Tablet Weaving
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Practitioners and people who know the tradition well
Tablet weaving is a worldwide craft technique dating back thousands of years. It flourished in the area of present-day Finland during the Late Iron Age (approx. 800-1200 CE). Tablet-woven bands had a practical, decorative and symbolic role in Iron Age dress. They were produced both for household use and by professional weavers. Many Iron Age weaving techniques disappeared with the adoption of rigid-heddle band weaving, but simple tablet weaving survived in Finland as a folk craft until the twentieth century. Iron Age weaving techniques have been successfully reconstructed in the twenty-first century, and knowledge and skills that had once been lost have come back to life.
Today, tablet-woven bands can be seen, for example, in reconstructed Iron Age costumes based on burial finds. Kalevala Women’s Association has promoted the research and reconstruction of prehistoric textiles since the 1930s. Tablet-woven bands were studied and reconstructed, among other contexts, in the Maalöydöstä koruksi (“From archaeological finds to jewerly”) research project of Kalevala Women’s Association in 2021–2022. The research involved the archaeologists Jenni Sahramaa and Krista Wright and the band researchers Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanen. Kalevala Women’s Association, together with its many member associations, promotes awareness of tablet-woven bands by making and presenting prehistoric costumes at various events. Kalevala Women’s Association keeps traditional craft skills visible in public discussion by organising seminars, courses and other events.
Tablet-woven bands are widely woven for living history and historical re-enactment costumes. Associations that re-enact the Iron Age or the Middle Ages in particular play an important role in safeguarding the tradition of tablet weaving. Muinaisaikayhdistys Birckalaiset ry is a Finnish Iron Age living history and re-enactment association with an active craft section. In the association’s craft gatherings, ancient craft skills of many different kinds are learned. Tablet weaving is learned both spontaneously and in theme days planned in advance. The association takes part in organising different Iron Age events and presents tablet weaving, also offering the public the opportunity to try it themselves. Iloinen Joutsen is a living history group that re-enacts the everyday life of craftspeople in fourteenth-century Finland. The association promotes awareness of historical craft skills and artisan trades both in Finland and abroad. Iloinen Joutsen works in cooperation with museums, associations and different historical events. Its members give demonstrations, teach and lecture on topics including tablet weaving. The association also re-enacts the Iron Age and invests in making authentic costume reconstructions.
Practitioners of the tradition are also found among artisans trained in ancient techniques and among traditional craftspeople. Artisans graduating from the ancient techniques programme of the Raisio Regional Education and Training Consortium make traditional and modern useful objects and accessories using the tablet-weaving technique. Ancient techniques artisans maintain traditional craft skills and renew the tradition by applying it to the present day. In addition to tablet-woven products, they make and sell tools and teach the technique in, for example, adult education centres and workers’ institutes. The field of study in ancient techniques also carries out cooperative projects with museums and archaeologists.
Growing interest in traditional craft skills is leading an increasing number of craft enthusiasts to tablet weaving. There is no single umbrella organisation around the tradition; instead, communities safeguarding the tradition work independently from different starting points. A tablet weaver may be a historical re-enactor, an artisan of ancient techniques, a heritage or craft enthusiast, a professional weaver, an archaeologist or a tablet-woven band researcher. Individuals who safeguard the tradition often work in overlapping roles between different groups. By international comparison, Finland carries out high-quality multidisciplinary and multi-professional research on bands, with the aim of increasing the vitality of the tradition. Specialists in tablet weaving can be found among both professional craftspeople and enthusiasts.
Practising of the tradition
The name of tablet weaving comes from the square tablets used to weave the band. In addition to square tablets, there are also, for example, three-, five- and six-sided tablets. The warp threads of the band are threaded through holes in the corners of the tablets. By turning the tablets, a shed is formed between the warp threads, through which the weft thread is passed. A simple band is woven by turning the tablets as one pack a quarter turn forwards or backwards. In more complex techniques, the tablets are turned individually or in groups. When the tablets are turned, the warp threads twist around one another. Because of this twist, the structure of a tablet-woven band is very durable and inelastic.
In prehistoric times, weaving tablets were made from bone, antler or wood, but today the material is often cardboard, carton or wood. It is easy to begin tablet weaving even without demanding tools. The tablets can be made, for example, from beverage cartons, playing cards or other thin and durable materials. In Finland, the most common way to weave a tablet-woven band is to tie the beginning of the warp to the waist and the other end to another fixed point ( a.k.a. backstrap weaving). The warp can be attached, for example, to the corner of a table or a door handle, around a tree trunk, a chair or even one’s own toes. Tablet weaving is also done using different kinds of weaving frames or band looms. There is great variation in methods of weaving and in tools, and ingenuity and creative solutions are emphasised in practising the tradition.
Today, practitioners of the tradition have at their disposal many different weaving techniques and pattern models with instructions. In bands intended for historical re-enactment, the aim is often to reproduce Iron Age models and to use the weaving techniques and materials of the period, such as wool and flax and yarns dyed with natural dyes. Bands are also woven for reconstructed Iron Age costumes according to patterns based on a particular burial find. In addition to ready-made models, a large proportion of tablet weavers also use self-designed or adapted patterns and colour schemes. Patterns are designed, for example, by drawing them on paper with pencil, by using model bands or with the help of digital applications. For many practitioners, combining a personal touch with ancient models is important, and their own creativity connects the tradition to its thousand-year continuity.
Today, many different useful objects are made with the tablet-weaving technique, such as bookmarks, keyrings, key or guitar straps and collars for pets. Accessories such as jewellery, belts and bags are also woven with the technique. Tablet weaving is suited to many kinds of modern use, and there is also great variation in materials. In addition to traditional wool and flax, cotton yarns, different blended yarns, metal thread and even horsehair are used in bands. The versatility of tablet weaving and the wide variation in materials and uses make the tradition vibrant. The tradition of tablet weaving is not the preservation of the past, but living heritage that constantly gains new meanings and forms in the hands of today’s weavers.
The background and history of the tradition
The history of the tablet-weaving technique stretches back about 3,000 years, and it is one of the earliest forms of weaving. The technique has been used in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The earliest tablet-woven bands were simple starting and finishing bands for cloth, needed in weaving on warp-weighted upright looms. Over time, the technique became more complex and developed many different variations around the world. In Finland, the earliest possible references to the tablet-weaving technique date to the sixth century CE. Archaeological finds of bands are numerous in Finland from the Late Iron Age, especially from burials of the Crusade Period. Archaeological finds of tablet-woven bands are often only small parts of the original band.
Compared with neighbouring countries, Finland has abundant archaeological material of tablet-woven bands. Research on bands has shown that the area of present-day Finland had a very distinctive culture of tablet-woven bands during the Late Iron Age. The weaving techniques differed in many ways from those used, for example, in Scandinavia or the Baltic region. Most archaeological finds of bands come from Southwest Finland, but finds have also been made in Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, Savo, Keminmaa and the ceded Karelia.
One technique characteristic of Finland’s Iron Age tablet-woven bands is the half turn, in which the tablets are turned 2/4 of a turn instead of one quarter. Half turns are used to weave sharp diagonal patterns that are typical of Finnish Iron Age tablet-woven bands. Another special feature is the tubular selvedge, woven by passing the weft into the shed under the edge tablets. A special feature identified in the research of Maikki Karisto, the tie-down pattern, is a technique of which no parallel is so far known anywhere else in the world. It is woven by tying down the warp threads of a pattern tablet by passing the weft over them. At the same time, that tablet is left unturned. Plaited tassels at the ends of the bands, in turn, point to international connections, as the same technique has also been found in archaeological textile finds from Sweden and Norway. Shared features with neighbouring areas are also found in ornamentation and in the universal symbolic language of the bands.
In the Iron Age, tablet weaving was an essential skill connected with the making of different textiles and was passed on in everyday life from one generation to the next. Bands woven with complex techniques, however, were the work of professional weavers. One probably became a professional weaver as the apprentice of a specialised master. Weaving a complex band required long-term practice and a deep understanding of the technique. It demanded strong multi-dimensional and mathematical spatial ability as well as special skill in handling materials. A professional tablet weaver was a respected master of their field within the community, much like jewellery makers or weapon smiths. A skilfully woven colourful band was a valuable object that may have communicated the high social status of its wearer.
In the Iron Age, tablet-woven bands had an important structural role in cloth production and a practical role in tying garments or in suspending useful objects at the waist. The bands also served as decorative elements at the edge of a cloak or skirt and as belt bands. Symbols bringing luck and fertility were woven into the bands, and these were thought to protect the wearer from evil forces and misfortune. Protective symbolism was especially important around the fertile parts of women’s bodies. In the Iron Age, tablet weaving was the only band-making technique with which it was possible to create a complex pattern language.
A large part of the weaving techniques used in the Iron Age gradually disappeared as rigid-heddle and heddle-band techniques became more common in the Middle Ages. The patterns and symbols characteristic of Iron Age tablet-woven bands were transferred to rigid-heddle bands, where it can still be recognised. Simple tablet weaving survived in Finland as a folk craft tradition until the twentieth century, when it was used to make, for example, belt bands, horse reins and carrying straps for coffins. In the nineteenth century, several different local names were used for tablet-woven bands, including viilivyö, hiiretyisvyö, tikute, stakkavyö, nästäkkä and pielikka. Textile making has traditionally been women’s work, but men have also made, among other things, belts and reins with the tablet-weaving technique. The weaving techniques of Iron Age tablet-woven bands remained largely unknown until the twenty-first century. Important advances in the study of archaeological tablet-woven bands have been made during the last twenty years, and weaving techniques that had once been lost have been successfully reconstructed.
The transmission of the tradition
The continuity and vitality of the tablet-weaving tradition live most strongly in different enthusiast communities, of which living history groups and re-enactors of the Iron Age and the Middle Ages form a strong majority. Knowledge and skill related to tablet weaving are often transmitted from person to person in different situations connected with historical re-enactment. Tablet weaving can be learned in shared gatherings, where more experienced practitioners pass on their knowledge. The tradition can also be transmitted in public living history and re-enactment events, such as Iron Age or medieval markets and festivals. In this way, historical re-enactors also make the tablet-weaving tradition known to the wider public. In the Iron Age, and even in the historical period, the skill of making different kinds of bands was passed from generation to generation as part of everyday life or between masters and apprentices. The intergenerational transmission of the tradition declined in the twentieth century as a result of industrialisation and urbanisation. In living history and re-enactment communities, the transmission of traditions between generations is also being revitalised. Living history and historical re-enactment is often practised by the whole family, and children learn traditional craft skills from their parents or from other members of the community. Skills can also be transmitted from younger generations to older ones.
The tablet-weaving technique has been taught as one aspect of weaving in craft schools and institutions for arts and crafts education. In vocational education, tablet weaving has been most strongly represented in the ancient techniques studies of the Raisio Regional Education and Training Consortium. As a hobby, tablet weaving can be learned in courses organised by arts and crafts associations and by adult education centres and workers’ institutes. The teachers on these courses are often artisans trained in ancient techniques or other craft professionals. In addition to historical re-enactors and professional craftspeople, the tablet-weaving tradition is also safeguarded by craft enthusiasts interested in different techniques and traditions.
Knowledge produced by band research and weaving instructions for bands play a central role in transmitting the tradition. Different kinds of instructions and guides are available in abundance compared with previous decades. In addition to books and research publications, instructions and information can be found on many Finnish and international websites and on social media platforms. Social media functions as an effective platform for sharing knowledge and learning, and its visual nature attracts new people to the tradition. It also makes it possible to transmit the tradition to geographical areas where no association activities or courses are available. A large share of the people who weave tablet-woven bands see transmission of the tradition as important and share their knowledge and skills privately or publicly through different channels of communication.
At present, there are no direct threats to the maintenance of the tradition, but challenges related to the funding of textile-archaeological research can be regarded as a risk factor for its vitality. In the absence of external funding, research on tablet-woven bands has been carried out as voluntary work or with personal funding, which limits possibilities for researching new materials. The knowledge, skills and specialised expertise required for research must also be passed on to the next generations so that archaeological finds can be studied in the future as well.
Documentation of the tradition
The archaeological collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency include a large number of finds of tablet-woven bands from the Late Iron Age. In a study carried out in 2018–2019, weaving teacher and textile conservator Maikki Karisto examined and reconstructed, together with craft master Mervi Pasanen, more than 50 tablet-woven band finds belonging to the collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency. The results of the research were published in 2020 in the book Nauha-aarteita – Arkeologisia lautanauhoja Suomen rautakaudelta (Also available in English: Tablet-Woven Treasures - Archaeological Bands from the Finnish Iron Age). The publication includes the history of band research, weaving instructions for the studied bands, and photographs of the finds and their reconstructions. The intangible heritage of archaeological tablet-woven bands has thus been documented in non-fiction literature that is accessible to everyone. Research is carried out regularly on new materials, and not all results have yet been published.
Reconstructions of Finnish Iron Age costumes with their tablet-woven bands are found in the collections of many museums around Finland. The most comprehensive collection of Iron Age costume reconstructions is held by Heinolan Kalevalaiset Naiset. Research on tablet-woven bands and reconstructions of the bands are presented in the Hyvä paikka (“Good place”) exhibition of the Lahti Historical Museum and in the exhibition of the Naurava lohikäärme (“Laughing dragon”) prehistoric visitor centre in Eura. The collections of Finnish museums also contain a large number of folk tablet-woven bands made in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The largest number is found in the ethnographic and Finno-Ugric collections of the
National Museum of Finland, in the collections of the Craft Museum of Finland and in the collections of the Ilomantsi Museum Foundation. Individual tablet-woven bands, tools and images of band weaving have been documented in the collections of several museums. The ethnographic image collections of the Finnish Heritage Agency include photographs of tablet weaving from the early twentieth century. The ethnologist Toini-Inkeri Kaukonen carried out extensive research on Finnish band traditions and presented tablet-weaving traditions in her 1965 work Suomen kansanomaiset nauhat (“Vernacular bands of Finland”).
In addition to professionally managed museums, tablet-woven bands are found in different archives and collections. The archive of the Fredrika Wetterhoff Foundation preserves the tablet-woven band collection of the craft teacher Viivi Merisalo. Merisalo’s research on tablet-woven bands and her weaving instructions, produced in the 1960s, have played an important role in preserving the tradition. Until the twenty-first century, Merisalo’s book Nauhoja (“Bands”), published in 1966, was the most important source of information for people interested in tablet weaving. The Cultural Sciences Archive Cultura at Åbo Akademi University University contains the collection of around 4,000 bands assembled by the textile artist Barbro Gardberg, including tablet-woven bands woven in the 1960s–1980s. In Perniö there is also a collection documented by a private individual of tablet-woven bands woven by a local “band grandmother”, Kerttu Rantamäki-Helminen.
Research literature on tablet-woven bands also documents the tradition and the changes within it. Research has been carried out, for example, in archaeology, craft studies and ethnology. The multidisciplinary and multi-professional research on bands carried out in the twenty-first century produces knowledge for the needs of the community safeguarding the tradition. The aim of the research is to revitalise and strengthen the tradition. Aino Hujanen is currently writing a master’s thesis in heritage studies on the living heritage of tablet-woven bands at the University of Turku. The research material has been produced through an extensive survey and through Living Heritage workshops held in five localities. The thesis will be completed in May–June 2026 and will be deposited in the open publication archive of the University of Turku.
Tablet weavers regularly document the tradition on different social media platforms. For example, an Instagram or Facebook search for #lautanauha provides a broad overview of the different forms of the tradition today. Social media platforms are, however, unreliable in terms of the long-term preservation of material, and contemporary documentation of the tradition in museum collections would be useful both for heritage professionals working with the tradition and for the communities safeguarding it. As a continuation of the master’s thesis now under way, a contemporary documentation project related to tablet weaving is being planned.
Sustainable development
In tablet-weaving emphasis is placed on the use of ecological tools, materials and working methods. In weaving, tools made by the weavers themselves from recycled materials are often used, as well as natural materials such as wool, flax and cotton. Purchased materials and tools are often acquired from local craftspeople and businesses. Practising the tradition can be experienced as a counterforce to disposable culture. The making of a tablet-woven band involves several different work stages, and even a simple band is a labour-intensive process compared with many newer craft techniques. Many tablet weavers also learn, for example, to spin yarn and dye the yarns they use with natural dyes. Tablet weaving helps people understand the value of craft and of the resources used in it.
Today there are several different ways to learn tablet weaving, and the tradition can be practised without major costs. Libraries lend literature on tablet weaving, and the internet offers abundant open information for those interested in the tradition. Social sustainability is promoted, for example, by producing accessible information and learning materials. The tradition is practised in many different communities, such as historical re-enactment associations, courses at adult education centres and workers’ institutes, local associations of Kalevala Women’s Association, and craft and heritage associations. The activities of the communities are mainly open to all interested people regardless of age. Forms of community enabled by the internet are especially important in geographically more remote areas. Economic opportunities have also developed around the tradition, and, for example, artisans trained in ancient techniques productise their skills and expertise both as teachers and by selling the tablet-woven products they make.
The tradition of tablet weaving is at the same time both local and global. A Finnish tablet weaver may find in the tradition a point of connection to their own cultural history and identity, but at the same time tablet weaving brings different cultures together and can be regarded as part of the shared heritage of humankind. Practising the tradition is not tied to only one cultural or ethnic background. Through the tradition, people can strengthen their own cultural identity while also learning to appreciate other cultures. Practitioners around the world are interested in weaving techniques and tablet-weaving traditions developed in different cultural areas and share knowledge with one another in international meetings and on social media platforms. The Finnish tablet-weaving tradition has spread internationally through research, literature and social media produced in the twenty-first century. In Finland, the tradition of tablet weaving is relatively little known on a broad scale, but it is very well known within the large international heritage community. Appreciation of diversity and cultural sustainability are an important part of practising the tradition.
The future of the tradition
With the increase in accessible information and weaving instructions, tablet weaving is experiencing a new period of flourishing in Finland. The exact number of practitioners is not known, but there are at least several hundred tablet weavers from different age groups across Finland. The number of practitioners has clearly increased during the twenty-first century, and the tradition is being transmitted and applied in many ways. Practitioners form a very diverse group with different starting points and motivations. Some seek to maintain Iron Age heritage by producing research-based reconstructions of archaeological bands. Others use the tablet-weaving technique by applying it to the present day and to modern use. Some practise the tradition from both perspectives. Diversity strengthens the continuity of the tradition and makes it meaningful in the present and the future. On a broad scale, tablet weaving is still rather a marginal craft skill in Finland, but the state of the tradition has clearly strengthened during recent decades.
Research on archaeological tablet-woven bands has produced abundant new information about the past that had previously remained invisible. Through the study of tablet-woven bands and other archaeological textiles, we better understand the social, cultural and symbolic meanings of textiles and of the knowledge and skills related to making them. The making of tablet-woven bands and the study of the tradition have been mainly in women’s hands from prehistoric times to the present day. Making this work visible can influence what kinds of points of connection and identification are found in history and how we see ourselves as part of the continuity of the tradition. Practitioners constantly create new history and new stories alongside conventional historical narratives. The number of practitioners is small compared with the practitioners of the best-known and most popular craft skills, but tablet weavers experience the tradition as highly meaningful and worth safeguarding. Broader recognition and visibility of the tradition can have a positive impact both on its practice and on its study.
The Finnish tablet-weaving tradition is also of interest abroad. Instructions for Finnish band patterns have been published in several languages, and weavers of Finnish bands can be found around the world. Models of tablet-woven bands from the Finnish Iron Age have even been woven at a research station in Antarctica. The tradition of tablet weaving is safeguarded both in small local communities and on a global scale. By weaving tablet-woven bands, people can root themselves in their own tradition and history or in the shared heritage of humankind.
The community/communities behind this submission
Maikki Karisto: Craft teacher, Bachelor of Culture and Arts, textile conservator
Mervi Pasanen: Craft master
Aino Hujanen: Master’s student in heritage studies, University of Turku
Raseko: Vocational Qualification in Crafts and Design – competence area in ancient techniques
Historianelävöitysyhdistys Iloinen Joutsen
Muinaisaikayhdistys Birckalaiset ry
Bibliography and links to external sources of information
Online sources
Lautanauhaperintö Blog about the living heritage of Iron Age tablet weaving.
Nauhat ja nyörit -blog. Ohjeita nauhalautojen valmistamiseen. Instructions on making tablets for weaving.
Punomo: Lautanauhaideoita. Inspiration for bands.
Literature
Karisto, Maikki 2010: Lautanauhat: suunnittelu ja kutominen. Helsinki, Tammi.
Karisto, Maikki 2026: Brettchenweben: Eine ausführliche Einführung (German Edition). Helsinki, Salakirjat.
Karisto, Maikki & Pasanen, Mervi 2013: Omenaisia ja revonneniä: suomalaisia lautanauhoja. Applesies and fox noses: Finnish tablet woven bands. Helsinki, Salakirjat.
Karisto, Maikki & Pasanen, Mervi 2020: Nauha-aarteita: Arkeologisia lautanauhoja Suomen rautakaudelta. Helsinki, Salakirjat.
Karisto, Maikki & Pasanen, Mervi 2021: Tablet-Woven Treasures - Archaeological Bands from the Finnish Iron Age. Helsinki, Salakirjat.
Karisto, Maikki 2023: Lautanauhat – Kudonnan huippuosaamista nuoremmalla rautakaudella. Teoksessa Etu-Sihvola, Heli, Moilanen, Ulla & Therus, Jhonny (toim.) Luihin ja ytimiin – Tutkimuksia ja tulkintoja Euran Luistarin kalmistosta. Turku, Sigillum, 229-240.
Kaukonen, Toini-Inkeri 1965: Suomen kansanomaiset nauhat: kansatieteellinen tutkimus. Helsinki, SKS.
Merisalo, Viivi 1966: Nauhoja. Porvoo, WSOY.
Puolakka, Hanna-Leena 2023: Renkaita, spiraaleja ja lautanauhoja – pieniä tekstiilijäännöksiä pohjoisesta. Muinaistutkija, 40(4), 22-38.
Riikonen, Jaana & Ruohonen, Juha (toim.) 2023: Ravattulan muinaispuku. Tutkimukset ja valmistusohjeet. Turku, Suomen muinaistutkimuksen tuki ry.
Sahramaa, Jenni, Wright, Krista, Karisto, Maikki, & Pasanen, Mervi 2023: Liedon Ristinpellon haudan 86 nauhat – uusia havaintoja ja ennallistuksia. Muinaistutkija, 40(4), 39-62.
Theses
Hujanen, Aino 2024: Nauhaan kudotut merkitykset ja esihistorian elävä perintö: Lautanauhatutkimuksen merkitys ja mahdollisuudet museotyölle. Kandidaatintutkielma. Turun yliopisto.
Karisto, Maikki 2007: Lautanauhatekniikan tutkiminen ja oman suunnittelutyylin kehittäminen. Opinnäytetyö. Tietokoneavusteinen tekstiilisuunnittelu. Muotoilun koulutusohjelma. Muotoiluinstituutti. EVTEK-ammattikorkeakoulu.
Kontkanen, Hanna Maria 2005: Lautanauhatekniikan esihistoriaa, perinteitä ja nykypäivää. Pro gradu -tutkielma. Joensuun yliopisto.
Penna-Haverinen, Silja 2009: Lankoja ja johtolankoja: Turun (Kaarinan) Kirkkomäen myöhäisrautakautiset lautanauhat. Pro gradu -tutkielma. Turun yliopisto.
Sarkki, Seija 1979: Suomen ristiretkiaikaiset nauhat. Pro gradu -tutkielma. Helsingin yliopisto.
Voipio, Mari 2024: Nauhankudontasovellusten ominaisuudet ja soveltuvuus nauhankudonnan opetukseen. Tietojenkäsittelyn koulutus. Tradenomi (AMK). Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu.
Videos
Maikki Karisto kertoo lautanauhatutkimuksesta. Journalistinen kuva-arkisto JOKA, 2019. Maikki Karisto tells about research on bands.
Helpon, yksinkertaisen lautanauhan kutomista. Lautanauhaperintö, 2025. Instructions on making a simple band.
Monimutkaisen sidekudekuvion kutomista. Swan River Crafts, 2021. Weaving complex patterns.