Going Greek. Sort of.

The upcoming reign is a classical Greek reign, which is why I'm furiously working on garb for this weekend, which is Coronation.  After raiding Walmart for sheets (they make fantastic peplos!), I realised I needed to have something to actually turn a bedsheet into piece of clothing.

I raided my jewellery box, and unfortunately nothing.

Go go gadget research (and a Pinterest trawl), and I found this - and while I don't have a forge, I do have wire.  A lot of wire.  And a hammer.  And a bit of patience.

Behold my faint copy.  It will do in a pinch (Coronation is tomorrow morning), but for quick and dirty and won't ruin my new bedsheets too much, I've got four fibulae and time to work on getting my house back to some semblance of working order after being gone for essentially a month. 

While I was gone, I got to go play with the Norse at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.  L'Anse aux Meadows is known as the first Norse settlement in North America (done in the 8th century), where western and eastern migration met again when the Norse and the Beothuk met to trade.

I got some photos of the recreations at Norstead (not far from where Leif Ericsson and his people settled, actually) and L'Anse Aux Meadows.  Let me tell you - there is nothing cooler than seeing a sod longhouse with icebergs in the distance.  It really helps capture history in a unique way.

In addition to this, I also went to the former Colony of Avalon, and saw some beautiful beads that were used in rosaries, as well as some used in trade.  The Colony of Avalon is from the other end of the spectrum - early to mid-17th century, however, many of the items found dated from SCA period

I'm really inspired to work on something from my period, and then some.  I also received some gorgeous silk that needs to be made into garb, and soon.

I've also been asked to work on some items for the kingdom's Pennsic gift basket to Caid.  Once these are complete, I'll be posting them.

Welcome home, inspiration.

Gulf Wars Largesse

This year, I was requested to make something "kickass" for a largesse gift basket for Their Majesties Calontir to give to their recipient kingdom.  It didn't have to be big.  But it did have to be neat.

So, given that my mundane job has taken up much of my spare time (I'm actually writing this on a very rare snow day), it needed to be something that would work well.  The receiving kingdom is currently in a dual reign: 14th century English, and early Muromachi-period Japan (which corresponds to about the 14th century through the 16th century at the late end).  While this complicated things, it also gave me some ideas.

You see, I found those glass veil pins from the 12th century (with similar ones made in the mid-14th century that were excavated in London).  And purchased some more wire and played.  The wire I purchased is not what I wanted to use: it's coated copper wire, which  was scraped off when I sanded the pins into shape, but, I'm otherwise pleased.  They're a bit big for veil pins, but there are other things to use pins for, including attaching items to clothing and to act as decorative items.

I will hopefully have a tutorial on how to make these soon, once I have someone who can photograph me making the pins themselves.  (operating a camera with hot glass is not recommended.)

There are more projects to come - I just have to have the right items picked up for those, including a duo of diamond point engraved goblets, which there will be a tutorial on, as well.

But, I have go sharpen brass to make some new veil pins - maybe some for my etsy shop!