Birch bark weaving

The young birch bark was broadly used in the North for production of decorations and home utensils. Bast shoes, baskets, boxes, bread boxes and bags of different size and proportions decorated with stamping, openwork engraving and painting were made of birch bark. Birch bark weaving and stamping – decoration of the surface with patterns printed by a stamp – were developed all over the North. Veliki Ustyug city and villages along the Shemoksa River with distinctive centers of this handicraft were known by its “carved” birch bark.