Studia Vernacula

Eessõna: Ümber telje / On the loom

2024-01-10T12:18:33+00:00

Parandettevõtlus: praktiline radikalism / Regenerative entrepreneurship: practical radicalism

2024-01-10T12:28:46+00:00

‘Progress’ means extravagant energy use, enabled by the burning of fossil fuels and colonial expansion. The peak in the extraction of oil and countless other key natural resources, the ‘peak everything’, is at hand or imminent. Renewable and nuclear energy depend on fossil fuel-based production and have a poor EROI (energy return on investment). At the same time, the industrial civilisation has triggered a series of irreversible chain reactions. For the last 10,000 years, a period known as the Holocene, the Earth has enjoyed an exceptionally stable climate, which is a prerequisite for agriculture and the functioning of civilisations. We are entering a hothouse Earth with an unstable climate. The author starts from a post-sustainable framework of deep adaptation, according to which the collapse of industrial societies due to climate chaos and limits to growth is likely, inevitable or already underway in our lifetime.

The essential question of the post-sustainable world is how to live on a planet, on which humankind has never set foot in its entire evolution. In order to conceptualise this situation and to create an action plan, it is necessary to abandon the dogma of progressivism, the narrative that everything is going to get better, that all stories have a happy ending, and that there is no ‘going back to childhood’ (to a ‘Golden Age’, ‘traditional society’, etc.). The author takes a brief look at empirical and theoretical analyses that are in sharp contrast to the basic narratives of progress. The author also points out that no scientific-technical, Enlightenment-based culture or cultural situation in history can be shown to have been sustainable for even a single moment. At the same time, history is littered with examples of former state subjects, who have fled civilisation and gone native. Consequently, the achievement of an ecologically sustainable culture that breaks away from the doctrines of the Enlightenment and progress is an opportunity that is within reach at any moment.

Since the mid-19th century (at the latest), Estonian culture has consisted of attempts to create European-style culture in Estonian. In order to reach an ecologically sustainable way of life that can be lived from generation to generation, it is necessary to search for and invent the “modes of creation” of Estonians as a countryside people (before the 19th century, Estonians called themselves “people of the land”), i.e., a local epistemology and ecological sensitivity of the local culture, rebuilding a photosynthesis-based food system. The author calls for the abandonment of modernist business as usual and for the actual care of the land, generation after generation, a regenerative economy. The task of the regenerative economy is to bind water, carbon, nutrients into the Estonian soil. Agriculture – to the extent that it is possible on a hothouse Earth – must move towards forest gardening and grazing, because carbon is better safeguarded in the soil than in vegetation in the event of wildfires and superstorms. Also, it will be harder for colonisers to seize crops. Regenerative economy can be summed up in three words: food, wood, fibre.

Finally, the author proposes an extensive list of ideas for regenerative entrepreneurship. A regenerative entrepreneur is a practical environmental radical, whose everyday challenge is to find business models that are based on human or animal labour and photosynthesis as a source of energy and to create soil.

Keywords: limits to growth, climate chaos, deep adaptation, going native, regenerative economics

Luues käsitööuurimust: emotsiooni ja teadmiste ühendamine / Designing craft research: joining emotion and knowledge

2024-01-10T12:38:31+00:00

This paper considers how both craft and research can be joined in the enterprise of craft research. The rationale is that craft research is still relatively new compared to mainstream design research and that craft, being linked to the creation of artefacts as a source of experience and emotion, is not usually associated with research and the production of knowledge.

The paper discusses the emerging need for creative researach in the crafts based on sensibilities of material understanding and human values, which contrast with the current strictures of research. Drawing on current models of design research and knowledge, the paper proposes experiential knowledge as the unifying conceptual underpinning of both. The outcome and contribution of the paper is a better understanding of the relationship of craft and research, and of the value of research for advancing craft as a discipline that is viable and relevant for the future.

Keywords: craft research, experience, emotion, knowledge, material understanding, human values

Kohalik ja kordumatu kodarraha: tüpoloogia ja valmistamise tehnoloogia / Local and unique wheelcoins: typology and technology

2024-01-10T12:43:07+00:00

Wheelcoins were one of the most festive and expensive pieces of jewellery among the Estonian peasantry. These items were made of silver by learned goldsmiths operating in towns. Wheelcoins were the most recent, albeit last, development in the long history of local peasant jewellery. Several other types of jewellery which preceded the appearance of the wheelcoins, such as coins with a loop and paater pendants, influenced the form and wearing tradition of the wheelcoins.

From the end of the 18th century until the last quarter of the 19th century, wheelcoins gradually lost their fashionable position in traditional costume. The tradition of wearing and making wheelcoins ceased as it was, replaced by urban fashion. In the 1920s, wheelcoins returned to the public spotlight as pieces of unique local jewellery. In research papers by Ilmari Manninen, Aino Voolmaa, Kaalu Kirme, Reet Piiri, and Jana Reidla, the concept, typology, and use of the wheelcoin pendants were addressed within the context of folk customs and folk culture.

The article examines the development of the term ‘kodarraha’ (wheelcoin) and its attributed typology in earlier research. It should be noted that the actual name ‘wheelcoin’ appears very rarely in the collection notes of the Estonian National Museum. Peasants used other names to refer to the jewellery containing coins, such as the usual heel / loop money, neck coin, or pater. Regionally, there have been different names which indicate, for example, the use of thalers as a central coin.

Wheelcoins are one of the few ethnographic types of jewellery that can be attributed to specific masters. Thus, the names of Magnus Wilhelm Brackmann, who worked in Pärnu, Johann Friedrich Baumann, master of Lihula, and Wilhelm Adam Trühl, craftsman of Viljandi, may be referenced, as all of them can be associated with master-marked wheelcoins and distinctly individual styles.

The article proposes an alternate typology of wheelcoins to that of the regionally based one introduced by Kaalu Kirme. Established by their visual characteristics and crafting technology, this approach also takes into account the historical development of wheelcoins. The author divides wheelcoins into five groups: cast spoked wheelcoins, pseudo-cast spoked wheelcoins, single spoked wheelcoins, double spoked wheelcoins, and openwork wheelcoins.

Wheelcoins with cast spokes are the earliest examples and date mainly to the last quarter of the 18th century. Pseudo-cast spoked wheelcoins are more likely to be dated to the beginning of the 19th century. Single-spoked wheelcoins were common from the beginning of the 19th century until the last quarter of the 19th century, being the most widely produced type of wheelcoins. Wheelcoins with double spokes are common mainly in western Estonia and can only be associated with the workshops of Brackmann and Baumann. Openwork spoke wheelcoins are more common in south-east, south, and western Estonia. It is the latest dated type of wheelcoin and technically the most complex one to implement.

Finally, drawing from his own experience as a conservator and silversmith, the author gives an overview of the technology of making historical wheelcoins, and identifies and describes the different parts of the wheelcoin. Based on the close observation of the items in our museum collections, the order of work in which the wheelcoins were made was reconstructed. In the author’s findings, visible traces of processing on historical objects was relied on, and, working from them, a possible workflow for manufacturing wheelcoins was created. The different parts of the wheelcoin are counted from the centre of the piece to the outside. Thus, a single reel wheelcoin consists of a central coin or an imitation coin, spokes cut from sheet material, a girdle, and a hanging loop. In the case of a double reel wheelcoin, an intermediate girdle is added to the inner spokes, followed by an outer spoke reel and an edge girdle with a hanging loop.

By studying the dispersal and abundance of wheelcoins, it is possible to indicate the growth of peasantry wealth. The appearance of the jewellery gives an opportunity to observe how the aesthetic taste of the peasantry changed in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is also possible to detect the interaction of the peasantry with the master silversmiths of Baltic German origin who lived in towns. Here we can see the entanglement of two cultural realms, which gave birth to a unique local jewellery tradition. In conclusion, although the research on wheelcoins has already been carried out for a century, there are still details and topics that require much more in-depth study.

Keywords: wheelcoin, pater pendant, ethnographic jewellery, Estonian peasants, silversmiths, silver

Juustest ehted Eestis: museaalid ning kasutatud tehnikad / Hair jewellery in Estonia: museum objects and applied techniques

2024-01-10T12:52:33+00:00

The making and wearing of hair jewellery in the manner described in the article is a phenomenon that spread in Europe and North America between the second half of the 18th century and the early 20th century, with a peak in the second half of the 19th century. In the context of Romanticism and the Victorian tendency to open up the human emotional world, hair found its place as a valued material in the jewellery of the middle-class mourner, as in one who had recently lost a loved one. Over time, hair jewellery began to
transform into not just an expression of loss, but also simply a sign of longing and care. Not only did they adorn the wearer and preserve memory, but they also played an important role in demonstrating social relationships. The growing popularity of the tradition and its spread beyond the middle-class, brought changes both in the way jewellery was made and practised at home, as well as in its deeper meaning – it came to signify not only mourning, but also love and friendship.

This article introduces the hair objects preserved in the collections of Estonian museums, their wearers and makers, and briefly covers the technology behind their manufacture.

Since hair jewellery, or hair work, is a little-known craft in Estonia that can be studied mainly through artefactual sources and MuIS (Museum Information System, www.muis.ee) legends, the knowledge presented in the article is based more on my practice-based research than on the literature, focusing on the main question: what were hair jewellery and how were they made?

The main method I used was reconstruction, the first step of which presupposed a technique-based closer examination of the objects in the museums. On a temporal scale, this was followed by fieldwork in the Swedish settlement of Våmhus, where the tradition of hair braiding has survived unbroken to the present day. The collected information became the basis for experimentation to identify pattern algorithms and technical methods for the production of complete pieces.

According to the data I have collected, there are 132 hair objects in Estonian museums, in the following types: pocket watch chains, necklaces, bracelets, bonnets, brooches, earrings, a ring, a wreath, and a hair decoration. Of all the plaited objects, the pocket watch chains are by far the most common items, with a total of 68 in museums, showing that this type of object was the most widely used in Estonia.

Both men and women wore pocket watch chains and, as in the rest of Europe, it was common in Estonia to give hair braids to the opposite sex as a token of affection, which is confirmed by the notes recorded during the collection of the objects.

In MuIS, the accompanying legends of the hair objects mention 39 different place names as their place of origin, which shows that the jewellery was spread almost everywhere in Estonia. The exception are the Estonian islands, where during the process of information gathering I received only one positive response, which suggests that the wearing of these jewellery items did not reach similar popularity as on the mainland.

According to English-language sources, hair jewellery making has been historically divided into four different techniques: table work – braids made by lifting bundles of hair on a braiding stand, plate work – making shapes from hair by moulding them into the appropriate position and gluing them to the jewellery, hair painting – painting pictures from ground hair mixed with glue, e.g. on ivory or porcelain jewellery, and fourth, hair-wrapped wire, i.e. moulding elements from hair braided with wire and making ornaments from them. Due to the lack of Estonian-language terminology, there was a practical need for vocabulary to describe everything involved. I started by creating a typology of the different patterns as a result of the observation of museum objects, on the basis of which I divided the patterns into six techniques, denominating them based on visual information. Patterns used in the braiding of the museum objects are mainly defined as table work, and they are the result of the interchanging of hair bundles on a braiding chain (the author’s term to distinguish between braiding stands of different shapes and functions from a circular rotating tool).

Hair braiding technology offers abundant possibilities of pattern and form for making a variety of objects, resulting in a unique and subtle visualeffect and adding a very personal layer to an object with its uniqueness of material choice. At the same time, it is possible to accommodate the techniques used to a wide range of materials, achieving a completely different and innovative result with the same methods.

Keywords: handicraft, braiding, hair work, hair jewellery, table-work

Käsikirjaliste mustrivihikute tähtsus kangakudumise mustrite levimise ajaloos / The historical importance of weaving pattern books

2024-01-10T13:04:01+00:00

The late 19th century can be considered a transformative period in the history of Estonian textile weaving, during which the weaving of art fabrics onso-called Finnish looms became increasingly widespread. From this period onwards, an increasing amount of Estonian women started to study weaving in Finland, and Finnish women were invited to Estonia to teach.

The article describes, based on various surviving sources, the spread of weaving patterns in Estonia and the functioning of various weaving courses and schools during this time period. It also provides an overview of the weaving pattern books, which were prevalent in Estonia until the first decades of the 20th century, based on samples preserved in museums and private collections.

Pattern looms, also known as countermarch looms, Finnish looms, and sometimes also “artisan weavers’ looms”, were expensive and seemed complicated to an average weaver. Therefore, by the end of the 19th century, these types of looms were not yet widely prevalent in Estonian peasant households. They only started to become common during the early years of the independent Republic of Estonia, and it was soon a matter of honor to have Finnish looms in the house.

With the establishment of weaving schools and the spread of various courses in the late 19th century, new patterns from Europe reached Estonian households. Countermarch looms that arrived via Finland offered more opportunities for weaving different textile surfaces. Also, it was possible to weave wider fabrics on these looms compared to simple looms that had been used in farmsteads earlier.

The development of weaving pattern books and textbooks in time shows how the spread of more complex looms into homes went hand in hand with the emergence and popularity of women’s handicraft schools. The industrial revolution that altered the previously established modes of production from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century did bring more affordable factory products to homes. The national awakening in turn created a situation where the promotion of handicrafts was back on the social agenda.

The industrial revolution, new trade relations, and the intensification of cultural exchange with neighbouring countries provided Estonian women with the opportunity to improve their position in society. From the beginning of the 20th century, cultural and educational interactions that had begun at the end of the previous century between educated and progressive women and women’s organisations became even more frequent.

Keywords: weaving on loom, women’s crafts, housekeeping education, weaving pattern books, textile artisans

Muudetava tihedusega kangasuga. Ühe tööriista leiutamise lugu / Weaving reed for adjusting warp density while weaving: the inventing of a tool

2024-01-10T13:11:05+00:00

The article is built around invention as a process, DIY as an attitude, and the activities and procedures necessary to make an invention in the field of crafts. The article opens a case study of the invention of one handweaving tool – a reed in which density is adjustable during weaving – tracking its journey from an idea to a prototype, a utility model, and a product. An overview of previous versions of the reed that allow changing the warp density is given.

As follows, the process of invention has been described according to the stages perceived by the author, paying attention to her own experience as the inventor, and to factors that promote and hinder product development. The inventor’s choices in the process have been influenced by self-definition as a user and as an entrepreneur. Auto-ethnography has been used as a method for writing the article.

I examine how DIY culture manifests itself in this specific case of the product development process, and how my roles as the inventor, entrepreneur, and weaver act in harmony in this process. The process of inventing in my case can be divided into the following stages: first – addressing the problem (how the weaver can change the warp density while weaving), and imagining the possible solutions; second – analysing the present situation to understand what spatial limitations of the handloom must be considered, and what moves can be made by the weaver during the weaving process. In order to reach a solution to the problem outlined above, I made a DIY version of the prototype tool using available materials (bricolage), and then used the tool myself. With the help of Ago Jääger, an engineer, the prototype was then developed into the version that could be manufactured. Valuable contacts were provided by Anne Erlach from the Patent Office of Estonia. Thanks to the support from textile specialists Vibeke Vestby (Norway), Andreas Möller (Germany) and Tina and Bernt Arne Ignell from VÄV (Scandinavian weaving journal), I started to promote the tool and reached out to the users who were inspired by the new warp manipulation possibilities and the variations that the tools brought with them.

Here are the working principles of the three versions of adjustable reeds compared with that of a previously existing tool, the fan reed: Fan reed (invention from the 19th century) consists of dents that are under angles. By raising or lowering the tool, the warps get pushed into the new position. The pattern possibilities are restricted as the groups are dependent upon the position of the reed, and the wide setting and narrow setting are always side by side. Adjustable reed (AdRe) (Utility model, 2009) was the first version of my reeds, where warps can be manipulated during the weaving process in individual groups. Distance between the dents ischanged by changing the angle of the arms. Folding reed. This version of an adjustable reed was inspired by a carpenter’s folding ruler. With this type of reed dramatic changes in fabric width are also possible; the position of one section of warps influences the position of the sections to the right and to the left of it. Adjustable sliding weaving reed (Utility model published in 2014). Adjustable sliding weaving reed enables the weaver to change the density of the reed (affects the warp density) in independent groups. It can also make twists in warps as the modules can be removed from the rail and fixed in a new position, and alter the width of the fabric while weaving. Commercially, this version is promoted under the name RailReed.

Examples are given of weavers and artists who use the possibilities of this tool to change the thread density in groups, as well as the fabric width during weaving, and how such manipulations of fabric structures are connected to the creative projects of these authors.

Keywords: reed, adjustable weaving reed, adjusted warp density, handloom, inventing, DIY

Mineviku kogemust uurides. Rüiteki näide / Studying past experience. The case of rüi blanket

2024-01-10T13:35:20+00:00

This article examines the unique type of blanket used in Hiiumaa, the rüi. Presumably the rüi blanket is related to the Swedish and West Finnish fringed rugs woven with the ryijy technique on looms. In contrast to the ryijy technique, the Hiiumaa rüi does not have yarn piles sown into it, but the hairy top layer is made of rug rags (nukud) sown onto the base blanket. According to archival records, the rüi imitated fur, which made the blanket exceptionally warm and could be worn at night in cold conditions (e.g. on a sea voyage, sleeping in a meadow). In Hiiumaa, rüis were still made until the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the continuity of blanket making ceased. The aim of this article is to present the historical background of the rüi blanket, to describe the process of making of a rüi blanket reconstruction, and to compile stories of experiences from people who slept under the rüi reconstruction.

Although this type of blanket was still very common in Hiiumaa in the 19th century, only two exemplary blankets are known to have survived to the present day. A rüi of rather poor condition is preserved in the Estonian National Museum (ERM A 332: 4). During a collection expedition to Hiiumaa in 1901, the Finnish ethnologist Axel Olai Heikel (1851–1924) brought one of the rüis also to the Finnish National Museum (SU 4002: 269). In addition to the few specimens, many written records have fortunately survived from
the beginning of the 20th century of how the rüi was made and used. Most of the written records are preserved in the Ethnographic Archive (EA) and Correspondents’ Reply (KV) of the Estonian National Museum.

Rüi blankets have been used in different places in Hiiumaa, but they had one purpose – to protect against cold. The blanket was taken to the meadows (it was used to sleep under a hayloft), and it was also used as a boat blanket, although the rüi was mainly used to sleep under at home during the cold season, as just a blanket was rarely warm (ERMA EA 20: 1, 193). In addition to its very practical properties, the rüi also had a wider social significance, as it was part of the dowry of a Hiiumaa bride. Communal work bees were organised to make the blanket and even in the 19th century, the gifts brought to the bride still included clothes suitable for making shreds (nukud).

A recurring theme throughout the period of reconstruction was the weight of the rüi blanket. It has been noted that the blanket was so heavy that a sick man could not even carry it and that children grew tired under it. It is recorded from Pühalepa that the blanket could have weighed up to one pood (16,381 kg). In addition, I wanted to add value to the reconstructed blanket through stories of experience. Very many ethnographic descriptions leave the impression that the rüi was very heavy and unusually warm. My desire was to find out how people in the 21st century reflect the experience of sleeping under a blanket that was common in the 19th century. Does it get cold, does the blanket prickle, is it too heavy, etc.?

In its finished form, the rüi reconstruction weighs 8,1 kg, half the target weight. The rüi blanket deposited in Finland weighs 7 kg (+/– 1 kg), which calls into question the veracity of the archival record rather than the physical shortcomings of the reconstruction.

Three men slept under the rüi reconstruction between 7–13 September 2021, when the night-time temperature was around +10ºC. The participants of the experiment pointed out that the blanket absorbed moisture very well and they didn’t get wet even when sleeping on the ground. The people sleeping under the rüi did not mention that the blanket was too heavy or too warm.

Through the process of studying and making a rüi, a significant number of people took part in the intangible heritage of the Hiiumaa people – their skills, knowledge, and experience. The finished blanket is part of the collections of Hiiumaa Museums (HKM 6648:1 Tst 8:22), thus providing an opportunity to familiarise oneself with the item and use the information also for future generations.

Keywords: sea blanket, rüi, handicraft techniques, reconstruction, practice-based research, user experience

Vaiadel kuhjalava ja selle ehitamine Matsalu rahvuspargis / Constructing a haystack base in Matsalu national park

2024-01-10T13:43:33+00:00

Haymaking is a traditional craft that began to fade in the second half of the 20th century. The gradual disappearance of the traditional ways of making hay was due to the rapid development of modern agricultural techniques, which made the need for older techniques obsolete.

Before the advent of hay packers, hay was mainly stored in barns or haystacks. As barns became more common beginning in the early 20th century, haystacks were the most common way of preserving hay (photos 1, 3, 4). To help structure the haystack and prevent the bottom of the pile from rotting, it was first necessary to build a haystack base (photo 2). In the case of wetlands and flooded meadows, haystacks had to be built on tall wooden poles to protect them against flooding (photos 5, 6).

Although some descriptions of the construction of a traditional haystack have survived in the archives, there is no written information on haystack bases built on poles. Fortunately, there are some local people who still remember such haystack structures as well as some historically valuable photographs that have survived. Based on these old photos and local people’s memories, we organised a workshop on making a haystack base in Matsalu National Park, aimed at preserving and presenting the local heritage.

In this article, we will look at the haystack, and in particular at the haystack base needed to build it on. The first part of the article gives an overview of the necessity and importance of the haystack in farm and folk culture. A separate section is devoted to the construction of the haystack bed on poles. The second part of the article is an auto-ethnographic overview of a workshop on the building of a haystack base on the Kasari riverbank in the village of Kelu. Along with photographic material, the article also gives an overview of the different stages of the build and some details about the construction.

Keywords: woodcrafts, haystack, haystack base, traditional agriculture, workshop

Mõõtuandev trükis talutoolidest / Notable publication about country chairs

2024-01-10T13:50:08+00:00

The exhibition “Four Feet on the Ground. The Estonian Country Chair” was opened in the gallery of the Estonian National Museum on 23 February 2023. The exhibition’s catalogue, titled “Estonian Country Chairs”, was presented by the Estonian National Museum’s wood conservators Mariliis Vaks and Indrek Tirrul, and the exhibition’s curator Liisi Jääts on 1 March. The voluminous and richly illustrated book helps to give the enthusiast a closer look at the background of the making and use of our simpler farmhouse furniture. The more than 70 chairs presented in the book come mainly from the collections of the Estonian National Museum, which houses the largest collection of country chairs in Estonia. The described chairs date from the late 18th century until the 1940s, when home-made items began to be largely replaced by factory furniture. Country chairs were made locally and from the most suitable material, which is why many of the museum pieces are still in good condition a hundred or even two hundred years later. The catalogue also features stories of the more prominent regional chair makers, such as those behind the manufacture of round-backed resort chairs in Saaremaa, which began around the year 1880.

The book has become well known among ethnography and crafts enthusiasts, both for its tasteful and measured design, including its inspiring freehand drawings, and for the richness of its content, and the diversity of objects, details and manufacturing techniques presented. In addition, the precisely inch-thick binding with its sturdy paperback covers can be used as a workbench support, a carpenter’s square, and perhaps occasionally even as a measuring tool.

Rahvarõivakool Chicagos. Veebi vahendusel / National clothing course in Chicago, online

2024-01-10T13:55:51+00:00

Between January 2021 and May 2023, the Estonian Cultural Society in Chicago collaborated with the NGO Rahvarõivas and provided a national clothing course for Estonians in the USA. The idea came from the Estonians in Chicago, building on NGO Rahvarõivas’ experience in providing national clothing schools since 2009. To unite the domestic and expatriate Estonian communities in understanding the intricate tradition of Estonian folk costumes, this comprehensive course spanned both theoretical and practical elements. The online format allowed participants from multiple U.S. states to join.

This initiative attracted 12 people between the ages 13 to 76. Participants came from the states of Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. At the final presentation, 12 exquisitely crafted ensembles representing 10 Estonian parishes were showcased. While most participants completed one ensemble, some accomplished two or even three sets of garments. The course encompassed 360 academic hours of classroom work, plus independent work. The curriculum was based on the supplementary education program established in Estonia in 2018.

The course objectives were to ensure that both homeland and expatriate Estonian communities have the same understanding of Estonian folk clothing traditions. The curriculum included theoretical lectures from April to June to prepare participants for the practical phase beginning in September.

The organisers and the teachers reviewed the entire curriculum together. Based on the technologies, they tried to anticipate possible obstacles and think of solutions ahead of time. Individual work plans were created, and materials were assembled. The participants who visited Estonia in the summer of 2021 had the opportunity to visit the museums with the teachers and were able to study the historical examples in their sets and determine the correct colors.

The challenge of weaving patterned belts and skirt fabrics was addressed with innovative teaching methods. Video demonstrations, visual aids, verbal explanations, technique demonstrations, and drawn stitching patterns were employed to facilitate learning. The fact that the United States has a different type of loom made weaving the fabric difficult. The course’s most intricate aspect was understanding the weaving’s backside and its loose threads. The linen fabric and other materials were bought from Estonia, examples were made and sent to the USA. More work than usual was done with the preparation of work instructions and creating the outlines.

The last stitches, fitting and dressing properly sessions were already done all together in Chicago this June. This culminated in a presentation of the completed ensembles just a week before Midsummer’s Eve, documented through photographs and videos.

Both students and teachers celebrated the joy of completing the garments. The teachers gained great and necessary experience. The students plan to continue the project by introducing the finished garments to other Estonian communities in North America, thereby further promoting Estonian culture and traditions.

This endeavour demonstrates the significance of adapting traditional practices to the challenges. The emotional and educational impact of this project is evident in the pride and emotions of the graduates, who crafted lasting memories and now plan to extend this legacy by sharing their knowledge and completed sets with other Estonian communities in the United States. The project embodies the enduring strength and unity of the Estonian culture and heritage within and beyond its borders.

Eesti–Norra villaprojekt innustab kohalikku toorainet paremini väärindama / Estonian–Norwegian wool project inspires to value local raw material better

2024-01-10T14:06:35+00:00

In March 2023, the two-year cooperation project “Estonian and Norwegian local sheep’s wool, conducting research and creating educational materials for textile students of higher education” came to an end. It was led by University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy (TÜ VKA; Astri Kaljus, Ave Matsin, Diana Tuulik). The partners were Tallinn University of Applied Sciences (Merje Beilmann, Diana Tuulik) and Muru Wool Mill (Liina Lehis) from Estonia, and the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN; Eli Wendelbo) and Selbu Spinneri AS (Marte Espelien Blomli, Ingvild Svorkmo Espelien) from Norway. The project was funded by the EEA / Norway
Cooperation Programme in Higher Education.

The project was motivated by the fact that local sheep wool is underused in Estonia. There is a lot of prejudice about its quality and most of the wool (85–90%) is not adequately valued or it is even destroyed as waste. In Norway, on the other hand, there is a very good system of buying and processing wool. The aim of the project was to investigate and test the quality and characteristics of wool from indigenous and most common sheep breeds in Estonia and Norway, and to create educational materials for textile students based on the findings. The wider aim of the project is to increase the targeted use of local wool in textile production. During the course of the project, three Estonian and three Norwegian sheep breeds were selected, the wool of which was used in further studies. Wool was collected from each breed, and from it yarn and knitted and woven fabrics were made, the properties of which were then tested.

As a result of the project, the education material “From Wool to Fabric. Estonian and Norwegian sheep’s wool as a textile material. Production, properties and possibilities of use on the example of the wool of six sheep breeds” was published. It is illustrated by educational videos, the first of which is on sheep shearing in Estonia (https://uttv.ee/naita?id=34448), the second on Norwegian wool (https://uttv.ee/naita?id=34489) and the third on the sorting of Estonian wool (https://uttv.ee/naita?id=34490). The educational material is freely available for educational purposes and can be used by anyone interested. It gives an overview of the general characteristics of wool, the processing procedure, and then focuses in more detail on the results of testing the collected wool and the yarns and textiles produced as a result of the project. The material can be found here: https://sisu.ut.ee/sites/default/files/eestivill/files/wool_to_fabric_a4_12_0.pdf.

It can be stated at the end of the project that the comparison of the wool from six sheep breeds and products made from it proved to be a much more multiplex and multifaceted research task than expected. The collection of wool from different sheep breeds showed that the characteristics and quality of wool within the same breed can vary greatly, depending on the genetic material, the sheep’s age or sex, rearing conditions, and the time of shearing. Properties of the fabric were also influenced by the parametres of the yarns used as well as the manufacturing technique. In any case, it would be important to continue with product development that takes into account the results of this study in order to establish connections between wool types, their processing, and the desired properties of the products. Small-scale local industry enables the development of different types of yarn from which innovative products can be developed. The development of new products based on the results of this project could even be the subject of new student theses and
projects.

In a broader perspective, the results of the project hopefully will contribute to the increased use of super-quality wool fibres that are a by-product of sheep husbandry, rather than the production of consumption of fossil-based textiles, since the use and sustainable valuing of natural craft materials contributes to solving environmental problems

Pildikesi sügiskoolist / Pictures from the autumn school

2024-01-10T14:15:04+00:00

This newsreel text opens the 10-year history of the autumn schools of the Heritage Technologies (since 2020 the Creative Applications of Cultural Heritage) of the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. Each year, a semi-academic event dedicated to some fascinating professional theme has been organised by second-year master’s students in different Estonian tourist farms. For example, the most colourful themes have been ‘The Creative Hand Heals the Soul’ (2015), ‘Life Before and After Oil’ (2016), ‘Born of Fire’ (2017). The two-day gatherings, which have been open to all interested parties with pre-registration, have included thematic lectures and presentations, discussions and brainstorming, and practical workshops. Always on the evening of the first day, baptised freshers, that is, master’s students who have started their studies, have been treated to the sauna and songs and tunes have sounded. At times, there has been a night hike, which the participants reminisce in detail afterwards. The tradition of the autumn school has not died out and school continues to the present day. In recent years, the autumn school’s presentations have been recorded on video on the University of Tartu’s online TV channel uttv.ee.