It's past time I ran this course again! I can manage 3 or 4 mornings this moot but I can only make the first week.
This time, I'll sort out students at the morning meetings. If anyone who has already done this course would like to have a go at more complicated designs, come chat to me at the moot. And bring your tablets!
Everything else is same as before :-
Ive been learning the art of tablet weaving this year, and would be happy to run a course at the bushmoot if people are interested. I can only teach 2 people at a time, but I can run the course 5 times during the moot, so there are 10 places altogether. Ill supply my tuition for free, but I need to charge for the materials. It will cost £10 per person. Please could you PM me if youd like to book a place?
Whats included?
12 laminated plastic tablets per person, threads, an instruction sheet to take away, practical tuition should be enough materials to make at least one band approx. ½ inch wide during the moot and youll be able to take the tablets away to make more at home and/or finish the one you start at the moot if you dont get time to complete it on-site.
woods_man from this forum is manufacturing the tablets for the course, and I've asked him to supply some extra at a special bushmoot discount. If youd like to purchase extra tablets after completing the course, then there will be a limited quantity available at £7 for 12. (Compare with internet prices from another manufacturer of £16 + £4.95 p&p for 25 similar tablets). Extra tablets are useful to make wider bands and more complicated patterns.
What to expect?
The course will last approximately 3-4 hours.
As in most forms of weaving, setting up the weave takes a lot of time. You will spend about 1-1.5 hours threading the tablets and learning about the concepts. The rest of the time you will weave your band, learn how to make patterns and how to form your own designs. I will be teaching one form of tablet weaving (Double-faced weave), but you can create some complex patterns nevertheless. I have practised my course on my sister, and she was able to produce the weave below after teaching her the basics in the first few lines of weave, she designed her own pattern for the rest of the weave. I will not be using authentic historical materials, although I'll discuss some of the alternatives during the course.
Relfy's first tablet-woven band in progress
What is tablet weaving?
A portable form of weaving that doesnt require cumbersome specialist equipment such as looms or special thread. You can use specialist equipment for tablet weaving, but my interest is in the fact you can weave with minimal equipment, and this is what Ill be teaching. Tablet weaving is more than 2000 years old and globally widespread. It is used to make strong woven bands. These can be used to form borders as part of weaving larger pieces of cloth (Usually woven on a loom. Although you can weave wide cloth with tablets it isnt very efficient).
Tablet-woven bands can also be put to use in a variety of ways in their own right
They can be woven using 1 colour or several, un-patterned, patterned or even personalised with writing.
The examples below were all found on google image searches, so I've linked to the websites for your information. All of them are woven using tablets, except in the case of the sandal, which could have been woven on tablets but I don't know what method was actually used.
Some examples of my own work (they got better as I learned more!) are here
This time, I'll sort out students at the morning meetings. If anyone who has already done this course would like to have a go at more complicated designs, come chat to me at the moot. And bring your tablets!
Everything else is same as before :-
Ive been learning the art of tablet weaving this year, and would be happy to run a course at the bushmoot if people are interested. I can only teach 2 people at a time, but I can run the course 5 times during the moot, so there are 10 places altogether. Ill supply my tuition for free, but I need to charge for the materials. It will cost £10 per person. Please could you PM me if youd like to book a place?
Whats included?
12 laminated plastic tablets per person, threads, an instruction sheet to take away, practical tuition should be enough materials to make at least one band approx. ½ inch wide during the moot and youll be able to take the tablets away to make more at home and/or finish the one you start at the moot if you dont get time to complete it on-site.
woods_man from this forum is manufacturing the tablets for the course, and I've asked him to supply some extra at a special bushmoot discount. If youd like to purchase extra tablets after completing the course, then there will be a limited quantity available at £7 for 12. (Compare with internet prices from another manufacturer of £16 + £4.95 p&p for 25 similar tablets). Extra tablets are useful to make wider bands and more complicated patterns.
What to expect?
The course will last approximately 3-4 hours.
As in most forms of weaving, setting up the weave takes a lot of time. You will spend about 1-1.5 hours threading the tablets and learning about the concepts. The rest of the time you will weave your band, learn how to make patterns and how to form your own designs. I will be teaching one form of tablet weaving (Double-faced weave), but you can create some complex patterns nevertheless. I have practised my course on my sister, and she was able to produce the weave below after teaching her the basics in the first few lines of weave, she designed her own pattern for the rest of the weave. I will not be using authentic historical materials, although I'll discuss some of the alternatives during the course.
Relfy's first tablet-woven band in progress
What is tablet weaving?
A portable form of weaving that doesnt require cumbersome specialist equipment such as looms or special thread. You can use specialist equipment for tablet weaving, but my interest is in the fact you can weave with minimal equipment, and this is what Ill be teaching. Tablet weaving is more than 2000 years old and globally widespread. It is used to make strong woven bands. These can be used to form borders as part of weaving larger pieces of cloth (Usually woven on a loom. Although you can weave wide cloth with tablets it isnt very efficient).
Tablet-woven bands can also be put to use in a variety of ways in their own right
They can be woven using 1 colour or several, un-patterned, patterned or even personalised with writing.
The examples below were all found on google image searches, so I've linked to the websites for your information. All of them are woven using tablets, except in the case of the sandal, which could have been woven on tablets but I don't know what method was actually used.
- Webbing e.g. for bag or rucksack straps, or in this case a Yemeni dagger strap
- Decorative borders e.g. sewn onto collars, cuffs or hems.
- Straps for musical instruments such as guitar
- Personalised Bookmarks
- Straps for sandals or flip-flops (I couldn't find an example that was definitely woven with tablets online, but the below gives the general idea of woven straps)
- Camera straps - I reckon the one below has some room for improvement!
- Dog leads and collars
- Belts
- Bracelets
- Bags
- Watch straps
Some examples of my own work (they got better as I learned more!) are here
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