Historical Information
Finger loop braids are cords made by braiding loops of thread called bowes, and the resultant cords are called pointes, poyntes, lase, or lace in period, sometimes all in the same sentence1. Finger loop braiding involves the digital manipulation of loops of thread. Pointes have been found with anywhere from five to eight bowes2, any braid with more bowes would require a second person3. Pointes would normally be capped off on each end with a small metal cone called an aglet4. While probably not the only material pointes would be made out of, the ones I'm attempting to recreate would have been made of silk bought from Italy or imported from Byzantine silk-working centers5.
Silkwomen, the 15th-16th century silk workers have been shown to make pointes. However, they may not be the only ones to make points as written directions have been found6 and an altar piece from Spain showing the Virgin Mary involved in finger loop braiding7. Finger loop braiding has been found in England and Spain, possibly other countries from the 12th century to 17th century8.
Pointes would have been used for lacing up clothing or armor, purse strings, or anything a cord would be useful for. As I haven't found any evidence of a lucet being used during this period yet, it would be easy to infer that finger loop braiding was the only means of creating thin cords for everyday use.
Modern Information
The items for this display are four cords made by braiding loops of thread. One braid is made of hand dyed silk in orange and pink; the other three are made of gold silk I bought from a web-based retailer. Each individual cord only took an hour or two, but because there's no way to take a break from braiding once one is started I could only make one when I knew I would have the time to finish. The cord for the purple/gold tassel took two days as I tried a different technique with this one.
I used three different patterns for these cords. The orange/pink cord was made using the pattern "A string that every edge shall keepe his collor-c.1600"9 (cord #1). The long cord and the cord around the neck of the purple/gold tassel were made using "A round lace of v bowys-c.1475"10 (cords #2 & #3). The cord for the extra tassels around the waist of this tassel was made using "A grene dorge of vj bowes-c.1475"11 (cord #4). See appendix A for more detail on making each cord.
I tried something new with cord #2, I had Janos tap where the braid was forming after I passed the threads. There are period examples of a second person using a beater to make the braiding tight as the alter cloth shows. This took longer as I had to co-ordinate the movements of two people instead of just me (see appendix B).
All the cords started essentially the same; five or six loops of thread were measured and cut. Cords 1,3 and 4 all started out 46 inches long before the thread was doubled over. Cord #2 started out at 86 inches before doubling. These measurements comes from taking the length I wanted each cord to be, making the bowe twice that long plus six inches for knots. Cord #1 (orange/pink) also started out with 10 loops instead of 5. This is because to make the bowes for this cord it required a loop of each color to be linked together after being doubled over to form a bowe.
I then took the open ends of all the bowes and tied them all together into one big knot. I then tied another cord around the strings in front of the big knot. I used the other cord to tie my braid to either my foot or a table leg. This was usually the time I had to make sure I didn't have to go to the bathroom, my drink was nearby, and the phone was off the hook.
Next you put a finger through a bowe. Which finger goes through which bowe all depends on the pattern. Each bowe is positioned in the crook of the first joint and the hands are with the palms facing each other. Braiding is done by manipulating bowes from one finger to another finger on the opposite hand. Sometimes you have to loop a bowe through other bowes, sometime in just moves from one hand to the other. Bowes can also be moved from one hand to the other in "reversed". Reversed is when your finger goes through the bowe from the bottom to the top instead of the opposite way. There's also walking the bowes down. This is where the bowe on the middle finger moves to the ring finger and the bowe on the index finger moves to the middle finger. And remember, your other hand is still occupied so you have to do it with the hand the bowes are on. I discovered having flexible fingers are a plus for this technique. From there the directions are the same but the sides are different each time.
You continue to braid until you reach a point that you can't fit two fingers into a bowe anymore, after that, just slip all the bowes off your fingers and tie the end into a big knot. You're all done.
APPENDIX B
There are some benefits from having another person help you with fingerloop braiding. There has to be a certain amount of tension on the braid to make it nice and even from start to finish. It's very difficult to do that by yourself. You can only pull your arms to the side but so far. You end up with a braid that's braided loosely at the beginning and really tight at the end. With someone else helping you however, you can have him or her apply tension in the form of tapping the braiding down toward the finished braid. This did make cord #2 more even from one end to the next.
The down side is the person stuck tapping gets bored very easily as it's not a very exciting job. You also have to remind them when it's time to tap such as when the men's semifinal of the French Open is on TV that night.