Finnish Iron Age silver basket headdress – Finished Karelian headpiece

Selfie wearing my version of the silver Finnish Iron Age basket headdress/tiara

After sharing my initial research as well as my  work in progress about the “basket” headdress also known as the Karelian headpiece or in Finnish – sykerö (tiara), finally I’m ready to share the finished version of this headpiece.

In these photos I have looped a narrow band of tablet weaving (that I purchased) through the ribbon loops on the headpiece to secure it. I have a narrow band of linen over my hair to protect it from getting snagged by the wires, and over it have a linen veil  which I’ve just simply pinned at the back.

Finnish Iron Age silver basket headdress – Work in progress

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When I was at the museum in Helsinki, I saw in person this amazing “basket” headdress also known as the Karelian headpiece or in Finnish – sykerö.

It was made with trichinopoly (aka Viking Knit) in silver wire. It was stunning, and super unusual. I’ve seen a scant few Finnish Iron Age reenactors online have made their interpretation, and I decided that this HAD to be on my project wish-list.

In my previous post, I showed off some of the inspiration for this piece as well as some of the research I’ve done about it’s construction. However, today I’ll be sharing my steps in making my own.

Finnish Iron Age silver basket headdress – Initial research

Selfie wearing my version of the silver Finnish Iron Age basket headdress/tiara

When I was at the museum in Helsinki, I saw in person this amazing “basket” headdress made with trichinopoly (aka Viking Knit) in silver wire. It was stunning, and super unusual. I’ve seen a scant few Finnish Iron Age reenactors online have made their interpretation, and I decided that this HAD to be on my project wish-list.

Unfortunately, research available on this piece is even more scant than the reproductions. The museum offered very little information about the piece, so the bulk of what I know has been gathered from reenactors who live in Finland.

3D printed bead hangers (Part 2 – Silver)

3D Printed SCA costume accessory – modelled after Finnish Iron Age Bead Hangers

Back in 2017 I went to a workshop to learn about bronze casting, and cast a single bead hanger based off a 9th Century  Finnish find.  Unfortunately due to time restrictions (and an accident on site) I wasn’t able to cast a second hanger to complete the set. Later in 2019 I used the same basic design to make some wooden bead hangers, though I’ve never yet worn them as bead hangers. Then, a few weeks ago I posted about a pair of bronze 3D printed ones that worked… just not the way I hoped that they would. While those were in progress (after making a mistake that I thought would be irrecoverable) I submitted a second file to print those bead hangers – these ones.

3D printed bead hangers (Part 1 – Bronze)

 

3D Printed SCA costume accessory – modelled after Finnish Iron Age Bead Hangers

Back in 2017 I went to a workshop to learn about bronze casting using sand, and cast a single bead hanger based off a 9th Century  Finnish find.  Unfortunately due to time restrictions (and an accident on site) I wasn’t able to cast a second hanger to complete the set. Later in 2019 I used the same basic design to make some wooden bead hangers, though I’ve never yet worn them as bead hangers. However, I still want my set…