Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1993, Page 46

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Strange as it may seem, the so-called old type of Icelandic horizontal loom - with the
warp beam above the back beam - appears to be rather uncommon abroad and, to the
author’s knowledge, it is not seen among old handlooms in Denmark, whereas comparable
looms may be observed in illustrative material in Germany as early as 1456 and down to the
early 20th century (Figure 10; cf. main text with notes 98-106). There, looms of this type were
mostly used for weaving woollen fabrics.
Icelandic shuttles were often large and rather crude with bobbins made from a variety of
materials (Figures 11 and 12; cf. main text with notes 107-119). Fly shuttle looms were intro-
duced into Iceland in the 1880s. At least one such loom and a loom model (Figure 13) are pre-
served in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavík (cf. main text with notes 125-141).
On the Icelandic farms, looms were usually placed in the common living room, baðstofa
(Figure 8), although other arrangements were known as well (Figure 15; cf. main text with
notes 142-155). For instance at the bishop's seat at Skálholt in the late 18th century, weaving
was carried out in a separate room in a building mostly intended for woolwork (Figure 14,
No. 33).
Knowledge of weaving on horizontal looms and the making of such looms spread slowly
through workers who had been employed or accepted for training at the woollen mill in
Reykjavík as well as persons who had gone to Denmark at the invitation of the government
to learn the craft, and also through some looms which the government distributed in the
country. Progress was very slow until the end of the 18th century, however; in 1785 only
nine such looms were in the possession of the common people. A great increase seems to
have occurred about and soon after 1800, with about one hundred looms being accounted for
not later than 1808 in one district, Vöðlaþing, in northern Iceland. In 1830, looms were found
all through the district of Skagafjörður, also in the north (cf. main text with notes 158-172).
At first, only men seem to have woven on the horizontal looms in Iceland, contrary to the
custom of weaving being women's work exclusively on the warp weighted looms. The rea-
son for this may have been partly that the treadle looms came to Iceland as industrial imple-
ments accompanied by professional male weavers, and partly that usually men rather than
women were sent to learn how to make use of the looms. The earliest reports of women
weaving on treadle looms date from the 1780s when thirteen Icelanders, ten men and three
women, received official recognition for work produced on such looms. Besides, one of the
men received recognition for having taught a young woman how to weave (cf. main text
with notes 173-183). A number of weavers are known by name from the second half of the
18th and the first half of the 19th century (cf. main text with notes 184-202). As the 19th cen-
tury progressed, it became more and more customary for women to weave, especially deco-
rative textiles, while the weaving of plain fabrics remained rather the task of men until the
end of the century; the exception being that in the Skaftafellssýslur districts in southeastem
Iceland women were apparently always the sole weavers. Many weavers of the 19th century,
male and female, are recorded by Halldóra Bjamadóttir in her book about Icelandic weaving
in the 19th and first half of the 20th century, published in 1966 (cf. main text with notes 203-
206).