I've also been working on a Kentish gold-brocaded fillet, following along the technique laid out in Nancy Spies's book and the patterns described in 'Early Anglo-Saxon Gold Braids' by Crowfoot and Hawkes.
- The proper balance between thickness of the ground threads and thickness of the brocading thread is not immediately apparent. I got lousy results until I doubled my brocading thread.
- Try the recommended brocading thread first. (I started with something I picked up at a remnants shop that looks a lot like historical 'spun-gold' but it didn't work well. The thread Spies recommends works so much better!)
- Still having some problems with the ground thread crowding the gold thread. Maybe I need a thinner ground? Or triple the brocading thread?
None of the Kentish bands had surviving textile fragments. The Taplow band (a belt or harness, in a man's grave) was of wool; I do not really want to try and card weave with wool fine enough for a fillet. I could go with undyed linen thread - that may tally with the Wisigarde fillet. And I can check that since my copy of the exhibit catalogue came, oh joy! I also have some really old silk thread at home (I picked it up at a flea market 20 years ago, and it's on wooden spools) - that's much finer than I'm used to doing card weaving with, but it could be a neat experiment. And if it works, I can get silk thread in an appropriate color - woad blue or imperial wine-purple, maybe.
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