Sprang

Why sprang

Through my work as a museumteacher at the Drents Museum in Assen I learned about the technique sprang.
The museum has several Bog bodies in it's collection including 'the Yde girl'. She was only 16 years old when she was strangled with a sprangband and her body placed in the bog probably as a sacrafice. When she was found she still had the sprangband fixed around her throat. Because of the Yde girl is part of the collection, learning the sprang technique is an activity in the discovery room for children. That is why I first learned the technique (special thanks to ms. Bos.) but as a member of Byfrost I learned more and more about sprang and have been hooked ever since.
A link at the bottom of this page will lead you to an explanation of how the technique sprang works.

History

Sprang is a very old technique. The origan of sprang out dates the weaving technique.It is a logical though unproven theory that weaving was develloped from sprang. Some people call sprang the mother of all textile techniques.
The oldest archeology finds are dated about 1400 years B.C. (brons-age). These are mostly hairnets and caps, but from later periods we also know belts, bags, stocking, tabaco pouches and many other articles. Like many technique's it has been invented, used, forgotten and re-invented on many different places in the world. In different regions of the world, like parts of Skandinavia and countries like Peru and Moldavia the technique was never lost. It still had a place in the folklore of these regions.

What we know about the technique today is partly based on the knowledge found in these countries. The other part is archeology. Finds from the brons- and ironage or roman and mediaeval periods are rare. The materials used are rarely preserved.
This means we only have a fragmented picture of what of articles the people of these early times made with this technique and whitch paterns they used.

A womans cap as found on a female bog-body in Bredmose, Denmark.
Another sprangcap was found in Borkum Eshoj, also in Denmark.
Both caps were dated around 1400 B.C.

Some finds from Egypt made in the late 19th century were the reason the technique was rediscovered in the Netherlands. It is also why in the netherlands the technique was first known as Egyption Braiding. Later when archeologist realised the this was the same technique as still used in Sweden they found that the name sprang was much more accurate. The name sprang is used in German, Danish and English. In the Netherlands mevr. E Siewertsz van Reezema, who wrote a book on the subject of sprang (Title: Egyptisch vlechtwerk) was largly responsible for spreading the knowledge about this old braiding technique. It was even taught on several schools for textile art. During the 70's the technique was removed from the curriculem.

Today there is only a small group of people who know the technique. Most of these people learned it dureng there education in textile art or are (like me) interested in experimental archeology.

En toch moet de techniek sprang niet zo heel lang voor de herontdekking zijn uitgestorven. in de 18 en 19e eeuw werden bijvoorbeeld de officierssjerpenvoor de hogere militaire gemaakt in de sprang techniek. Dichter bij (mijn) huis is Groningen. In deze provincie was het tot in de 19e eeuw gebruikelijk dat de manne n hun pruimtabak bij zich droegen in speciaal hiervoor gemaakt tabaksbuidels. Het gat in de buidel waardoor de tabak eruit kon worden genomen, werd afgesloten door een metalen ring. Deze buidels werden bijna altijd in de sprangtechniek gemaakt omdat de rekbaarheid van sprang hier erg geschikt voor was. Op de foto hiernaast zie je een moderne replica van zo'n tabaksbuidel. Deze replica is gemaakt door mevrouw Bos. (click on photo)

Experimental archeology

Many different paterns are possible, but it is not always clear which paterns where used in different time periods.
Most paterns create a very open structure (like knitting) and seems to resemble the structure of fishingnets (mesh-structure).
It is this open work and the elasticity of the work that makes it so perfect for hairnets, caps and bags...

If you want to see some of my work, If you click on any of the picture's on this page, you can see some finished products or if you want to see my work in real life, some of my work has been included in the exibition "expeditie archeologie!". Wich could be seen at the museum maaseik in Belgium and in the Drents Museum in Assen, The Netherlands.

Projects

During the last few years I have done many different projects. Some of the things I've made can be seen in the photoalbum that you can see if you click here.

A few projects have been documented more extensively. They have been given there own page.

Legwindings

If you want to know more about the legwindings I am making, you can click on the picture and it will take you to the legwindingpage.

Sweater

The first sweater I ever made in sprang. Based on an example from the book: "Sprang-Egyptisch vlechten", by Hetty Nijman. Again, if you want to know more, just click on the picture.

Babysweater

And if you can make a large version, then a smaller one must be possible aswell, richt? Here a discription of the secondbabysweater I made.

Cap

A replica of an ironage womanscap. Along with simple bands an little bags, this was one of the first more serious projects I did.

Hairnet

A small project for those who find the cap a little to much of a challenge...

Bags

Like was already said; I have made a number of bags. Some of these bags you can find along with a very short discription of how they are made.

How it works

I imagine that most people want to know how the technique works. So a discription of the most basic patern can be found on the site. More paterns should be added on a later date. With this explanation and the pictures you'll find with it will alow you to start on a simple sprang yourself.

This discription of the sprang technique aswell as some titles on the subject can be found here.

And here you can find a number of sprangprojects made by ms. Bos.