Erasmus Projects

“mentALL and physicALL health” – Polish participants’ testimonials

Erasmus+ youth training – “mentALL and physicALL health” – Polish participants’ testimonials

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Craft entrepreneurship Projects Tecofash

Recycled wool: how is it made, and what is it worth? A study trip to Italy

In 2023, partners of the Tecofash project, including our association, visited Prato (Tuscany, Italy), a city renowned for its long-standing tradition and specialisation in wool recycling. Similarly to Łódz in Poland, Prato’s growth has been built on the textile industry, and to this day, the city has a dedicated textile district and a wonderful textile museum, the Museo del Tessuto. During our short stay, we paid a visit to a post-consumer cloth sorting facility, a wool mill, and Rifò, a local fashion company based on the circular model. The study…

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Craft Tablet weaving

Tablet weaving for beginners

Too shy to teach Are you an introvert? I am. I thought I would like to run workshops and teach tablet weaving. But it turned out that leading a class, organising it, and preparing for it stresses me a lot. In the end, I prefer not to do it. But still, I do want to share what I have learnt about the beautiful craft – tablet weaving. It seems that writing about it is my thing. I like to do research, make graphs, take pictures, and put it all together…

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Craft entrepreneurship

Craft entrepreneurship in Poland – research results

What is the state of craft entrepreneurship? WICI Association is part of the StartCraft consortium in which 7 European partner organisations research educational needs of crafts entrepreneurs and prepare online learning tools accordingly. In the first part of the project all partners collected data on the situation of vocational education in each of the countries and reached out to craft entreprenurs to learn about their experiences. A survey, focus groups and in-depth interviewing were used as methods of data collection. Our Association was responsible for distributing the survey amongst teachers…

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Museums Tablet weaving

13th century brocaded band from Stary Brzesc, Poland – tablet weaving?

This article is about the 13th century brocaded band from Stary Brześć. If you are here for the tablet weaving pattern (threaded-in), here it is in PDF.  The Archeological and Ethnographic Museum in Lodz, Poland, has in its collection a unique 13th textile find – a very decorative, brocaded passament. The band (in two pieces) was found in a grave in Stary Brześć (Kuyavia, north-central Poland) during archeological excavations in the 1950s. The grave (no 564) belonged to a woman as two temple rings were also unearthed there. The area…

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History

Vikings more thrilling than Columbus? Norwegians cross the Atlantic on a Viking ship for the first time since the Viking Age

If you have ever been to Norway, especially north of Trondheim, you will know it is a vast country with plenty of breath-taking natural sites and a relatively small population scattered along the coast. In mainland Norway and definitely in the north of it, there is always a chance you will discover a completely pristine area where you would want to be one with nature. Norwegians are known for their Arctic expeditions as well as a healthy obsession with the outdoors. As researchers Alex Andersson and Scott Magelssen point out,…

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Craft Interviews Naalbinding

Viking naalbinding stitches

Viking nålebinding stitches – interview with Anna, WICIstore’s naalbinding specialist! What are the basic Viking Age nålebinding (naalbinding) stitches? From my experience in Viking reeenactment, nålebinding makers use four basic stitches named after the place where first needle bound textile pieces were excavated. Oslo stitch – named after a mitten found during excavations in Norway. It dates back to the 11th century. Mammen stitch was named after a find in Denmark, from a grave of a man from the 10th century. Finnish stitch was used in the so called Eura…

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Education Historical reenactment

ReConference in Copenhagen

On 2-4 November 2018, the National Museum in Copenhagen hosted “ReConference“, a conference on historical reenactment and a living history organised by Hands on History, Ratobor and Ulfhendir. It was a follow-up event to the 2017 Norwegian Forum for Experimental Archeology in Trondheim. The event brought together over 150 reenactors of various eras, representatives of museums, open-air museums and archaeological parks, researchers and representatives of organizations and companies that offer services inspired by or involving living history and larp. Although numerically the Scandinavians dominated, there were also participants from the UK, USA, Russia, Slovenia and…

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Education Historical reenactment

Experimental archeology – seminar in Trondheim

Experimental archeology is getting popular among reconstructors, who often combine theoretical knowledge with passion to recreate the tools, methods and techniques of production by themselves.

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