also also, Hrafna points out that the drawing in Walton's paper only shows seven cords even though the text refers to eight tablets.  So who knows?  Hrafna's interpetation calls for eight tablets.

Additionally,  Walton and everyone else interpret the missing thread in the cords/tablets to have been a bast fiber.  What if it actually is an intentional missing hole?  It's not that likely, I don't believe, but it's not impossible.

Here is the Hrafna interpretation (in natural-dyed wool and undyed linen).

And here is the Eoforwic interpretation that uses the same chart but different colors for the edge tablets (I'm not sure if this is wool/linen or silk/linen).

Added later -- here's a version that is sort of based on the chevron interpretation, from Purple Cat Textile's (aka Katherine Bell's) instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSPkSRPDCO6/

All of these are lovely.

I'm playing around on one of the charting apps, trying out various possibilities.  I'm not sure yet what I'll do.  After going through the above ruminations, I feel comfortable with pretty much anything I decide to try.

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Also in Walton's report is a little bit on cords.  There are no obvious fingerlooped braids or anything, but there are 3-strand plaits (the same one people usually use to braid their hair).  The ones that were excavated were made from hair moss or a mix of hair moss and flax stems (i.e. the bast fibers not specifically removed and then spun).  Twisted cords (both plied cords and cabled cords) were also made, from bast fibers and from wool.  There's also a picture of some "knotted wool yarns" that sure looks like a weaver's knot.

Other dyes found in various textiles include kermes and lichen-purple.  The identified species are more likely to have been from the eastern Mediterranean, so chances are that either the dyes or the dyed thread/textiles were imported.  But neither of those was detected on the tablet woven piece.

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Internet searching is REALLY awful these days.  I had downloaded the various reports and stuff long ago, luckily.  I was trying to find the links today using a search engine, and well, no luck.  AI decided I meant something entirely different and would only show me links related to what it thought I wanted.  Or would show me citations in other websites, but not the original article, even though I had bookmarked them as well as downloading them.  It is very sad.  Hopefully I'll have more luck with google scholar and maybe even archive.org, though google scholar does tend to route me to sites where I'd have to pay to access an article/website, sigh.  I mourn the Internet that Was and hope that some enterprising company will resurrect a working search engine that doesn't try to "help" me with AI garbage.  I also hope that the once-free archives that were purchased and put behind paywalls become free to access again.

Another colorful Oseberg band

A friend was admiring the colorful Oseberg band I did a while back.  Another friend has been experimenting with making tablets.  So....  I made another Oseberg band using the new tablets.

The band, fresh off the tablets, is about 1/2" wide and about 66" long.  It really is rather cheerful, cute, and entirely adorable.

Some of my tablet-weaving tablets

This isn't all of them.  People give them to me.  Or they are samples.  Or I like them and want to buy them and try them, or maybe just admire them.

They are posed against a ruler to show the variation in sizes -- from about 1" to about 3.5" (or maybe 3.25").  In age they range from the 1980s/1990s to 2026.  (I'm not sure where my meter stick is, but the foot-long ruler gives a pretty good sense of size no matter what the units are.) 

When I first started tablet-weaving, I bought a few packs of tablet-weaving tablets from Robin & Russ Handweavers.  Those are 3.25"-ish, I think.  That was a very common size for tablets then, and in fact, still is a very common available size.  I used them exclusively for many years since I didn't know any other sizes existed.  I mean, sure, I could have bought the same size tablets but with different company logos on them, but why bother?  I still see some Mary Meigs Atwater tablets around on the used-sales sites -- I wonder how old those are, and if there are older branded tablet weaving cards around?

When someone gave me some smaller tablets several years ago, it was something of a revelation.  Wow, so much easier!  I have small hands.  The smaller cards are easier for me to hold and manipulate.  The threads are easier to release if they get caught up in the corners of adjacent cards.  And there's also a bit less waste at the end of the warp.

The 3D printed tablets were made by a friend.  They are incredibly adorable and fun to use.  At some point, I'll try to get a bunch that all match in their design but are different colors, since different color tablets would be excellent for identifying groups of tablets at a glance.  (i.e. which tablets are numbers 16-22, when they end up needing to be turned in a different direction from their neighbors?)

The Lacis tablets are pretty nice because they are fairly small, and because they are plastic of some sort.  The holes don't wear out as quickly.  I expect someday that they'll become brittle with age and start breaking, but for now, they're nice to use.

I haven't tried the wooden tablets yet, mostly because the sets are fairly small and I've mostly been doing patterns lately that require more tablets than are in the wooden sets.

For some of these tablets, I only have 1.  Or 8.  Or 10, or 25.  I can use them but only for some patterns.  It's nice to have several dozen tablets of a particular type so I can make wider bands.

Someday I'll drag out more of my tablets to photograph.  By then I might have even more than I do now.  I don't buy every brand I see, but I do acquire ones that are cute and interesting and/or different from what I currently have.  I also make them myself, especially when teaching others to tablet weave.  Old cereal boxes have cardboard that works pretty well for that purpose.  I can easily get a set of 12 tablets per box.

I guess I'm a collector of tablet-weaving tablets these days.  Oh, well, could be worse!

Another little distraction -- the tablet-woven band from the Brooklyn-Museum, New York, Inv. No. 15.445

I've been thinking about this rather charming 2-hole pattern for a while.

So I warped it up and decided to use it as a vehicle for exploration and learning.

As you can see, the left side of the band (near the beginning) is narrower and the diamonds are more elongated.  I've been playing with how tight I pull the weft to see the effects on the aspect ratio of the diamonds.  In the middle or a bit to the right, the weft is so loose that it's leaving little bloops along the edges.  Dunno if the band will spread out more or it that's kind of it.  However, the diamonds are not nearly as elongated.  The far right of the above shows how tight I'm currently pulling the weft, which is still loose-ish but not so loose as to have big bloops.

I like the wider band with diamonds that are not as elongated, so that's what I'll keep doing.  I'll probably do a bit more experimenting before trying to settle down to one width.

Dunno if I'll make the far end of the band do something similar (i.e. narrow down) to pretend I meant to do it that way.  Probably not, though I'll see what I feel like doing when I get there.

Another thing that I'm experimenting with is only turning the edge tablets when the weft is about to go through it/them.  That means they turn once every other row, alternating right and left edges.  It's supposed to help with being able to beat the weft in harder.  I think it does that -- the first pattern repeats on this band have the edges turning every row, with the later ones being every other row.  I think there's a bit of a difference.  So that will be useful for a lot of future projects in various techniques.

This band is from Tablet Woven Bands from Egypt by Silvia Aisling Ungerechts, p. 44-45, the tablet-woven band from the Brooklyn-Museum, New York, Inv. No. 15.445.  I recharted it, of course, to make sure I understood what I was doing.

The original band is here: https://brooklynmuseum.org/objects/9178.  The red is wool (almost certainly madder-dyed) and the yellow is linen and probably was once a lot closer to white.  It is labeled as being from Coptic Egypt, 5th-6th century CE.  The original is 3/4" wide but mine is probably a bit wider, not that I care.  I mean, I could get mine to be 3/4" wide, but that would affect the appearance of the lozenges/diamonds.  Chances are that I'd need to use a different material (either fiber content or thickness or how it's spun or what the weft is or some combo) to get mine to look more like the original.  Or perhaps stick it in the ground in Egypt for 1500 years or so.

Mine is the usual big-box-store #10 crochet cotton, both warp and weft.  There are 32 tablets -- 30 2-holed pattern tablets, and 1 4-holed edge tablet on each side.  The pattern is a basic F/B turning sequence, nothing fancy.

The pattern is cute enough but I think I like the little diamond band from the Louvre better, at least so far.  I do love doing (and admiring) 2-hole tablet weaving so I'm not complaining!