Weaving with a small rigid heddle: Questions and debates

 I have received a set of small wooden heddles from Robin Goatey. from TheDancingGoats etsy store. He has an excellent YouTube channel as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDancingGoats/videos

A selection of beautiful heddles.

These beautiful heddles are recreations of ancient weaving tools from the Roman period and the early Middle Ages. 

I am enjoying using each of these heddles with a variety of threads. I have picked out designs from my book The Art of Simple Band Weaving https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/11486284-the-art-of-simple-band-weaving

Heddle one        Bryggen Norway

Here is the weaving drawdown. 

seven warp ends in 3 ply sock yarn

Heddle two   - Briord France

There are only 13 warp ends but the simple bead pattern is very effective. 

thirteen warp ends in 6/2 American cotton

The Roman heddle recreation.

I particularly loved the heddle based on one from Aquincum, in Hungary. The original is broken but one side was decorated with two dolphins.  Robins' recreation of this heddle is beautiful.

Here is the weave drawdown for the 11 thread pattern

eleven warp ends in 16/2 linen

The Handle

The unusual feature of this heddle is the handle - the two dolphins, on one side.  Usually the 'handle' is on the bottom of the heddle.  This means that the heddle when on a horizontal warp will be stable with the handle - the weighted part of the heddle, underneath.  On a horizontal warp this Aquincum heddle has a tendency to shift sideways and downwards.

To make the shed when the weighted part of the heddle is on one side requires the heddle to be moved vertically up and down with one hand.  This involves using the right hand to change the shed each time.  (or the left hand depending upon which way you set up the warp and heddle.).  Holding the handle to keep the shed open with the the right hand means that the shuttle is taken through with the left. The right hand then takes the shuttle. Changing the shed by lowering the heddle with the right hand involves holding the shuttle and the heddle in the same hand. 

Another way of using the heddle.

What if the heddle has the weighted part, the handle, underneath?

Heddle pulled to the left

Heddle pushed to the right 

In this position, the weft would need to be inserted vertically, first from the top and then from underneath. Once the shuttle is in the shed, the heddle can be released. 

There are many Medieval images depicting tablet weaving on a loom consisting of two vertical poles with a cross piece. Here the shed is vertical and the beater can be seen inserted vertically through the shed. 

The warp spacer appears to be in the wrong position

The third and fourth  pictures are interesting as they appear to show a vertical frame with holes to keep the warp threads from each tablet separate. In picture three, the weaver is manipulating the tablets but has not yet commenced weaving. However, picture four shows the warp spacer in front of the woven part of the band. Clearly, this would not work. The shed would not extend through the warp spacer. 

Of course, depictions in art of craft activities may not be accurate. The depictions could be intended to show the craft as visible as possible rather than the actual position of the weaver in relation to the warp. The Oseberg Tablet Weaving loom has been reconstructed and the warp is shown as being in the same position as these pictures. Here is a link to the reconstruction.

https://sites.google.com/site/thasthimindunna/home/recreations/loom

One re-enactor says that although it looks fantastic, the weaver has sit next to the warp and to twist her torso. This proves to be very uncomfortable for long periods.  

Trying to find a modern weaver using this particular method is not easy.  Most re-enactors seem to use the  Oseberg style loom as if it were a modern day inkle or backstrap weave with the cards positioned so that the weft is inserted horizontally. 

The Swedish Band Loom

The Swedish band loom is designed so that the weaver also has to sit in front of the warp.  Here is a link to band weaving at Skansen Museum, Stockholm.

https://youtu.be/jPeBqxW6ZUw?si=gR5ZQdD4giYvLckf

Personally, I find this position very uncomfortable and I weave on my band loom from one end. My band loom is the second method shown on my YouTube video. Five ways of weaving narrow bands

https://youtu.be/ZzhuDomPtxE

So, although the Oseberg loom and subsequent depictions in Medieval art show the warp as stretched between two posts and vertical, this is not an easy option for a re-enactor. 

The dolphin heddle may have been used in this position with the warp attached to the two uprights; not in a horizontal position which we are used to, but in a vertical position.  The heddle handle would then be moved horizontally to the left and right to provide the shed. The weft would be inserted vertically downwards then upwards. 

There is no definitive answer. It is only through trail and error that we can reconstruct ancient methods of weaving, and spinning. I do feel that we need to remember that just because we weave or spin in a particular way that this has always been the case. 

For example, when weaving a narrow band using a rigid heddle and backstrap, we weave so that the woven part of the band is nearest to our waist.  In North Sweden, the Sami in one area have always woven using a rigid heddle and backstrap with the warp tied to the waist band and the woven part beyond the heddle. The weft is beaten in, away from the body, on the other side of the heddle.  It is thought that this method reflects the action of a warp-weighted loom where the weft is beaten upwards. Side borders in tablet weaving on a warp weighted loom use this method.  

So, the side handle on the Dolphin heddle is an anomaly. 

What do you think?

Happy weaving and exploring!

Susan J Foulkes

October 2024