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On weights

On weights

Weights are progressing slowly. It seems that most people who tension their warp for tablet weaving using weights tend to use fishing weights. For example, Guntram does it this way. Initially, I planned to follow his example, but it turned out that my grandfather, who 

Historical pattern library

Historical pattern library

Sharing a wonderful resource: Antique Pattern Library has over 200 old books on handicraft. The books have been scanned and made available in PDF format. The oldest edition dates back to 1844, while the newest ones were published in the 1930s. The copyrights for these 

Look before you leap…

Look before you leap…

That’s exactly how it went for us – we looked, and we looked again, and we looked… and then we leaped. Quite unexpectedly, really. That is, we ordered the loom. Just in time for the end of summer and the beginning of the new indoor 

Set in stone?

Set in stone?

An interesting observation: it seems that the regulation of many handicraft techniques and methods began in the 19th century, during the period of national revival in many countries. By “regulation”, I mean the establishment of clear rules about how certain types of handicraft should or 

Handicraft at school

Handicraft at school

Inspired by the latest entry in the Guestbook. To this day, I still shudder when I remember the countless, pointless pocket samples we used to sew at school during craft lessons. I don’t recall us actually being taught anything – we were simply given tasks: 

Tablet weaving: earliest finds

Tablet weaving: earliest finds

An incredibly persistent theory is that the earliest finds related to tablet weaving date back to Ancient Egypt. Despite the fact that the hypotheses supporting this theory have long been proven to be wrong, many sources continue to assert, for example, that the oldest example 

Crafts and copyright

Crafts and copyright

I sometimes wonder how many people actually pay attention to copyright information when reading a craft book or using a pattern collection. Probably not that many – especially since most publications simply include the standard line “all rights reserved”. But now and then, you come 

Wide bands, looms and tablets

Wide bands, looms and tablets

Not long ago, a rather fascinating topic came up in one of the tablet weaving communities: how, and with what equipment, were wide tablet-woven bands made in the Middle Ages? Among the surviving examples of historical tablet-woven bands, there are both very wide ones and 

The right to make mistakes

The right to make mistakes

It’s fascinating how a woven band from Cologne repeatedly prompts the same question: was this pattern intentionally designed to look as it does, or are we looking at a random result caused by a mistake made during threading the tablets? If the latter is true, 

Remembering Peter Collingwood

Remembering Peter Collingwood

When I first became interested in tablet weaving, someone handed me a copy of a book that had somehow come into her possession. It wasn’t even a copy of an original but a copy of a copy of a copy of the first edition of 

Ab ovo

Ab ovo

This is the day that the history of Yrmegard’s Workshop started.

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