| These woven necklaces use a
single-needle stitching technique that predates the development of
knitting. Known as nalbinding, nalebinding or vantsom, it was
utilized by ancient metalsmiths to construct lightweight, strong
chains. Examples of nalbinding silver and gold chains have been
found in Celtic and Viking hoards and burial sites. |
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| The necklace is woven around a wooden
dowel. A base-metal wire is bent to form a jig upon which the silver
wire is stitched. Each stitch is a simple overhand knot. The
wire is looped from the left, aronnd the stitch in the previous row and
drawn in a circle to the right where the next stitch will be
formed. |
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| Here is the result after weaving a couple single-stitch
rows on the dowel. This will be a narrow chain, having
only three stitches. A bigger dowel could
accomodate more stitches if we desired a larger diameter finished
chain. |
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| After completing a few rows we've started making
double-stitches. You can see that the wire is now inserted behind
the stitch two rows up. The weave takes on
a more compact appearance. |
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| About thirty feet of wire is needed to weave an
eighteen-inch finished chain of this type. We work with about
five-foot lengths at a time. Each length must be spliced in where
the previous one ends. |
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| After stitching the new length of wire once around the
dowel and back over the spot where it was spliced in we cut off
the trailing ends of wire and continue. |
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| We are done weaving! You can see that the chain
is really a tube, which is why this technique was useful for making
various parts and articles of clothing. |
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| To finish the chain we need to draw its diameter down
by pulling it through progressively smaller holes in our wooden
drawplate. |
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| After drawing, the length of the chain has
increased by a factor of about one third. To turn it into a necklace
we'll solder on end caps and construct a hand forged 'S'
clasp. |
