In ancient times it was impossible to leave home without belt. Never belted baby was not considered to be a human being. A belt protected its owner from many disasters. Belt was an expensive present.

I prefer making belts from natural wool. It is possible to make them with several ancient hand methods. My favorite is cardweaving. Archeological finds dated 12th century that were found near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin show that this technology was widely spread in ancient Russia. They are bone boards with four holes in corners. That technology was well known all over the world. I would like to mention that it is possible to find in Internet marvelous samples of Chinese belts made of silk, silver and golden threads.

Representatives of Europe and Scandinavia who are fond of practical history become familiar with that exciting technology again. Equipment that is necessary for weaving is simple, the process is not connected to the certain place, materials can be different, and there are no limitations in variety of art forms. It is possible to dedicate the whole life to cardweaving - number of methods is enormous and art potential of that ancient technology is inexhaustible.

Weaving on rigid heddle is considered to appear later in times. The main instrument is a special board with alternate parallel vertical and round holes. In culture of many world nations can be found beautiful samples of belts woven on the rigid heddle. The simplest patterns planned at the stage of choosing the colors of base threads. If more complicated pattern needed, it is necessary also to make technical side of creation more complicated. It is not easy to make the rigid heddle yourself, but possible.

The main difference between weaving of belts and wickering is that in weaving technology there are two special groups of threads - lengthwise threads of warp that are prepared for the whole product and weft threads that are located in cross direction towards the previous ones into mechanically changed rows. Nowadays it is possible to use woven belt as a decorative part of the costume. It is very good with jeans. It will let you make your bag or rucksack unique if you use it as a handle.