Make an AUTHENTIC Viking Age 6-strand Braid! Easy Way to Decorate and Protect your Kit!

[@MissGroves]

This brings back memories of twenty odd years ago. Summertime and making fingerloop braids with the ends looped round my toes

[@bethkolle1]

Scholdehamn is pronounced, roughly, SHOHL-deh-hahm in Norwegian. I love the braiding tutorial, thank you! It reminds me of the cast-on for tvåendstrik, two-end-knitting. The cast-on can be surprisingly just as decorative as the braid you demonstrated!

[@Patenhtc]

Thank you for a great video! This will make for a good activity for my kids. And i really like how soothing your voice is. Keep up the good work 🤘

[@WyrdKindred]

You are very welcome. :) Thankyou for the kind words, much appreciated!

[@eazy8579]

Hell Yeah! Braid time!

[@njb1066]

Not sure how authentic this is in the Vike but I just made a very basic one colour braid to ensure my straw hat doesn't fly off my head at the hint of wind 😂 Fantastic tutorial, very easy to follow

[@WyrdKindred]

Aww, excellent, Thankyou. :) a simple cord or braid from techniques we have evidence for is perfect for that use, no vike authenti issues there!

[@jokiskywalker5417]

Thank you so much for this! I have been feeling down about not working on my kit so this is a super fun and useful project. I love how clear and simple your tutorial is while including a lot of examples for variation (mine is made of the last few metres of double knitting wool from a very modern pair of fingerless gloves and tied to the back of a chair!)

[@WyrdKindred]

You are so welcome. :)

[@MelzoA.]

Very good video! Thank you! ❤

[@WyrdKindred]

You are very welcome. :)

[@sunshinemacintyre797]

Out of curiosity, is there any reliable math for how much yarn to use per finished braid? Can you predict the shrinkage? I know it will depend on the weight of the yarn, but I'm just trying to ken how much you need to start with to wind up with in finished cordage. Thanks! I love your videos!

[@WyrdKindred]

I haven't found an exact way yet as it really varies with the thickness of the yarn, but I tend to go for about a third extra, to allow for tying it to the fixed point to start and manipulating the ends easily. Best way to be sure if you need to be precise is to do a test with a short section, say 20cm lengths, fix it, braid until it gets too tricky and secure it. Measure your tails, and any length unused up at the top, say that was 5cm. and take that off the 20 you started with. That gives you the length of yarn used just in the braid. ( 15cm) Then measure the braid, say it ended up being 11cm, you can the calculate the % of shrinkage by dividing the finished braid length (11) by the length of yarn used up, (15), then times that by 100 to get your rough shrinkage percentage. So tha can tell you how much to cut, remember to add in the extra for the starting loop and tails and a bit for luck!. As each yarn and number of strands will behave differently that's the best advice I can give I'm afraid, would be amazing if someone did have an exact formula though!

[@Dinotastic311]

Are there any examples from the viking age of braids with more than two colours?

[@WyrdKindred]

I can't think of many with more than two off hand, other than the Skjoldehamn tunic braids which have 3. If I remember any others I will get back to you. :)

[@CB-yg9yb]

How do you attach the braid when you use it as a trim? Is it whip stitched with matching thread? Also, are the ends just folded under to secure them?

[@WyrdKindred]

Yes, that's it. Whip stitch down with a matching thread, as close as you can find. I tend to use the thread I have braided with if I've used multiple strands of fine thread, and just come around at the same angle as part of the braid, and down through it, as then the stitching is almost invisible. For most of them, that means a line of stitching on each side, which takes time, but it keeps the braid really secure and looks great! What I tend to do if I'm making a braid for a specific garment is fix the threads on the fabric to start the braid, so that's one end taken care of, braid enough to go around and fix it with a clip while I sew it on, then I weave the ends of the braid back in to the start of the braid, down through the fabric and tie each strand off inside. I will do a video on thay eventually lol as it's easier to watch than describe! If you dont want to do that you can also just do a few close whip stitches over the end of the braid to start, sew it on and then wrap over again at the end, and hide the thread tails inside the seam one at a time as well, tou end up with a short part of the braid covered up with stitches so it looks like a wrapped cord then. I hope that helped!

[@suzz1776]

What did they use for cordage or ribbons for tying their hair? Did they use something similar to this or did they use leather or something else? Iv been trying to find a video about making ties for the hair and can't find any, so if u know what they used or could do a video about making ribbon/cordage for the hair, it would be cool. Thxs

[@WyrdKindred]

That's a really interesting question! I haven't come across any evidence on that one yet, other than the iconography that shows the hair tied in a knot at the back, I've tried that before and it did stay put fairly well on it's own, in unconditioned hair l, and I imagine a hair pin would help as well, but from a re-enactors perspective wool or linen braids with a slight stretch can work well, there is a four strand whipcord style braid that I found helpful for my daughters hair, and I've had success with securing plaits with excess linen straps that I made for an apron dress originally, start weaving it in before you get to the end and tie it up to secure the plait. Morgan donner has a good video on medieval hair styles using ribbon and pins to secure, somewhat later than my period but may give us some clues. I will keep a lookout for more direct evidence!

[@suzz1776]

@@WyrdKindred thxs for the response. I will watch her video and try out what u suggested