To start with, let's define what is a tassel. For you and I, a tassel is a fiber construction with bulbous head and loose threads hanging below that. But in period, the word tassel seemed to encompass a multitude of fiber objects. There are examples of simple, plain tassels used to decorate dags on a canopy to elaborate, huge tassels with added decoration for men�s belt daggers. Maybe because in period fringe was a separate form of narrow ware that was deliberately woven to be fringe. Therefore anything else might have been labeled as tassels.
There is a painting of Hans Holbien the Younger of Christ before Caiaphas that shows red tassels being used to decorate a blue French canopy over Caiaphas1. There are also several pictures of from the 14th century of cloak cords with possible tassels on the ends2. It is possible these are actually knots tied in the ends and then the remaining cord left to fray and look like a tassel, but it's hard to tell. There is also a period example of a Germanic purse from around the 14th- 15th century with tassels on the bottom3. From the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward the IV of England -"Corses of sylk with laces and tassels of sylk�" and "of silk for laces and tassels, vj unces and iij quarterones"4. And a portrait of Edward shows a tassel with a gold colored head hanging from his dagger sheath5. A portrait of Henry VIII of England shows a rather elaborate tassel hanging from the sheath of his knife6. A close up of the tassel shows the used of pearls or other round stones to decorate the head and body of the tassel7. A portrait of "A Noble Lady" shows a very elaborate tassel on the end of a chain fastened around her waist8. There is also a portrait of Mary Wotton that shows a tassel being used as a bookmark9. However, since tassels are a decorative extravagance and do not always have a functional use, tassels may not have been something everyone could afford to have.
I am still looking for a period source that has a picture of tassels actually being made. I haven't even found anything written about tassel making. There is a picture of what could have been used as a frame for making tassels. It�s a painting of the Virgin Mary and in the background there is a frame with two pegs. The pegs have a skein of thread wrapped around them. The frame itself looks rather small to be used for making skeins for resale so one of the possible uses would be to make the body of the tassel10. Unfortunately, since tassels are so variable in their construction, it's impossible to say what technique would be period until I find more information.
Modern information
The parts of a modern tassel are from top to bottom: cord, head, waist, and skirt. The cord is the string or cord coming from the top of the tassel used to hang the tassel by. The head is the bulbous part right below that; sometimes the head has a wooden form inside it to give the head a particular shape. The waist is the middle part; sometimes it's covered with trim or loops of thread. The skirt is the bottom part, usually loose strings dangling down from the waist. For my entry I made two tassels of silk with finger loop braided cords. The purple and gold tassel (tassel #1) is my first try at using a wood form under the silk for the head of a tassel. The other tassel is one I made to show the silk I hand dyed (tassel #2). For the tassels I made I got the purple and gold silks for these items have been purchased from a mail order retailer. When I had originally bought the red-purple, pink, and orange silk, it was white. I then dyed the red-purple silk using cochineal, the orange silk using madder, and the pink silk using a technique of madder first, then over dying with cochineal; they were all mordanted with alum (see the appendix A for dye recipes). Each tassel took me approximately 24 hours to complete.
How you make a tassel all depends on what kind of tassel you're making. In the instance of the two tassels displayed here, some of the technique is different, but some is the same. For both tassels the first step was to make the cord (See Fingerloop Braiding documentation for more detail), then the body of the tassel was made. For tassel #1 the cord was threaded through the form and the body tied to the cord. For tassel #2 the cord was tied around the middle of the body. After that the body was tied down to form the waist and skirt of the tassel with any trimming and straightening done. See appendix B for more detailed information for each tassel.
Tassel #1 is more technically difficult as it took 11 steps to complete the tassel where tassel #2 only took 5 steps to complete. I have found period pictures of more ornate, complicated tassels that will be interesting to try and make.
APPENDIX A
Alum Mordanting
You start by making a cord for the top of the tassel. This is the cord that will be used to hang the tassel with. In the modern how-to books I got, they talk about a twisted cord. I figured if I were a silkwoman, would I twist a cord or would I ask one of the other silkwomen I worked with to fingerloop braid me one? I opted for the fingerloop braid.
Next you figure out how long you want the skirt to be. You then take a solid object; such as a piece of wood or a book that's the same width as the length of the tassel's skirt. Start wrapping the thread your skirt will be made of around the form. I just kept wrapping the thread until I got what looked like an acceptable amount. Next, you take one end of the threads and cut them so the skirt comes off the form. From there carefully comb out the skirt remembering silk is slippery so you have to hold on tight to it.
For tassel #1 I had threaded the main cord through the wood form already and had tied the cord in place using a small wood bead, as the hole in the form was much bigger than the cord. You then lay the cord on top of the skirt material and tie a string around the skirt material right above the wood form. All of the skirt material then folds down on top of the wood form to cover it completely. I then used a finger loop braid to tie the skirt material down to form the head of the tassel. Then I used a different piece of fingerloop braid and made nine smaller tassels using the technique I used for tassel #2 on this cord. I then wrapped that cord around the waist of the form so the smaller tassels mostly covered the skirt of the tassel forming the head. This provided a decoration on the tassel but allowed the main color of the tassel to show through. I finished the tassel by clipping the ends of the skirt evenly.
For tassel #2 I tied the main cord around the center of the skirt material so when I lifted it up by the cord the skirt material fell evenly on either side of the cord. I then used a piece of silk thread to tie the tassel down to form the head. I re-combed the tassel and I finished the tassel by clipping the ends of the skirt evenly.