The Turkuu heddle

This is a reproduction of the heddle from Turkuu, Finland. This is, at the present time, the oldest heddle found in Finland. It dates to the fifteenth century and is made of birch wood. It has holes and slots for 19 warp ends. 

This is another of Robin Goatey's lovely creations. See the dancinggoats studio  . 

I have tried it using a 16/2 linen warp.  I designed the first pattern but I was not happy with it when I wove it.  I cut off the warp and rethreaded it and tried again.  The second combination did not seem quite right.

Finally, with very little warp left I tried again. This time I was happier with the colour order but only 18 warp ends were used. 

The two single centre warp ends are a doubled thread. The weft is the mid orange colour so that it shows on both selvedges. 

The woven band is 8mm in width. 

Close up of the woven band

It is fascinating using old designs of rigid heddles to weave.  There is so much to be learned from trying out the form of an heddle. 

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  March 2025

Small heddle weaving

         

I made two heddles out of cardboard to see how easy it is to weave with small heddles using only a few warp ends. 

Small heddle in blue cardboard. 

The first heddle has three slots and four holes.  It measures  approx 2.5  cms x 2.5  cm

For this band I used a sock darning yarn which is very fine but strong.  If you buy Laing sock yarn it comes as a spool in the centre of  each ball.  It is ideal for band weaving as well. There are nine warp ends in the following order

White White  White, Blue, Blue, Blue; Pink. Pink, Pink.

I used a white weft so there is a pretty dotted line along the pink edge of the band. 

The width of the band after weaving is approximately 3mm

The major difficulty with cardboard as a medium for heddles is that it is difficult to get a smooth finish to the holes and slots.  When using this small heddle, the yarn broke through one of the holes because of frictional wear. 

Stribinic Heddle

The second heddle has four slots and five holes. It measures 6 cms x 5.2 cms.

It is a copy of the Roman rigid heddle found in Croatia. The original is made of bone and has an unusual feature.  There is a single additional hole in one corner. The dimensions are approximately 4.6-4.8 x 7.2-7.4 cm. It was found as part of grave goods in the grave of a young man. 

For this warp I used seven warp ends of chunky wool yarn. The colours are in the following order:

Blue, Blue, Yellow, White, Yellow, Blue, Blue. The weft is blue.

The width of the band after weaving is approximately 5 mm.

Findings.

I was surprised to find that with the very small heddle it was relatively easy to weave a narrow warp-faced band.  Unfortunately, cardboard is not a good medium for heddles as the fine yarn wears the holes. 

The larger heddle was easier to use and was sturdier. The corner hole is rather unusual in the design.

I am going to try weaving a tubular band with each of these heddles. 

Jewellery

I bought a lovely heddle necklace which has an attached shuttle.  This is very small indeed. It is a mini handmade beechwood rigid heddle loom from AntjeVanMargje on Etsy.

I wove a tubular cord in sock darning wool in three colours with this tiny shuttle and it worked. 

I wanted a new cord for the necklace necklace so I lucetted a silk cord using two strands of 60/2 silk in green. 

And here is the  new silk cord in green silk.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes  February 2025

Designing and weaving a bookmark

Last year a friend invited me to go with her to a talk about the book by Benjamin Myers - Cuddy.  We had both read the book. It is an imaginative story about St Cuthbert and his journey to a resting place at Durham Cathedral told through poems and short stories set in different eras.  The book review said that 'Cuddy is a bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England. Incorporating poetry, prose, play, diary and real historical accounts to create a novel like no other, Cuddy straddles historical eras - from the first Christian-slaying Viking invaders of the holy island of Lindisfarne in the 8th century to a contemporary England defined by class and austerity.'

 

St Cuthbert's Shrine in Durham Cathedral

St Cuthbert stained glass window

She was interested in trying weaving so I designed a bookmark for her which she could weave when she visited.

The cover of the book had a lovely impressionistic picture of waves under the feet of St Cuthbert. 

This is a close up of the waves. 

 I liked the impression of colour stripes so I designed a simple band in 16/2 cotton.  I used the threads doubled.

The Warp Chart.

The Weave Chart

Here is the weave chart.  There are 61 warp ends

Weaving the band on a Swedish band loom.  

She had never woven before but she picked up the technique very quickly.  

 The ends are bound using West Country Whipping. 

West Country Whipping

One end is plaited. 

The plait uses five groups of threads to form a relatively flat band for the bookmark.

Plaiting with five groups of threads 

Plaiting with five groups of threads is easy.  https://youtu.be/SZt3p87oI68

The completed bookmark.

Unfortunately she mislaid her bookmark so I wove another set. This time I used 16/2 cotton singly so the bookmark was slightly narrower than the original. I used a doubled thread for the weft in both cases. 

Using a doubled warp the bookmark is 2.5 cm  in width

Using a single 16/2 cotton as the warp the bookmark is   1.8 cm in width.

16/2 cotton used singly in warp

I have written other blogs about bookmarks.  In May 2020, the post Bookmarks explored simple designs using my book The Art of Simple Band Weaving published by Blurb.com.  https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/11486284-the-art-of-simple-band-weaving

The most recent was in May 2024  Bookmarks inspired by the Book of Kells.  

This particular project was for an article in Little Looms. It appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of the magazine.  Well worth subscribing to, if you enjoy weaving on simple equipment. 

You can subscribe to Little Looms and receive your copy digitally. https://littlelooms.com/subscription/  Instant satisfaction!

Susan J Foulkes January 2025

Happy New Year and happy weaving to all my readers.