WE COPY OLD MUSEUM TOOLS

Happiness is getting "backstage" at a museum, putting on nice, blue gloves and being able to hold old tools! This is a truly solemn experience for me - it's like shaking hands with the past. By chance, new clues keep popping up along the way, and I'm weaving threads back in time that now, in 2023 - are woven together. Incredibly exciting! I'll write more about this later, as I'm still putting the pieces together.

MARTA HOFFMAN SHOWS THE WAY

We have copied the museum's tools. Marta Hoffmann was a textile researcher who lived from 1913 - 2001. In her book, "From fibre to garment", there is a picture on page 58 of a hemp claw with teeth (Digitaltmuseum) that belongs to Sunnmøre Museum. On the same page there is also a picture of a flax or hemp breake that belonged to the Norsk Folkemuseum. This breake no longer exists, but in return the University Museum in Bergen has a similar breake, a small gem that was even linked to nettle when it was purchased by the museum in 1910. The breake is from Rogn, Vangnes, in the then Voss parish, and had the following description:

"X 13854 Wooden implement, (flax breaker?), allegedly used to crush flax and nettles. Consists of a 64 cm long stick with a rectangular section, the middle part of which is pierced with two longitudinal slits; the upper side is carved with notches or teeth. A long fork-shaped shaft with two tines, which is provided with teeth on the underside, is arranged so that the tines fit in the slits; the tip of the tines is hinged to the main stick with the help of a wooden plug so that the shaft can be moved up and down. The other end of the shaft extends slightly beyond the stick."

In Sunnmøre Museum / Viti musea, we got to copy a hemp claw – also with teeth like the one from Voss. In 1762, the priest H. Strøm wrote an overview of Søndmør bailiff's office (Sunnmøre).

About nettles he wrote that the plant was used for food, and that "the farmers in the neighbouring Nordfiord county, process coarse canvases" from nettles, and that these are also sold in Sunnmøre.

We have made pragmatic copies of the tool and will probably make several versions before we land on the result. Description and working drawings will come after we have prepared the nettles, as we expect more experiences along the way.

A BIG THANK YOU (!!!!)to both the University Museum in Bergen and Sunnmøre Museum / Vitimusea. Both for allowing us to copy these breakes, but also for exciting information and great service. This has been incredibly valuable for the project. The information we received will be shared here when it is put together in the context of further discoveries.