All Categories - Rikissa's Research Ramblings

TeSTING, testing, 1-2-3...

11/15/2024

I successfully posted from my phone yesterday about teaching Kizzy to weave. Yesterday? but the post is from January!?! yip. Because that is when I taught her and started writing a post about it. HA!

So why the Time discrepancy?

Well... see I have been hard at work.
On at least 15 different projects. It may even be more than that. I've been busy creating. Researching. Shaying and teaching.
But doing blog posts and updates and things has been a little struggle bus.

See, I don't have a computer set up at home 24/7.
Eeeeeeek!!!! I know. I know.

Coinciding with having kids, (Surprise, surprise, I know), I decided I wasn't using my desktop much anymore and transitioned to a tablet, or laptop, and most important to this equation is our most accessible tech, the ever present smart phone. The laptop is not always out and easily accessible, buuuuuuut my smart phone IS.

I haven't used the mobile platform for Weebly much which is why I am testing it now.
So, yeah.

That's the whole point of this post. To test if I can successfully make posts from the Weebly mobile platform.
Can I make it worthwhile for you to read?
Can I add all the right pictures?

That is the whole point of this blog and my webpage as a whole.
I want to share what I have learned, in order to help others learn and possibly (hopefully) not make the same mistakes I have.

So, here is my newly adopted Motto, in Finnish of course...
Oppia ika kaikki

It translates to "Live and Learn". And while I like that in itself, I also like the deeper meaning of "All of Life is Learning".

ALL of Life, is learning.
So let us never stop.

Rikissa Ravattulalainen, after being added to The Order of the Pearl, 2023 Silver Chalice, Kingdom of Atlantia

Teaching Kizzy to weave...

1/4/2024

My friend Kizzy came over to learn about weaving... we decided since she had not done any weaving prior to begin with the basics... And since she did not have a loom we use one of the cool ones that my Lord Domnall makes. Toth Ava lent her a rigid heddle, and away we warped!!
Look at her awesome progress. Woohoo!

12th century Trapunto

9/8/2023

Now that my dear friend Machteld Cleine has been elevated to the Order of the Pelican (for the SCA) I can now share this completed project. I had a confab with my co-conspirators, and collaborated with the many, many people involved in making her elevation a special occasion.

Schemeing with Maestra Ellisif to make a dream dresss, a 12th C Bliaut A-LA Lady Macbeth's Green Beetle wing dress, the perfect green silk was found and I volunteered to make the under dress. Enter my introduction to, and piqued interest in, Trapunto.

Lady Macbeth beetle wing dress.

What is Trapunto

As best as I can find or form a definition, Trapunto can be a stuffed quilting or cording stitched in place type of quilting. We know that Trapunto falls in the Medieval period because of extant there are many manuscripts and statuary. And while there are no extant garments to reference, The Tristan Quilt which is believed to be made around 1390, is on display.

ca. 1390, Victoria and Albert Museum. link below.

This illumination is a great example for differentiating between the representation of long sleeves with excess fabric "stacking" and a distinct row of lines on her sleeve cuffs, which is believed to represent the Trapunto technique.

ca. 1200, Millstatt Abbey (Carinthia - Austria)

Trapunto cuffs and collars in 12th century artwork. C: is Hunterian Psalter and possibly shows the collar as well as cuffs, 1160-1175. D: Manuscript of Eberbach, 12th century.

Elevation outfit for Machteld. * Linen under dress with Trapunto neckline by Rikissa Ravattulalainen. * Stamped and beaded silk veil by Lady Merewyn Scharp. * Green silk dress by Maestra Ellisif Gydasdottir.

Smiles for all as we prepared Machteld for the elevation ceremony.

Inspiration

After Ellisif introduced me to the idea of quilted clothing, I searched the interwebs to see what 12th C examples there are, and what others have done to create this art. Below are just a few examples of statuary and illuminations.

statue A (lower set of 2) from the Chartres Cathedral, mid-12th century was my main source statue.

I discovered this great blog that has so many amazing pictorial examples. I read what Elise Kingston did with her Trapunto keyhole neckline and took inspiration from it. Then I researched further and took my own route.

A lovely example of the rigid neckline on the undershirt, which can be interpreted as trapunto. C. 1180

The Garment construction

As we play SCA here in the Southern United States where it can be hot and humid, I thought for September at an event that is known for being physically draining because of the heat, I found a delightful, light-weight, loose weave linen that would make a comfy medieval under dress. Add to that the over gown would be silk... this linen fit the bill.

The pattern for the dress I made from measurements that Ellisif provided, which copied a dress Machteld had just worn while visiting Drachenwald. So we knew it would fit! A key factor when you are making clothing for someone in secret and you can't do a fitting! It is a modified rectangular construction much like the well known Vigdis pattern, but this dress includes a waist seam in the side panels.

You can see from the picture of the finished under dress this fabric is quite sheer, and the loose weave makes it more delicate. Not less strong, but I did need to take this into account in my decisions.

One of the key choices I made, that I believe led to the success of the project, was I chose to hand stitch the entire garment. This is a first for me! Before this I have hand finished cuffs and necklines, or fixed seams and such, but never before had I sewn an entire garment by hand. This decision was driven by the inability to use a machine while traveling in a vehicle.

I am thrilled though because the fabric choice paired with hand sewing made for sturdy and graceful seam treatments. The individual threads of the linen are strong, but the weave is loose. So I used a combination of flat felled seams and french seams, and added a third row of stitching to help with stability and resist pulling.

Hand sewn seam treatments provided gentle stability for a friable fabric.

Thousands of stitches...

The entire garment was sewn, apart from side seams, before THE trapunto even began.

Trapunto neckline

Basing the shape on both the extant examples and the neck of the Lady M inspiration dress I chose to do a snug keyhole neck. I did a full binding; that is to say both an inside and outside facing for the collar. This provided stability to the fabric and allowed it to support the many stitches of quilting.

After stitching the facings together and turning it right side out, I fitted it around the neckline. And then began the consecutive rows of woolen cording stitched in place. Below is pictorial documentation.

Binding the neckline gave strength and rigidity for the cord quilting.

First round of cording also attached the neck binding. Wool cord pictured.

The cord is tucked closely to the previous line of stitching, then secured in place.

woohoo! It's finally looking like I imagined. Here I knew there couldn't be too many rows.

On the last round the facing raw edge was tucked under the cord and carefully stitched in place.

I put as many rows as my 3" facing could fit!

I did not count how long this garment took to construct... but two cross country drives and all of Suits; plus some more. It turned out exactly like I imagined. It fits! AND it carries the LOOK of the period Trapunto examples. I call this a success.

Machteld wants to add...

When I asked Machteld her feedback after the elevation excitement was over, she asked me to add the following...

"You didn't mention how deliriously happy and loved the recipient felt and that despite the fact that you all must be witches to make it fit without fitting to me, she loves you very, very much! ... Because it fit perfectly and there were no bumps or whatever... and that also counts!"

NOW THAT IS SUCCESS

Photo by Mistress Marion the Red

Sources

Maestra Ellisif Gydasdottir, is 1000% to blame for this project. Thank You! Her Site
Chemise Neckline with Raised Quilting My biggest source and inspiration.
The Tristan Quilt ca. 1390, Victoria and Albert Museum
Here is a blog (found after the project) to help understand more about trapunto by someone that knows more than I. click here
Here is a link for the illuminated lovers above.
C: and D: picture found all over Pinterest, but tracked it to this blog about 12th C Bliaut's.

Materials

Fabric from The Fabric Market online. it's called linen mesh? but it washes so softly.
100% Wool cord is Paton's 4ply, white/cream color to match the linen.

A special preview...

7/8/2023

I am in the process of making a set of golden temple ornaments for HRM Yasmin Farrah...
These will be special as I am incorporating a few things to make these a custom creation.

In the background above is the Perniön muinaispuku booklet which I am using to assist my creative processes.

A Golden Perniö Apron

6/14/2023

I've been focused on my recreation of both the pieni (small) versions and my size recreations of the Ravattula Ristimäki 41/2016 finds... with side quests of garters, and scribal, and this golden apron based on the Yliskylä finds in Perniö, Finland that date to the 12th century.

I'm laughing because everything I'm doing is precise, with calipers to measure wire size, and bronze coil diameters, and length... but the color for the aprons ... WHOOSH! Out the window!

I first made the pieni Ravattula 41/2016 style apron (the small white apron pictured)... but that one is white instead of blue because I was so excited to make it I rushed in and didn't dye the wool. I mean... surely not everyone's apron was the same color... we know they weren't... so ... aaaaanyway...
This golden apron is done in the Perniö style and is yellow instead of the white as was created for the 1925 costume.

... but is it the wrong color?

The researchers of Ravattula Ristimäki have done incredible research and testing down to the colors, size of hairs, breed testing of the wool, and testing the fabric fragments found in the inhumation graves.
(Thank you! If any of you ever read this, I for one am VERY appreciative of this work!)

But as far as I am aware, this type of research was not done on the Perniö finds. (Um... did the technology even exist? mmm NO. Not then in the 1890's and early 1900's. And I'm not sure if it could be done now either ... meaning I know some archaeological pieces from ancient Finland have been lost, in particular some tablet woven bands. But the Perniö booklet does say in the 1980's some further info was garnered with new research that changed the understanding of the belt band colors to red/white instead of red/yellow. in the Forward

"[The Perniö costume shown in the Perniön muinaispuku booklet] was reconstructed for the Nordic Archeological Congress in 1925, and it was made according to the instructions of Hjalmar Appelgren-Kivalo, who was then the head of the museum." pg 22

Another helpful source: below is a helpful link to a pdf on the Iron Age Finland Facebook group... Grave 6 at Yliskyä in Perniö.pdf by Diane Lyons Hedström,
aka Duchess Siobhan, OL.

My pieni Ravattula 41/2016 style apron, with accurately sized coils and brick pattern bands.

Finished, adult sized apron. 39 cm wide (15.25") and 87 cm long (34.25"). Though not the 50 cm width the booklet calls for, I used the whole fabric width and these were/are customized to an individual.

"Uncertain details"

Sarks: Ancient Finnish Costumes (link from the Viking Answer Lady and cover shown) talks about the history of the Perniö costume and the research of Iron age Finnish finds, plus some on archaeologist "Hjalmar Appelgren(-Kivalo) [who] excavated at Yliskylä in Perniö."pg 19

"Since [the Perniö costume] was not made according to one grave only, [and it was made for the exhibition, and therefore there are details in it which were not studied thoroughly pg 27], it gives the general idea of the costume of the late Iron Age and particularly Appelgren-Kivalo's opinion of it." pg 27 "Only the model of the mantle and the apron could be based with certainty on the grave finds." pg 27 --Well why is that??--
"The aprons in the Perniö graves were bordered with [bronze] spirals round the edges, so that their size is rather easily measurable. There is at the waist a broad spiral ornament, for which cloth has also been preserved, and the apron corners have been decorated with small fan-like ornaments."pg 22

These fans are what I call the "duck feet" on corners ... I'm not sure where I first heard that description, but I think it's silly and I like it.

"The finds from the Perniö grave 1 seem to contain a dress with a totally straight upper edge. It could have been sewn together at the shoulders or it could have been fastened with an iron pin
found in the grave. But there were no knife or brooches in this grave. Appelgren-Kivalo,
however, has fastened the dress front in his sketch with a penannular brooch. Why? Can we be
sure that his sketch of the dress in grave 6 was based on carefully studied details, when this other
dress has been improved with quite imaginary objects?" pg 27

Interesting to think about, eh? And certainly something to consider when reading sources and such. All of that to say... I didn't make it white like the booklet and the 1925 reconstruction shows.
And I feel like that's A-OK. :)

Materials

I began this apron before I had my hands on the book Löydöstä Muinaispuvuksi (NEW! 2021) which covers ... umm, well, everything. I couldn't wait any longer for the English version and decided to use my translation muscles. The authors did a wonderful job and anyone that is interested in creating the clothing of ancient Finland will want a copy, even in Finnish! So I used what I had to proceed- the Perniön muinaispuku booklet, documents and discussions from the Iron Age Finland FaceBook group, lectures by Mervi Pasanen, pictures of pieces in museums and so forth. The problem with the Perniön muinaispuku booklet is many of the instructions and how-to's, well, some are now recognized as incorrectly interpreted (like the forehead dangles instead of temple ornaments). The booklet still contains great pictorial information and instructions, and I use Google Translate, and logic to translate Google translate, to understand the descriptions.

I know from previous knowledge absorbed through these sources that wool, particularly 2/2 twill but also other twill and plain weave too, seem to be what the majority of Iron Age Finnish clothing is made from. Though newer research points towards the possibility that the under layers are made from linen/or plant fibers. I mean... itchy bottoms from pokey wool? no thanks.

And, just like the crewel embroidery wool from SAFF that I used for the Codex Manesse garters, and the brick pattern bands on the aprons, I got this twill wool cloth at SAFF too. This is a 2/1 twill, of a light weight merino wool, in a beautiful golden color that is achievable through ancient dye stuffs.

Åland sheep have a double coat, as do most primitive breeds. Here is an example from Josefin Waltin, link included.

In period, especially SW Finland, the Åland sheep may have been a popular breed. More breed information here by (I believe) Josefin Waltin; "The belief used to be that Åland sheep were related to the Finnish [sheep], but genetic examinations have shown that Åland sheep is its own and unique breed. It is believed to belong to the most primitive breeds of the Northern European short tail sheep." However, since I do not weave cloth (yet!) and did not commission custom cloth, the twill from SAFF made a great starting base.

I chose to use the golden yellow because... it's my favorite color. That seemed like a good enough reason for me, especially since it is a color achievable through period dyes and mordants.

The coils are strung on a braided cord, that is then stitched onto the apron's borders. If I understand the Perniön muinaispuku booklet, it says make an 8 strand cord the circumference of the apron. pg 17 In a discussion with Mervi Pasanen she recommended a basic braid, like a 3 strand; this is what I did and it is plenty strong. Also, in the 1925 costume they used mercerized cotton for these cords; I used wool as it is now recognized as the proper material and has been identified in other related SW Finland archaeology.

Approximated tubular selvage (not yet pressed here) and the first color of brick pattern tablet woven band.

For the coil string, I tried to match the fabric color to the wool thread I had on hand since I didn't have the warp or weft threads to match. The exception here is the red cording I used for the applique piece at the waist; I used the same red wool as the brick pattern tablet band. Red wool has been found as the threading for other applique pieces and I thought it added symmetry.

Perniön Muinaispuku booklet, pages 16 and 17

The coils for the apron I made by hand with the coiling gizmo-thing-a-ma-bob with 22 g bronze wire. As I said above, I used calipers to measure both the wire size and the finished coil diameter and length so as to match the dimensions for all areas of the apron as described in the Perniön muinaispuku booklet.

To help others who do not have the info or translations ...
For each duck foot: 4 of 4.0 mm dia, 8 mm long, and 7 of 4.0 mm dia, 4 thread coil beads
Top edge of the apron: 4.6 mm dia, 16.8 mm long
For the sides and hem: 4.6 mm, 14 mm
For the applique at the waist: 4.0 mm dia, 17.2 mm long, and 4.0 mm dia, 4 thread coil beads.

Here (center) is an example of a 4 thread coil "bead" (greatly zoomed in as it is only 4.0 mm in diameter); 3 thread beads are also shown.

Making the Apron

I did my best to approximate the tubular selvage edges found in most Iron Age Finnish finds; As it turned out this is the guidance provided in the Löydöstä Muinaispuvuksi book if you cannot weave your own cloth, or have it woven for you. This was done simply by making a very narrow hem on each edge; though I did pull some warp threads to help give the appearance of the pattern for a tubular selvage. (I'm not sure I would do this again. it doesn't add enough of a difference to be really noticeable.)

The warp of the cloth becomes the weft of the tablet band. It is generally agreed they would be of the same yarns and match the cloth, unlike my creative choice.

After the brick pattern band to finish the fabric is complete, the "duck feet" ends are then made on both ends of the band on either side of the apron.

See in the picture with the tan colored brick band? See the wrinkles? That means the band tension was too tight... so I wanted to re-do the tension... and besides, that grey/tan color was bland and bleh. High contrast there I went! Red I knew would work well, since the tablet woven band that accompanies this apron is white and red. (But I didn't know until after the project was done that the original interpretation of the belt was yellow and red.) To my modern eye, I much preferred the red/yellow contrast.

All the coils were next

You know how sometimes you can get so focused on a project you miss details? or as the saying goes, you can't see the forest for the trees? Well. Just as my applique piece was finished and I could start to attach it to my apron... I realized my applique did not match the pictures in the Perniö booklet or source pictures for how this applique looks; even though I followed the threading directions, which are pretty straight forward.

So guess what I did?! yep. I pulled all of the coils off, and started again on row 2. It really didn't take that long, and I really wanted it right.

Here I realized the coils were not matching. Though the directions give the general threading guidance. You can also see the basic braid used to string the coils.

Pre-planning helps ... this coil isn't matched to the others in the column, it's too long. I fixed this when I restrung the entire applique.

On row 2 I figured out the issue. aaaand, now after looking things over... I probably could have completed the original and then flipped it over. /facepalm There is the forest and trees part. However, if I had not redone it, I couldn't have re-organized and made better fitting, more uniform columns. So I still feel it was well used time and a good learning experience.

The applique piece is then centered and sewn onto the waist of the apron below the top edge. Because it is heavy, the goal here is to secure the applique piece in place and support the weight. I sewed this similar to how the edge coils are attached, by stitching down the cord that runs through the coils; the sewing thread/yarn also helps by providing extra support as it travels through the coils as well. Although, unlike the coils on the apron edge, a stitch was not needed between every coil bead.

I began stringing and sewing the bronze coils to the edge after the applique was attached. I did the top edge first, to make sure I used the proper sized coils, since they are different from the sides and bottom edge. These are also attached using the same method of strung on a braided cord, and then the cord is sewn to the edge. There are good instructions in the Löydöstä Muinaispuvuksi book, Mervi Pasanen's Instagram has a video, and the Perniön booklet does instruct that between coils is about a 2-3 mm gap for the stitch. pg 17

Now it is done! And heavy but definitely wearable. I really do like the way this ended up, and next is to weave the belt that was found with this apron to Finnish it off! teehee I love puns

Link to original picture from Pinterest. I cropped the picture to focus on the apron and belt.

The tablet woven belt band that pairs with the Perniön apron is a lovely red and white checkered pattern. It is attached to the wrong/ underside of the apron behind the applique piece and then wraps around the body as shown in the picture.

Should we take bets if it is going to be red and white or a different set of colors?? LOL

what would I change...

There actually aren't many changes I would make to this project. I'm pretty darned happy with the outcome. That signals a pretty good project, right?

If I were to do this apron again, I would want to do something so the applique piece extends over the apron edges farther and I could better fan out the end coils like the booklet sketch on pg 17.

The most likely option is to add one more column of the 17.2 mm long coils to the center/width of the applique piece, and the corresponding coil beads, thus widening the applique.

I mentioned this at some point, but I did pull some warp threads on the fabrics edges to help give the appearance of a tubular selvage. As I said it doesn't add enough of a difference to make the time and effort worth it.

And, at some point I'll weave the cloth myself, with the tubular selvage edges, and matching brick pattern bands at top and hem. (I already have the blue indigo wool to spin and weave.)

if you made it this far, thank you. I know I included a LOT of information. but maybe this will help someone with their project in the future. :)

Garters from the Codex Manesse

6/11/2023

Late 2022 a dear friend sent out a call for assistance in making tablet woven garters pulled from the pages of the Codex Manesse ... and WHOOSH up my hand went. SURE! I wanted to make these for her, and what a splendid thing to recreate things from a manuscript. "The "Codex Manesse", also known as the "Great Heidelberg Book of Songs" (Cod. Pal. germ. 848), was created between around 1300 and around 1340 in Zurich and is the most comprehensive collection of ballads and epigrammatic poetry in Middle High German language." I knew these were being made for HER Codex Manesse project, to recreate a whole outfit!, so I wanted to do it right. What I didn't know at the time was they were destined to be a part of her Elevation outfit in May 2023; I'm talking about Dame Cyneswyth the Quiet of the New Forest.

The Inspiration

and

THe finished product

SO... where to start... Looking at the illustration I thought hmmmm a rigid heddle AND cards... ummm... this artist didn't know how to weave. And I'm not the only one who thought the same thing. But... is that even possible? I immediately chucked that idea out the window, and instead focused on drafting the pattern and getting to work.

There is a fun article on Arachne's Blog Past & Present about the possibility of weaving with a rigid heddle as shown in the Codex. I found this blog AFTER I completed my project, and I would not have done it this way, but it is interesting to read about it.

The Materials

I went to SAFF and searched for lovely fiber goodness. I found a treasure of crewel wool skeins I felt were a good lace size and 2 ply, so I bought out the vendor. The light pink and yellow were the colors that Cyneswyth chose to match The Codex.
I have NO idea what breed of sheep would have been available in the early to mid 1300's Germany, but I'd love to learn!

The Pattern and weaving

So did I need 6 sided cards? Ehhh I decided to try to pattern with square, 4 hole cards first, because that is what I had on hand and I figured it is an easy pattern. I couldn't get GTT designer to work on my Chromebook so I started here as I had used this draft designer successfully before. I couldn't get the pattern to work with 4 hole cards. It is possible that someone with more tablet weaving and drafting experience than I could have done so. But I chocked it up to "Hey I guess the illuminator of the original did know or observe something of tablet weaving because BOOM designing the pattern with 6 hole cards was easy pea-sy. That is where the easy stopped.

OH MY. This pattern did NOT work. The short story... I have at least one foot of weaving trying to make this work. For whatever reason, it didn't. I consulted experts. Did I switch S/Z? Yep. Change directions? Yep. One shed or two? None of us could figure it out. so I went searching for a different pattern.
Insert the sound of Angels singing. Whatever the difference, it worked... and OH MY. Please go try TwistedThreads and their pattern generator. I'm in love. The tools are amazing, including an interactive pattern and, AND you can use it on your phone.

Do I weave it on the flat of the card, with one shed? No, that was not the way. Oh, so weave on the point and have two sheds. Bingo! That works!
Finally, THE pattern arrives on the threads.

But you can see above, there was not a whole lot of contrast there to SEE the pattern. So we decided to change the color of the pink to the darker. This was definitely the right decision.

But now I had other challenges to figure out. What color works best for the weft? Well now the pattern is there, but why don't the edges match. one side looks like dots, and the other looks like spirals? Uuugh this is a puzzle. Is it my tension of the weft threads? No. Is it one weft thread wrapped in a spiral between the two sheds? or two separate shuttles that cross back and forth? Ok, I'll do TWO shuttles, in two separate sheds.
Yes! that works! Eww that color doesn't! Oh, what about the Finnish tablet weaving technique of Tubular selvages? Yessss, that looks lovely.

Completed in time

Y'all. This whole process of figuring out the pattern, the 6 hole cards, the colors, the this, the that... it took a solid month. yup. I said it, a month.
I am SO glad I didn't give up. I'm very happy I continued because the end product Cyneswyth said she felt she could pull out of the illumination.
That fills my heart with joy that I could help make her dream of a complete outfit from the Codex Manesse come true.

I used a particular way to finish the ends of the garters that is persona specific to me, as a sort of an artistic signature. I think the plaited tassel is a beautiful way to finish the ends of tablet weaving and for a garter that will get pulled on, it also provides structure much like a belt tip.

sister Garters

Remember how I restrung/ threaded the colors? Well I thought... why waste?! I already have the pattern strung! I know! I'll make a sister set of garters! So I threaded dark pink where the yellow was. I've done the same plaited tassel ends, but used contrasting gold for the braid at the ends.

For these, I knew the pattern well by now, and instead of focusing on perfection, I just wove.
It was glorious.

Besides the color, the biggest difference between this set of garters and Cyneswyth's was I did not weave tubular selvages on this second set. I find that ironic since *I* have the Finnish persona, not her. Why did I do this? I don't have a fabulous story or reason. Once I started and realized I wasn't doing the tubular selvage I just went with the flow and decided to keep any imperfections or mistakes, plus I was restricted on the length of the light pink after weaving feet of the original colors.

I knew the pattern well after weaving something like over 4 feet ... so I didn't make many mistakes.
I'm happy with my tensions both warp and weft. and look forward to wearing them.

Ravattula costume: temple ornaments

12/9/2022

my green version including additional design element

When, who, & where

Iron Age Finland c. 1150-1250
Woman's Grave, # 41/2016,
Ravattula Ristimaki Church,
4 km from Turku, SW Finland.

What is this?

The coiled bronze wire spirals are threaded in patterns onto either end of a lattice braided band. This deceptively simple band is wool, using a finger weaving technique using 17 strands, and braided in a 2/2 pattern which creates a diagonal plaited look.
The band is a small 6mm wide, due to the tiny nature of the yarn used.

The bronze coils are of 2 different diameters, 4.6 mm and 4.2 mm. Because the full detailed book is yet to be published this sizing is an educated approximation.

I based the coil size on the pictures of the extant spirals of 41/2016, which includes a 1 cm scale gauge!, and other extant temple ornament examples like the Perniö headpiece which is firmly documented in size.

The design and placement of the bronze coil patterns is based on the recreated Ravattula Costume Project (RCP) temple decoration pattern, and also my own observations of the extant coils and drawing of the X-rayed findings.
For more please see the explanation in the Differences and Choices section.

Progress picture with main books used in the process. NOTE: The Perniö book on the left is completely in Finnish; it does include wonderful pictures and drawings that greatly help to understand the processes.

I believe this is a participant of the Ravattula Costume Project recreating the temple ornaments. Picture credit to Lankakuiskaaja on Instagram, posted Nov 14,2021.Picture 8 of 8. Pictures taken at “Ravattula Women” presentation at a Finnish fair.

How

There are extant bundles of regular size and shape sticks that have coils still around them, so it is believed the coils in the period were wound by hand.

I used a hand crank and metal rods; there are others that use rods and electric drills.

To thread the yarns through the coils I found a leather lacing needle (which is blunt & has an open eye and a hook) to be the best tool; One could use any large eye blunt needle, which I did when needing to pull through packed coils.

Extant bronze coils and sticks from Lōhavere, Estonia. Iron Age Estonia had similar bronze aesthetics but were distinct from the Finnish. “Necessary tools for making patterns… long and small spiral tubes, rings.”

materials

2 ply wool, size “90 tex” equates to spinning size about 30 wpi, or #0 lace weight crewel embroidery size yarn.

Bronze wire; 22 gauge/ 0.54mm diameter

Metal rods of varying sizes and a simple twisting gizmo; using a micrometer I determined the rod size needed, plus my wire mm x2, to determine the correct diameter of the coils.

Differences and choices

I am very pleased with the outcome of my recreation. I know it doesn’t exactly match the RCP example, but I made choices to differ the design on purpose.

The only difference I think I could make would be to recreate one exactly like the RCP has; this is because they have hands-on experience with the extant pieces and access to information that is not yet publicly available.

However, while examining the drawings of the X-rays I found that some of the coil design elements had been left off of the RCP temple ornaments. I have added that element in my temple ornament design. It is diamond in shape with an X cross in the middle.

In a second temple ornament creation I decided to only use one of this diamond shaped design as in the x-rays it appears there is only one of this design that remains. I also moved it to a different location in threading as both locations are possible.

The extant wool used is best equated to the Åland breed of sheep. I was not able to source this and so decided to use wool yarn in the proper size and ply instead of focusing on breed.

I also made a different color choice of wool on purpose. All current recreations I am aware of, like those done for the Finnish National costumes, these headpieces are made of natural or white wool. I know color testing has been done of the Ravattula fibers, but with the book not published I can’t be sure the fiber analysis was done on the wool inside the temple ornament coils.

Per SCA tradition in colors, because I am apprenticed, I chose to make this band in a green color. With permission from my Laurel, this head band can represent my apprentice belt so that I may recreate and wear the correct tablet woven and finger woven belts and aprons to match the different pieces of Iron Age Finnish finds such as Ravattula 41/2016, Perniö roughly grave 6, and Eura grave 56, and Lieto Ristinpelto grave 86.

The Perniö book is entirely in Finnish. I do not speak or read Finnish, so part of this journey has been translating and making sense of the not quite right translations with which Google has given.

Recreation of temple ornaments. Picture credit to Lankakuiskaaja on Instagram, posted Nov 14,2021.Picture 5 of 8. Pictures taken at “Ravattula Women” presentation at a Finnish fair.

Extant find of the Perniö grave 6 temple ornament.

sources

Ravattula Costume: The Study of the Grave Find, booklet from Ravattula Ristimaki, www.ravattula.fi
Perniön Muinaispuku, Valmistusohjeet, booklet in Finnish, Leader II.
Mervi Pasanen; her FB posts & answering my many questions there, also instructional videos, pictures, and talks.
Iron Age Finland, Group on Facebook platform.
Instagram Ravattula, Lankakuiskaaja, swanmervi
Special thanks to the group involved in the Ravattula Costume Project, the archeology, and their posts on Instagram.
Sarks: Ancient Finnish Costumes

October 01st, 2022

10/1/2022

Head gear is the cherry on top

9/30/2022

IMHO anytime someone has the correct head gear on with an outfit, this helps immensely to make the outfit look like it has walked off of the pages of history. Any attempt at all can help. I have a passion for this... for anyone in any culture or time period.

I have been lazy in my attempts with my iron age Finnish garb and using basic headscarf wraps, not the hood/veil being used in many of the recreated iron age garments. So in an attempt to up my game, I decided to make the correct hood/veil; sort of. I'll expand on that in a moment.

I'm using the term hood or veil because of Google translate. It is helping me to understand the booklet Perniön muinaispuku or as Google says, "Pernio's Ancient Dress, Manufacturing instructions." The booklet is not translated to English, so please forgive me if Google has translated something incorrectly. I'm relying on non-perfect technology to further my studies.

I AM lucky that after 7 years or so, I was finally able to get some copies of this booklet.

Summer Weight veil

I live in the Southern United States. It gets hot and humid here year 'round; it is classified as humid subtropical. Whereas my Ravattulan persona, near Finland's southern coast, experiences a "humid continental climate [], with mild summers."1 But most of Finland is classified as subarctic. So "my" two climates are drastically different. It makes recreating items challenging, especially for summer. I decided, let me make the correct headgear, and I'll make the choice to use a loose weave, very light weight fabric.

1www.weather-atlas.com

Looking into what fabrics I had on hand, I found a loose weave vintage cotton I got at an estate sale; the weave was not the correct 2/2 twill, and it had black strands woven through it... but it was a good off white/ natural color and was nice and light.
I measured out the size needed per my translation, 85 cm square... well a tad bigger so I had enough to hem... and began pulling out all of the black threads. uuuff that took a hot minute, but it was rewarding.
Before stitching, I folded the square to create the triangle as shown in the booklet. Then with linen thread I sewed 5 lines of back-stitch to provide stabilization. This was not discussed in depth in the text of the booklet, but is shown pictorially.

Picture from booklet. I based my fabric layout, stitching and braided "lattice band" placement on this drawing.

My translation said a "lattice band" was attached to the front edge and used to tie behind the head (presumably under the hair). I decided this lattice band is probably similar to the braided tape demonstrated in this same booklet for the necklage braid; this is an 8+1 braid. I made the decision to use a matching off-white wool in a 2 ply to construct this braid, as if it was for use in the necklage or head wrap braid. I have not seen the veils being constructed with contrasting color bands.
Using a whip-stitch to attach the braid to the front edge of the veil/hood and hide the stitches between the strands of the braid, this braid tape securely ties the veil to the head.

It is possible this band is supposed to be sewn to the inside of the veil and not visible.
This is something I shall continue to research and will experiment with in future veil/hoods.

(I will make another in depth post on how to accomplish the 8+1 braid, and the details associated with it at another time. It is a similar technique like what is used for the 16+1 braid for the head wrap with the bronze coil adorned temple dangles, but this smaller braid uses a different pattern.)

Conclusions

For a summer weight veil I think this will work perfectly. I feel it provides the correct look for my persona in shape and color. Also surprisingly it mimics the drape of the wool reconstructions I have found in source pictures from the Ravattula, Pernio and other Finnish national costume projects. (The originals are understood to have been 2/2 twill woven wool, and are shown in reconstructions using a variety of colors like white, blue and umber.)

I am pleased with my version even though it departs from a "perfect" reconstruction in using loose weave cotton instead of a 2/2 twill wool; I believe this will make wearing my veil/hood in my current climate much more enjoyable. I do plan to create a wool veil/hood as well. and next time my stabilizing stitches will not be spaced as far apart.

Enjoy this slideshow which includes pictures from above, and what my veil looks like with pieni (small) Rikissa's head wrap with bronze coil temple dangles.

Project No-Go

8/17/2022

So probably one or two years ago now I bought some lovely wet spun linen and decided okay I am going to weave an apprentice belt so that I have a leather belt and also fabric belt for all the different kinds of clothes that I love to wear....
Recently my family took a trip to Washington DC which for us is about a 10-hour drive including stops.
Instead of working on my St Bridget's cap, which in hindsight I probably could have finished on the trip,...
I decided now is the time to work on this belt. In a vehicle, on a trip.

In many Finnish Iron Age finds twill woven (over two, under two) braided bands have been found.
These are always woven in odd numbers of strands; for example the Perniö and Ravattula Ristimaki finds for the headpieces with Temple decorations are 17 strand and 13 strand braids, respectively. These braids are used for head bands/temple ornaments, belts, etc.

This technique is not new to me at this point in my journey, I've done multiple projects now with it but for some reason in both the trip up there and the trip back, so we're talking 20 hours-ish, this project just would not start.

It was either the three colors together looked muddy in the braid with not enough contrast, or one of the three colors was... wrong. The lightest color was also a smaller size so that may have contributed to the off-ness. Now three colors are typical for the belts using this braid especially the ever popular Finnish use of red white and blue in motifs.

I finally started the braid with the thinnest one and got about 2 in and it just does not want to be this braid... I don't like the look of it, it is too skinny (because at this point it was down to 11 strands), and my frustration factor is up to I give no more spoons. I did not want to measure and cut more strands. I was done.

So, after 20 hours of work- a lot of which was measuring 33 lengths of string, and getting them organized and paired up and then going back because the one color muddied the mix and blah blah blah on and on ... this poor project is just a non-start.

20 hours of work I shoulda coulda been finishing a Birgitta's cap and all I would have had to do was remind myself where I was in the project ... because it's been probably 3 years since I started that one lol

So what did I learn from this... Hand sewing projects are best for the car number one. If this had been a single color braid like white or red for the headpieces it would have been done.

Also for this project and the way that this braid twill is woven I don't think the linen is the right material ...
Which funny enough would not have been the material that they were braided with in the iron age either lol
All of the analysis I am aware of fiber finds with this braid style show the yarns are woolen.
In the finds, if there is plant matter it is in the weft of the weaving, typically of tablet woven bands.

Moving on from here I will take these linen strands and try to tablet weave a pattern with them and if they are still muddy well then maybe I'll weave them into a hand towel.

It is okay for projects to fail.
It is okay for projects to be a non-start.
It is okay to create something else.