Toddy said:
Nice work Tara,
and it's good to see you here. Welcome to bcuk.
Pierre Girard, were the Finnish sauna shoes fitted like full shoes or more like backless slippers?
I had a little pair of 'elf shoes' made of birchbark, that had been sent to me by my great aunt in Canada, when I was a child; but they were made from one piece of bark, not woven. I called them elf shoes because they had curved pointed tips. They weren't very comfortable as I recall, the oversewn top edges scraped. These woven ones look more forgiving.
Cheers,
Toddy
No idea on how long people have been making them.
The sauna shoes were not slippers. They were very similar to the pair Tara made, though with pointy toes.
I had a pair, made by the mother of one of my friends when I was in first grade. They've disappeared ages ago. The birchbark strips were somewhat narrower than Tara's, I believe. Not to take anything away from Tara's excellent work. I've made knife sheaths that way - and it gets very confusing. I wouldn't dare to attempt shoes.
For some reason, Ojibwe never wove birchbark, that I've been able to find out. Someone in our family wove the most incredible bark mat, but it was from the inner bark of cedar, not birch. I've also seen woven rice bags, but again, the bark was cedar.
My friend's mother (Mrs. Heikkila - don't know if I ever knew her first name), was from Finland. She was beautiful and very fit. She had beautiful white blond hair and looked 20 years younger than she was. She wore her hair up in braids on top of her head, but in the morning, it would be down and it was long enough for her to sit on.
Going to their place was like taking a step back in time. Their home was built of white cedar logs, hewn and dove-tailed. She cooked on a wood range. Breakfast was always mush. You could pour a pound of sugar into that stuff and never taste it. One time, supper was gulla moi-ica. I've never been too fond of fish eyeballs in my soup, but it tasted good. The kids all slept in the loft. They had ten kids, four boys and six girls from first grade to 12th grade. There was usually a cousin or two staying over, as well. I wish I could take a trip back in time to get a look at all the home-made items in their household. I do remember the milk pitcher was carved out of aspen, and the father's rocking chair was put together out of diamond willow (and kids were not allowed to sit in it).
They farmed with horses and put up their hay loose. They milked the cows by hand, and made their own butter and cheese.
They had a large sauna. When my mother heard we would be taking a sauna, on my first visit, she packed a pair of swim trunks for me. My friend told me I wouldn't need them. We got in the sauna and the whole family came in after, including my friend's six sisters, all naked as a jay. The girls were not shy, and made comments about my endowments in Finn. I understood enough Finn to blush, and they had a great time teasing me then. I never mentioned this to my mother. Somehow, I didn't think she'd understand. Everyone had sauna shoes, and by my second visit, Mrs. H had woven me a pair.
PG
So many things to do 
