Lauresham

Oh my, that was quite a long time without a blogpost. But here we go again :)
It is not that nothing happened in the meantime, rather the opposite, I just had no time to edit photos and put texts together.
So, for this post, let's start with an event I went to last June. It was a craft weekend at Lauresham. Lauresham is the Old High German name of Lorsch, a town that is well known for its abbey and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Lauresham is a carolingian manor site, where events and experimental archaeology projects take place. They do a great job, especially with the agricultural experiments which include ploughing with oxen.
We went to Lauresham for the craft weekend, where I was asked to demonstrate tabletweaving.
We were allowed to live in the houses for the weekend and it was such fun!

For the weaving demonstration in the weaving house I decided to go for the tabletwoven brocaded band from Maaseik. It is still not completely done, there are more patterns that I need to write down, so there will be enough to do for this year's craft weekend. I was surprised how well the weaving went. I only had to weave back about three times, and no long sections. I was weaving along while simultaneously explaining the different techniques and especially the brocading to visitors and they all seemed very interested.
I was allowed to put my work on the museum's Oseberg style loom. An interesting experience, on the second day i switched the stool I was using to one with a backrest ;)

 Before the event I hade to make some carolingian clothes, as most of my dresses only fit in a scandinavian context. So I went for a simple combination of a linen underdress and a woollen overdress with shorter sleeves, as can be seen in the Stuttgart Psalter. My first version still had a pretty large neckline and the sleeves were a bit wide and didn't make weaving exactly easy...

So for this year's events I made another dress. Still very simple but I adjusted the pattern to my needs and now I am pretty happy with the outcome :)

 I will be showing tabletweaving again on the craft weekend, which will take place on 9.-10.6.2018 in Lauresham and I'm very much looking forward to doing so!


And since Lauresham is just such a beautiful place, here are some photos for you which I took last weekend:

Wanted!

Ein etwas ungewöhnlicher Post, aber hilft ja nix ;)

An die Dame, die mich im Molly's nach dem Rezept für die Baileys-Plätzchen gefragt hat, das Rezept findet sich hier: Baileys-Plätzchen

Und bitte melde dich mal bei mir, ich habe etwas gefunden, das du im Pub verloren hast!

My Turn On Turn Shoes

I finally managed to do something I wanted to try for ages: Make a pair of turn shoes.
The problem was, I'm always a bit nervous when it comes to cutting good quality leather without knowing, that my pattern actually works.
So I first wrapped my foot in duct tape, cut the mock up open again, placed it on a sheet of paper and traced the pattern to the paper. I then used this pattern to cut my leather (i.e. soles and uppers from different types of leather).
Then you 'only' have to sew the parts together, turn them inside out, and - tadaaaaa! - you have some shoes that should fit perfectly. I was so happy, mine really did! ;)

There are some great tutorials around, I picked out this one (pictures and video):
 http://www.michaelismerio.com/photographic_evidence_album.html?id=24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExUnZEzRblM

Tabletwoven Band From Chelles-sur-Marne

Hello again to my dear readers! I wasn't idle recently, so now it's time to show you some of my work finally :)

Since late November last year I had a beautiful  band on my loom, which I finished about two weeks ago. The original is from the tomb of the merovingian queen Bathilde (630-680) and the abbess Bertille (630-705). The textiles in their tomb were found as a bundle, so in some cases it is not possible to say, which textile belonged to which woman.

Fragments of the original textile from Chelles. From: Königinnen der Merowinger : Patrick Périn, Egon Wamers (Hrsg.): Adelsgräber aus den Kirchen von Köln, Saint-Denis, Chelles und Frankfurt am Main; Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg, 2012, S. 139.

The original band had a width of 18mm. I used 40/2 sewing thread and 48 tablets and came up with a width of 16mm.

 The original textile was made frome fine silk and was composed from a variety of gemetrical patterns.

Gokstad-Style Basket Backpack

Hey there, my dear readers! It's not that I'm lazy and nothing is happening here, quite the contrary, lots of work and no time for modern media ;)
But at last here's something new for you. I was not very content with the wicker backpack I own. It's heavy, has a sqare form that gets smaller towards the bottom and tends to bend me backwards when loaded heavily with all the things a lady needs to carry around ;)
There's a find from viking times from the Gokstad boat grave. Not a complete backpack, in fact, just two wooden boards, one of them with holes around the edge: 

Source: http://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/MuseumVikingShipOslo2.htm

Source: http://europa.org.au/index.php/articles/21-bags

The find itself leaves room for speculation and interpretation. I did not want to recreate it, rather than have a useful, light, good looking container to carry my things.
So I decided to use very light materials, not authentic. For the board I used a wood called Paulownia, which is sometimes used for surfboards, due to its properties. For the basket part I used thin beech wood rods as stakes and rattan.

As the basket grew, I found it more and more useful to use a cardboard template to achieve the right form.

I ended the weaving with an other (flat) type of rattan and secured the edge with a decorative wrapping.

As the basket part was finished I had to think about how to carry that thing ;)  Of course I wanted to make the straps myself and didn't want something boring. So I made a long tablet woven band with a Birka pattern.

I attached the straps with wooden rods inside the basket and put some metal strap buckles on, so I can adjust the straps when I wear my thick woollen coat.

I have used this backpack now on several occasions and I must say that I'm really happy with it. I can carry it all day without complaining about the weight or uncomfortable fit, and a lot of things fit inside. If Mary Poppins were viking, this would be the thing to have ;)

Sei Ein Echter Wahrer Held - Rette Mara!

Heute mal ein etwas anderer Post hier im Blog. Ich habe die Mara-Romane von Tommy Krappweis verschlungen. Jetzt hat der Autor sein Werk selbst verfilmt. Allerdings könnte der Zulauf weitaus größer sein, im Moment sieht es danach aus, dass der Film wegen fehlendem Publikum keinen zweiten oder gar dritten Teil bekommen wird, was er aber sowas von verdient hätte (und was ich persönlich auch sehr toll finden würde).
Die Meisten Leser hier haben die seltsame Zeit der Pubertät wohl hinter sich gelassen (oder sie kommt nur noch phasenweise durch ;)  ). Allerdings befindet man sich ja ständig auf einer Suche oder im Wandel, kennt also die Situation der 14-jährigen Mara Lorbeer durchaus. In der Schule gemobbt und als Tagträumerin abgestempelt, mit einer Eso-Tante als Mutter hat sie es nicht leicht, erst recht nicht, als ein Zweig anfängt, mit ihr zu sprechen. Als ob das nicht schon genug wäre, verkündet ihr die Botanik, dass sie eine Spákona, eine Seherin, sei und mal eben die Welt retten müsse, denn Ragnarök, das Endschicksal der Götter, sei nahe.
Das Mädchen, das sich bisher für allein auf weiter Flur hielt, bekommt Unterstützung. Auf wissenschaftlicher Ebene steht ihr Professor Weissinger zur Seite, der sich zu einem Freund entwickelt. Er ist Spezialist für germanische Mythologie, was ungemein hilfreich ist, denn Mara trifft in ihrer Âventiure
 auf einen Reigen mythologischer Wesenheiten, unter anderem den Lindwurmbezwinger Siegfried und den Halbgott Loki samt Frau Sigyn.
Auf ihrer Mission lernt sie viel über geschichtliche Hintergründe, sprachliche Feinheiten und dass sie kein perfekter, strahlender Held sein muss, um wirklich etwas zu bewegen, solange sie es nur versucht.

In diesem Film erschafft Tommy Krappweis einen ganz eigenen Mythos, vermittelt Wissen auf kurzweilige Art und Weise und rettet den Archetyp 'kleines Mädchen' aus der leider all zu oft verfilmten Rolle als wehrlose Nebenfigur, die auf ihren Helden wartet und gibt ihr ein Schwert in die Hand, um selbst ihren Weg zu gehen und daran zu wachsen.

Als wissenschaftlicher Berater stand dem Filmteam Prof. Dr. Rudolf Simek zur Seite. Daher sind die Verwendung von Sprachen wie Altnordisch und Mittelhochdeutsch genauso fundiert, wie die Ausstattung, von Waffen über Kleidung bis zum Hut des Professors ;)

Endlich ein Film, der mit Klischees aufräumt, die durch diverse TV-Produktionen in jüngerer Zeit leider immer weiter verbreitet wurden. Ein Film, der für alle Altersgruppen geeignet ist und der ganz einfach Spaß macht - und der es verdient hat, gesehen zu werden.

Daher meine Bitte: Geht mit allen, die ihr zu fassen bekommt in diesen Film! Lest die Bücher, tut etwas für eure grauen Zellen und habt auch noch Spaß dabei!

Silver, Silk And Sewing

Back to blogging, finally. After Yule I had to do a lot of paper work. Next week I will write tests, so after that there will be time again for crafting. Oh how I wish I could already try out all my ideas ;)

Now I can show what I made as presents for my dear ones for Yule.

Here's a little naalbinding needle for my dad's partner. She's very interested in learning historic crafts and in summer/autumn I showed her how to spin yarn and naalbinding. So I thought I would make her a needle with her name on it. I pressed the horn myself from some waste cow horn and I hope it will stay in that shape.

And I made this Birka inspired belt pouch for my dad. As I forgot to take the right leather with me on holiday, I had to send hin the finished pouch after I had returned to Marburg, but he's very happy to have it now :)

In summer I showed him how to make knives, HERE you can see what he made as his first pieces :)
As he is now able to make knife handles on his own, he wanted me to show him how to make sheaths for his knifes.

This one is inspired by viking age finds from Gotland and Birka, but I used just leather and no metal sheet. I adapted some patterns and added them to the sewing lines, plus some stamp design.

The blade my dad used to make this knife is made by Matthias Barkman from the Vikingr-Kontor (attention, way too many beautiful things there!)
The handle is made from brass fittings and goldfield burl.

For his first knife ever, we decided to adapt a sheath form from a find at Lund, Sweden.

And I was able to finish the tablet woven brocaded band from my last post. Brocading is no difficult technique, but it tends to get boring after a while, as the only thing you do seems to be counting threads.
But the result is worth the time and effort.

The silver sparkles and the soft silk shimmers, pure viking luxury.

As I wanted to stick to the Birka patterns but didn't want to do a brocade again after just finishing the last one, I made another band from pure silk in kivrim technique. So much faster than brocade ;)

There was some silk left on the bobbins, but not much. So I looked for another narrow Birka pattern in kivrim again. This one is still on the loom, I think I will finish it by the end of next week.

Awww, aren't these braids just beautiful together? Oh, how I love these patterns and the shiny materials :)