Browsing by Subject "käsityöperinne"

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to elucidate and describe the Finnish natural dyeing tradition. The research is interested in who natural dyers are, and how they dye. The study is also searching knowledge on what color sources dyers use, as well as how they have learned the skill and whether they share their knowledge with others. In addition, the study examines the significance of natural dyeing for dyers. It is important to study the topic because there is no previous research data on the tradition of natural dyeing in Finland. The theoretical background of the research focuses on natural colorants, natural dyeing, and the tradition of natural dyeing in Finland, and the concept of tradition. Methods. This is craft science research where folkloristics is adapted. The study material of which consists of a survey and thematic interviews. To the survey 35 responded 35 Finnish dyers and of them 26 was interviewed. The participants were Finnish natural dyers. The interview material was analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. The study found that typically, Finnish natural dyers are women over the age of 51 and they dye once a month or more often. The most widely used dyeing technique is boiling dyeing. The most commonly used mordants are alum and tartar. The most popular dyed materials are wool, cotton, silk and linen. Interviewees mentioned 37 different favorite color sources. Natural dyes are made for personal use, as a gift and for sale. Most of the respondents use dyed material for their own crafts, but they are also used for textile art and as material samples for teaching. The most common way for Finnish natural dyers to obtain color sources is to collect them from the nature. Information about natural dyeing is sought in books, journal articles and the Internet, but learning by experiment is also a common way to gain knowledge about nature dyeing. Communality and knowledge sharing are essential parts of the natural dyeing tradition. Also, Internet and smartphones include important sharing tools. Based on this research material it can be concluded that the transfer and sharing of dyeing information is an essential part of the natural dyeing tradition in Finland.

When Finland occupied East Karelian territories in Soviet Union during The Continuation War (1941 1944) Finnish people had also to take care of the inhabitants of the occupied East Karelia. For example there was a lack of clothes and shoes during the wartime. In order to facilitate clothing situation and to provide more opportunities to work for women, Finnish people founded some workshops in East Karelia. Workshops also helped to collect East Karelian craft products. One of the workshops was founded in the city of Olonets in October 1941 and it was in operation until June 1944. This workshop is the subject of this thesis. The aim of this thesis is to find out with the microhistorical approach what kind of functions the workshop of Olonets had during The Continuation War and who worked in the workshop. In this thesis I also examine women's crafts in the Olonets workshop and their meaning during the wartime. I collected the material of this thesis from different places. In February 2010 I interviewed Talvikki Lausala, the leader of the Olonets workshop, who worked in the Olonets from May 1942 to June 1944. From the Virkki Käsityömuseo I looked for objects which have been made in the workshop of Olonets. Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki collected crafts from the East Karelia when she was working in the area and in the workshop from 1941 to 1944. Archive material I found from the Finnish National archive and from the archive of the Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki -Foundation. East Karelian women and girls who were not able to do anything else came to work in the Olonets workshop. If women could not go to work outside of home, they had an option to do the same crafts at home. There were three Finnish women, Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki, Talvikki Lausala and Sofi Nyrkkö, who worked and led in the workshop of Olonets. In addition to the workshop, there was a dress maker's atelier in which clothes were made to order and soldiers uniforms were repaired, a small museum and a shop to sell products of the workshop. Craft products were also exported to Finland. Courses were organized in which Finnish women taught East Karelian crafts.