Good Websites

There are several good websites about weaving in the medieval times. If you would like to learn more about the history and the society back in medieval times, you should check out this website:

http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/middle.htm

This website does a good job of explaining what it was like back in medieval times. It kinda felt like sitting in a history class when reading it. It's packed with all kinds of information. This website, part of a class project at San Jose State University, gives you extensive information about not only weavers, but also some European history, agriculture, timing devices, mining and smithing, and construction of the medieval times. This site is great for truly learning about what it meant to be alive during the medival age. The idea of the hard-working middle class, the beggers, and the noblemen, could be seen as a foreign concept to many. However, if you really think about it, that way of life hasn't changed at all since medieval times. There are still the very wealthy that don't have to work, the working middle class, and the poor beggars (homeless people). It's kind of sad that we haven't changed very much.

On the other hand, if you would like to learn more about how to actually do some weaving, here's a website that can help you make bracelets or necklaces. You can also get creative and make things like shoelaces or lanyards if you want to:

http://www.how-to-make-jewelry.com/how-to-make-friendship-bracelets.html

This website is where the person who taught me how to weave learned from. It is chock-full of different ideas and patterns that you can use. There are several illustrations as well as several videos that can help you decipher the secret art of bracelet weaving in addition to, of course, the instructions about how to make the bracelet. In addition, the creater of the page, Cristine Gierer, has labeled them based on difficulty so you know beforehand if it will be too difficult for you.

Speaking of, when I first started doing these bracelets, I didn't know how to do anything besides the "Chinese Staircase". So, the next day in clubs, when Skylar taught friendship bracelets and just happened to go over the more complicated "candy stripe" bracelet, I really paid attention. However, I was in the middle of one bracelet when she started going over it, so I wasn't able to make one with her supervision. So, when I finally decided to make one, I pulled this website back up again. It's clear directions and easy-to-see illustrations made learning easy. After I learn how to perfect the "Candy Stripe" I plan to figure out the "Zig-zag" so that I can finally make a flag bracelet the way I wanted. After that, it's full steam ahead to panda bracelets! There are good illustrations for picture bracelets in the "advanced" section, so I'll be able to design a good panda bracelet and then, after practicing some, make one! The question is, what shall I make for my practice bracelet? As Ray William Johnson would say: "Leave your interesting or creative [ideas] in the comment section below." (If you dont know who that is, 2 things. 1) Facepalm. 2) Youtube search "=3").

Brief History about Medieval Weaving

What did Weavers do?

In the medieval times, weavers were quite important. Weavers produced all of the cloth. Clothes, tapestries, flags, rugs, and even bedding were made by medieval weavers. Because of their wide variety of products, weavers had an equally eclectic clientele. The very rich had exclusive access to all of their various wares. With their vast fortunes they could afford to buy beautiful, elaborate tapestries that took years to make. These tapestries usually depicted things as specific as a famous battle or historical figure and were often made upon request. Tapestries could have also been about something as trivial as the favorite animal of a nobleman' s daughter. Either way, weavers took great pride in their work. They put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in to those tapestries and they wanted to make them perfect. Here are some examples:

In addition, because tapestries usually hung out in the open in a nobleman's home, weavers were definitely incentivized to do a better job. Imagine one party at that house. There would probably be at least a hundred guests. If just 3 of those hundred liked the tapestry, the weaver could be paid for quite a long time. However, while being a crucial part of a weaver's job, tapestries weren't the only thing that the rich and famous could buy. They could also purchase gigantic dresses, to help proclaim their wealth, and fancy suits; whereas, the middle and lower classes had to stick to buying simple clothes, bedding, and burlap sacks.

How did they do it?

Weavers would have several sidekicks and a loom. The sidekicks, usually women, would turn wool or other materials into the yarn or string that the weaver could use. After they had workable yarn or string, the skillful weavers would stand at what was called a "vertical loom" (shown here:)

(This isn't a medieval vertical loom, but medieval looms were essentially the same concept. This is just a better picture.) However, as you could probably imagine, This proved problematic for weavers. Being so tall, the weaver would have to stand to weave the first third to half. This can be very demanding physically, standing for 12-15 hours a day. Because of this, the horizontal loom became popular, depicted here:

The horizontal loom allowed the weaver to sit while doing the entire tapestry, rug, cloth, etc. In addition to being able to sit while working, the horizontal loom was also slightly automated through the use of foot pedals. This made it much easier, and as a result, weavers became more efficient. This efficiency made the prices of their products go down, therefore, some of the middle class could purchase a small tapestry here or there, to commemorate a very special occasion. Also, after the use of the horizontal loom became popular, the weaver could do his work with much fewer assistants. A man and his wife could run a shop by themselves.This caused either one of two effects, which was different from city to city. One, the people who used to work in the weaver's shop got jobs elsewhere doing something else. Two, those that once worked with weavers made their own weaving shop that competed with the others and helped lower prices through capitalistic means. Then, if there are several weavers in the same town, usually, they specialized. Some would make flags, others clothes, others rugs, and others tapestries. This led to even faster, cheaper production of their products and would eventually lead to the way the world is today. There aren't weavers anymore. There are clothes stores, shipping stores, rug stores, etc.

My Progress and Thoughts

Tuesday (November 1st): I started my friendship bracelet. I got almost none of it done because the white thread was tangled something fierce... Neither Mrs. Washburn nor Brittany could get it untangled. Evenutally, I just ended up cutting the knot out and using the pieces. It was then that I was reminded just how easily the threads could get tangled. I got quite frustrated, truth be told. I barely finished the first green section today.

Wednesday (November 2nd): Today, I continued my friendship bracelet. I just finished my first "flag" (1 set of 3 colors designed to look like the Irish flag). I was given my first glimpse into one big mistake I made. One, this bracelet is both awesome and annoying at the same time due to its size. Because it's a twelve string bracelet, it's taking forever to complete. On the other hand, being so large, the bracelet truly shows the "flags" well and makes it look nice.

Thursday (November 3rd): Continuing work on my bracelet has lead to a depressing development. Originally, I wanted my bracelet to zig-zag so that it would look like this:

 That way, each flag could be ended nicely and you could really see the "flags" as flags. However, when I attempted this new pattern, I failed beyond belief... This has caused me to revert back to the pattern that I know. I'll have to try to zig-zag my bracelet again some other time.

Friday (November 4th): I don't really have anything new to report. I continued making my bracelet with machine-like efficiency. I finished the flag I started yesterday. That makes my second "flag" of this bracelet. It looks quite good, quite good indeed! I'm rather pleased.

Monday (November 7th): Today I worked even more on the bracelet. I finished the about three-fourths of the next flag. Excessive socializing has lead to a decrease in my productivity (shocking, I know) but I'm having fun, so it's worth it. I have plenty of time to finish my bracelet anyway. In a way, today was quite refreshing. I've been getting so aggravated with how slow my bracelet was progressing, but this lightened atmosphere helped to get rid of some of that aggravation.

Tuesday (November 8th): Today was quite productive. I finished the other fourth of the flag from yesterday as well as a whole other one. That puts me at three flags right now. I can see this bracelet coming together.

 

Wednesday (November 9th): So, Mikey saw my bracelet and wants to have it after I'm finished with the project! I have been working on this bracelet for about a week and I now have about 4 and one-third flags. I can probably stop at about 8 flags since he wants to be able to slip it on and off. That means I'm about half way done. That is a pretty good milestone. I'm quite pleased. Here's a picture of my bracelet at four flags:

Thursday (November 10th): Today was utterly ridiculous! I managed to weave about one and a half flags!

Friday (November 11th): If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that I didn't work on my bracelet at all today. I got a new video game, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and I've been playing it all day. I'll be sure to finish my bracelet before class on Monday, don't worry.

Saturday (November 12th): I didn't get to the bracelet today either. Skyrim is incredibly awesome, addicting in fact! I'll finish my bracelet tomorrow.

Sunday (November 13th): After several hours playing Skyrim, I finally finished my bracelet! It looks really good too! It's got 7 flags and is about 8 and a half inches long. It looks like this:

Looking back, I can see just how far I've progressed from my first bracelet that I did like this. Originally, I only made what are called "Chinese Staircase" bracelets that were cylindrical and extremely easy. They looked something like this:

I could make one of those in about an hour. Then, I was told how to do these more complicated ones. At first, my laziness won out and I didn't want to do something that would take me HOURS to complete. However, I ended up thinking about it and realized that if I were to actually make one for a friend, and not just make them for something to do, the more complicated bracelets would probably mean more. I still have a lot to learn. I still can't make them perfectly, there are always hints of the other colors that come through in the wrong spots, but in time, I'll master it. So for now, I must hone my technique through several hours of practice and bracelet making. However, one day, I will be able to make these perfectly and move on to make myself a panda bracelet! :D Here are some pictures of ones that I found and am pretty excited about:

I'm also thinking about just making a bamboo bracelet. I can do that now by using the method I already know, so that might be my next project.

My Craft

My Craft is Bracelet Weaving.
If you would like to try weaving a bracelet here's what you'll need.

• Embroidery Floss (any colors you'd like, as many as you'd like. However, the more colors you choose, the larger your bracelet will be and the longer it will take. BE WARNED!) You can buy this at A.C. Moore for about $0.36 each.
• Scissors
• Pencil and Tape (You can use a clipboard if you want, but I like the pencil method, so that's what I'll be teaching you.)
• PATIENCE.

Okay, here's how you make a bracelet:

1) Choose however many colors you want to work with and get about 4 feet of each thread. (Yes, it seems like a lot, but you always want more, than too little, believe me.

2) Fold the thread in half so that each thread has the same end points. This will double your number of threads. Now is a good time to make sure you want to follow through with the number of strings you'll be working with. I'd reccommend 3 strings folded in half for your first bracelet, you can increase the number of strings after you learn how to make one.

3) Tie your string around a pencil as close to half way as possible so that the loose ends are still free to work with. This will cause a ring to be formed around the pencil.

4) Secure the pencil to a table or other immovable surface using tape. You can also use a clipboard if you'd like.

5) Now decide on your pattern. This includes not only the order of colors, but also the thickness. If you have 2 strands of black and 2 strands of white, do you want your bracelet to be: 1 strand white, 1 strand black, 1 strand white, 1 strand black repeating; 2 strands black, 2 strands white repeating; 1 strand white, 2 strands black, 1 strand white; etc.

6) Set your bracelet out so that the strands are in the order that you want your bracelet from left to right. Don't worry too much about whether or not the knot lets them lay flat. That'll fix itself later on. It should look something like this:

7) Starting with the farthest string from the left, knot it around the next string on the left twice. In other words, if you number your strings from left to right, knot string number 1 around number 2 twice. Then, knot string 1 around string 3 twice. Then around string 4, etc. Eventually, your first string will be all the way on the right. It will look something like this:

After you finish with your first string, your bracelet should look something like the picture below. Notice that the purple/blue thread that was once at the left side fo the strings is now on the right side.

Note again how the purple/blue threads are now on the right, where they were once on the left. This is the progression your bracelet will take.

*Note: When first starting a bracelet, it will probably look like a convoluted clump of randomness; however, don't get discouraged. As you get further, you'll see the bracelet take shape.

8) Now that your first string is all the way to the right, take the next string. (Your previous string #2) and repeat step 8 over and over again and you will see your bracelet take shape before your eyes.

9) Continue with the knotting until your bracelet is as long as you need it to be. Afterward, you can knot the end of the strings with the loop that is around the pencil to make a full bracelet.

Have fun and enjoy the products of your creativity!

Crazy Epic Blog Creation

AND ON THE 84TH ANNIVERSARY OF PANDAS, JOSH CREATED THIS CRAZY EPIC BLOG! (Yes, Giant Pandas were discovered on November 9, 1927.) This blog shall teach you all about the art of weaving bracelets and how it pertains to the medieval UK.