Make your own Horsehair Brush

About the Workshop

The workshop is led by Maiken Bjørkli and is suitable for ages 10 and up and lasts approximately 1 hour. There will be a new round of introductions to the craft every 20 minutes from 12 noon.

In pre-industrial society, people were dependent on making their own tools and equipment. It was necessary to utilize all resources down to the smallest hair. Being able to make brushes and brooms was valuable and their use was versatile. Everything from shaving brushes to floor brooms. Not only were people useful and clever, but the quality of what was made surpassed any of today’s many industrial creations; Quality before quantity. A broom should last. Resources should be used for something durable and solid. Because you didn’t have more than you had to, you wouldn’t waste it. That attitude has not hurt in today’s society. Horsehair, which is the hair on the horse’s tail, was also perfect for brooms that would sweep flour off hot baking sheets. The hair is extra resistant to heat compared to today’s synthetic substitutes.

Maiken Bjørkli is a trained agronomist and runs Bjørkligården in Balsfjord/Troms with her husband and children. She also sells and promotes traditional crafts. She is registered as a traditional craftsperson for traveling crafts, horsehair brooms and wire weaving, at the Norwegian Crafts Institute as part of the Taternes/Romanifolkets Håndverksløft project. The Håndverksløft aims to promote and continue old craft traditions to the younger generation.
Maiken grew up with wire weaving at home and is partly self-taught, but has also learned a lot of the craft through oral transmission from an older traveller. He in turn learned and took the craft with him on his journey through forty years on the road and meetings with traveling people.