ANST - Re: ösenstich

[gunnora at realtime.net]

Isabeau <STDRLC13 at shsu.edu> asked:
>Can anyone get in touch with me and diagram or show me how to 
>do "osenstich"? I want to do some embroidery in a Viking style 
>and Gunnora's web page mentioned this as being very 
>scandanavian. I just can't seem to find clear and precise 
>instructions on how to do the stitch.

Isabeau, the technique that Geijir calls "ösenstich" is almost a wire jewellry
technique.  To start with, you'll want to take a look at:

Geijir, Agnes, "The Textile Finds from Birka," in N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting,
eds. Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe. London: Heinemann. 1983. pp. 80-99.


I see the "edu" on your address, so you may very well find it in the library
of your educational institution, or be able to have Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
to get it for you.  If all else fails, contact me off-list and I will make you
a photocopy of my photocopy -- less desirable because you'll have a harder time
making out the photos of the ösenstich stuff.

I personally haven't tried this technique, though I feel pretty sure that I
can make things that look like the items Geijir shows in the article above.
 I'll tell you who I would contact to see if there are more resources on this
technique -- try asking Mistress Þóra Sharptooth (Thora Sharptooth), a very
informative Laurel from the East.  Her email address is <capriest at cs.vassar.edu>


Thora's web article on Viking embroidery (http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikembroid.html)
says: 

"...ösenstich is not primarily a needle technique, even though it makes use
of the same topology as some common embroidery stitches. It is much simpler
to work with the wire by itself instead of going to the trouble of threading
it through a needle first (Jensen, passim). Briefly described, ösenstich requires
using a wire approximating a 26-gauge beading wire to work rows of closely-spaced
mesh stitch into strips of tubing, flattened metallic trimming, or three-dimensional
shapes such as teardrops. The finished wire constructions were sometimes sewn
to garments as ornaments. The most common of the ösenstich variants was worked
somewhat like a Vandyke stitch; see below for a redrawing or the diagrams in
Geijer (p. 110) for more information..."

The Geijir publication that's being referred to here is:

Geijer, Agnes. 1938. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern. Birka: Undersuchungen
und Studien III. Uppsala: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akadamien.


Don't worry about not being able to read the text -- it has good pictures. 
Alas, I don't have copies of this one.  If you need text segments, you can usually
get a workable translation using an on-line translator, such as Intertran (http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran?).


The Jensen reference Thora mentions is:

Jensen, Jørn V. 1990. Vikingesmykker: Elegante Smykker i Kobber- og Solvtråd
med Vikingeteknik og enkelt Væktøj. Haarlev, Denmark: Privately published. 


Thora says:

"Parts of the English section of this work were brought to my attention by Barbara
Bishop (Lady [now Countess] Brigit of Mercia). It is impossible to reconstruct
the original pamphlet from the pieces I have seen, but it is possible to learn
the ösenstich technique from it. I believe it is marketed at the museum at Lejre,
Denmark."

This should get you started.

::GUNNORA::
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