Viking Hedgehog

Just a quick post. I still have ages of updates to do. There is a lot going on with the "brewery." We also have updates on tons of garb and also our viking tent and viking bed. So many things in the works.

We have adopted the name "Viking Hedgehog" for our general brand of works and a hedgehog has been our emblem. I have just been using a simple line design, such as on Randy's shield that I painted. Needless to say, this has seemed a bit out of the taste of the "vikings."

They had a style and art all their own and it seemed only appropriate that eventually we would have a viking style hedgehog to use as decoration. I have been meaning to try my hand at this for ages and been putting it off.

I recently purchased the Dover publishing "Viking Designs" and also "Celtic and Old Norse Designs" books, which, I highly recommend. They are great references to have on hand, for their price. I looked through them for inspiration, and highly drew from the angles and shapes in a horse carving listed as being the "design on a viking rune stone. St. Paul's Churchyard, England."

I am no scholar on the various types of viking design, I do see the differences, but am not knowledgeable or adept enough at any to identify or to create a design that solidly sits in any one style. That said, I am fairly happy with my sort of prototype "viking hedgehog." I will likely keep tweaking and as I learn more and study more of the viking age art I can create a cohesive style.

For now I won't call it Borre, Jellinge, Mammen, Ringerike, Urnes or Broa/Oseburg. Though, in actuality, it is unlikely that a hedgehog would have ever been the subject of viking art in the first place.

 I will be happy with my generic, fantastical, viking hedgehog.

Viking Bed

Well, the hubby and I have been talking about it for years, and we finally decided it was time. We have been talking about making a "Viking" bed for years. Something to get us up off  the cold, hard ground at camping events. I began with plenty of research and decided that the simple four post style from the Gokstad find would be good for our purposes.

I found many different reproductions using a variety of number and type of slats, but I decided to stay true to the original, at least in that respect, and use 7 slats in the bed. I decided that, because it provided a shopping list, the plans found here would be the easiest to try to follow. I did come across a few errors that appear to be present in the plan drawings, but if you are careful and double check everything, it is easy enough to follow these directions. We decided to make a bed to take a full size mattress. So the box needed to be 54x75 inches on the inside. 

So, research mostly out of the way, it was time to buy materials and get a move on. My husband and I live in a townhouse and so do not have an area to work on a project as big as this, so I enlisted my dad's help. I asked him if he was up for a father/daughter project to work on during the weekends. He agreed. 

Thus, the shopping began! Even though many of the bed "reproductions" found on online for SCA events have been made entirely from pine, my dad had issues with this. He really thought we should use a nice hardwood, so we decided to look into Oak. Menards had a sale on their select hardwood boards, 10% off and extra 11% off mail in rebate, so we went and got our shopping out of the way.

After a ton of figuring and math we decided to make the box out of oak, and purchased 2 boards 1x6x12 feet. We determined we could get the side rails, end rails and middle slat out of the two boards. We went to buy the posts, and while the directions we were going off of called for 3x3's, due to how difficult they are to find, we just went with 4x4's instead, adjusting the lengths of the other boards accordingly. Planning to use the nice oak, I quickly decided that at around $35 for a board to get two posts out of, the oak wasn't worth the price. The oak 4x4's offered were made of lots of small pieces of lower quality oak that had been glued and pieced together and then sandwiched between two nice boards. I just wasn't happy not using a SOLID piece of wood for my posts, even if was still all oak. 

On to plan b! There were some nice Douglas Fir 4x4's that were 12 feet long that would give us plenty to cut the 4 posts out of, at about a quarter of the price, and the wood was a solid piece. This just left us with the remaining 6 slats needed. I finally convinced my father that with the stability of the oak side rails and middle slat, we would be fine using cheap pine for the remaining slats. My husband and I combined weigh around 250 lbs. so breaking furniture isn't usually an issue for us. The cheap pine was purchased in 1x6 by 12 feet pieces (3 boards, to be cut into 2) for less than $5 a board. 

That makes our total shopping list:

(2) 1x6 boards 12 feet long

(1) 4x4 board 12 feet long

(3) 1x6 board 12 feet long

I would list the measurements we used to cut everything down right now, but I left my plans at my fathers garage so I will have to update later. At any rate - we started work on March 2, 2012. Here are some pictures of what we got done on the first day. Sorry for the quality, these were taken on my phone. 

Here my dad is adjusting the saw so it can cut the 4x4. 

I am cutting one of the 1x6 boards into the length we needed for the slats. 

Here are the boards for the posts. The one on the right isn't cut to size yet. We left these rather long, because were hadn't decided yet on how tall we wanted the posts to be. 

Here are the oak boards, you can see on the left the side rails and the end rails and then on the right is the middle slat. 

I think better visually when I can see everything all laid out, so I did some drawing on a piece of scrap so I could see just what the ends of the side rails would need to be cut like. 

Here my dad is using the tool the mortising tool he purchased for the job. It is a Dewalt tool (don't know the number, sorry) and did not fit his very old saw that converts to a drill press. He had to do a lot of finiking to make it work, but in the end, it works! However, I do not really condone this sort of behavior, as it could be quite dangerous. If a attachment doesn't fit a tool, then it shouldn't be used. There is no stopping my dad though. 

Here is the first cut into some scrap from the posts. 

Here is the marks I drew on the posts to show where to cut. Yes, there are extra lines there, but I wanted to be 100% sure everything was lining up properly on each post so everything would be level and correct. 

Here is my dad putting the mortises into the first of the bed posts. 

 

The cut made by the tool into the scrap wood.

 The partially finished mortises on the bed post. 

Unfortunately we didn't get a ton done that day, because I work 3rd shift so I got very sleepy around 3pm and had to get home to bed. Making the mortising tool fit the drill press took a good long time, but while he was doing that I did get all the cuts marked out on everything and the math pretty well all sorted out. 

So, there's day one of the Viking bed! We aren't on any time crunch because we won't need the bed until the end of June for Baron Wars. More as it is finished! 

Irish Style Embroidery on Leine

This is a long over due update on a project that was begun around a year ago. Hey! I say right in the introduction that there will be procrastination!

My persona is an Irish woman from around the time of the Viking founding of Dublin. This is some years after the Viking raids and colonization began in Ireland. It does, however, seem as though the Irish did maintain much of their own sense of person.

Unfortunately not much is known about the dress of this period. Possibly the best reference available is the Book of Kells. This presents many problems, however, because it is not known how accurate it depicts the day to day dress of Ireland at the time, or how much of it is artistic embellishment. My real issue with using the Book of Kells is that to me, the designs look very "Biblical." As they should - civilisations always want to depict their religious figures in a manner that will speak to their own people. This frequently involves dressing them (and giving them a haircut!) in the local manner. There is still a nagging sensation in the pit of my stomach, however, that the Book of Kells is likely depicting how the Irish felt the "Biblical" people dressed.

However, having little else to go on, I have made my Leine in a fashion somewhat as can be seen on the Virgin Mary in the Book of Kells. I have combined my study of the illustration with the information found in the packet: "Early Gaelic Dress: An Introduction" by Scott Barrett of the SCA.

I have created this leine as a just below ankle length fairly slim fitting garment with long sleeves and underarm gussets. The garment has no shoulder seam but the sleeves have been set in. I have added a hood and given a sort of V-neckline that I found visually interesting. The leine is appropriately made of 100% linen and was machine stitched where no visible and hand stitched where visible.

While linen embroidery threads might not have been likely at the time, I choose to do the embroidery in linen and choose colors I found pleasing, though they might not be as bright as the Irish tastes would have liked.

The sketch of my embroidery plan. It is hard to see, and I apologize for that. The design is based largely on a broach that dates from the time period. I have used Christian era spirals largely here, and have forgone the later "celtic knotwork" styles people largely incorrectly associate with the early Irish.

I finished the embroidery in stem stitch mostly. Also present is the satin stitch and french knot. These appear to be fairly accurate stitch choices to use.

This is the overall view of the embroidery. It is completed in burgundy, pink and pale blue.

The spirals based on the brooch I used as inspiration. Unfortunately I've lost the name of the brooch and the museum it lives in. If/when I find it I will have to post an update.

Here you can see in pink some generic spirals as well as a little "head" sort of figure that I found on the brooch I used as a basis. I combined the "head" with generic spirals as pictured in the "Early Gaelic Dress" packed I spoke of earlier.

All in all, I am very happy with the work. I intend to eventually elaborate and add embroidery around the hem (largely) as well as the opening of the hood and the wrists.

I did not set out to make a 100% accurate garment, but I did want to make something recognizable by those who have somewhat studied this type of garment. I do hope that I, in the end, created a garment with a bit of early Irish flair.

The Viking Hedgehog Brewery!

Quite some time ago my husband began adventures into home brewing. The lovingly dubbed "Viking Hedgehog Brewery" was proud to offer 3 types of mead as Christmas presents to friends and family in 2010. I made the labels and artwork for the bottles in an appropriately hedgehogish style. Below you can see them as they bubbled away. Left to right: Strawberry, Sweet, and Peach, Pomegranate, Blueberry.

The great news was that the Sweet mead was fantastic! There were complications however with the Strawberry and it was less than tasty. The Pomegranate, Peach and Blueberry ended up just being a very odd mixture of flavors. If nothing else the labels were quite cute and punny.

"The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Hedge hog." Sweet mead.

 "Hedge hog Wash." Pomegranate, Peach, Blueberry mead.

 "Hedge hog Wild." Strawberry mead.

There have been no more meads made since, though I have bugged him to get some going. He has instead moved onto beer. Beer is a much faster make and he has had some very good luck with several styles so far. He began with a cheaters kit and has since weaned himself off his various premade helpers. He is now working on an all grain Irish Stout. It should taste something like a Guinness with a few difference that I'm told should help bring out more chocolate and caramel taste.

I will update soon with how it tastes! Below is a picture of the Red Ale being made. This one had really good things said about it from friends and family.



Grey wool Viking cap with wool tablet woven trim

Well, well, well. It's now a week past Baron Wars and I've decided that instead of putting off everything until the week before an event (before we need it) I should just keep working straight through, as time allows. Thus...I present my nice little done in a day (or maybe two) project. This hat is a simple cap made up of 6 triangular pieces, based (apparently) on an item in the Birka find. I can't seem to find any primary source now that I'm looking for one, on this, just that I always see them and have read that they are based on a find. Hmmm...anybody have a source for this?
At any rate, I first sketched out a little pattern piece to make sure the pieces would all be even, note the lighter inner lines as a rough idea of seam allowances.

Then I made a mock up out of some felt I had laying around, to check for fit and everything. All seemed to be fine. YAY! Yes, it looks funny in this picture, but it really does look fine on a head, so happy with the fit and look, I'm moving forward! (Note that I have not hemed the bottom of the mock up, so the real one will not be as long.)

I then cut out my pieces of the wool. The wool is nothing special, just some remnant we bought from Smoke and Fire out in Waterville, OH (http://www.smoke-fire.com/) on a recent trip out there. It's rather light weight, but being that MOST of the events Randy might wear this cap at won't be terribly cold, I figured this was as good as anything for this simple hat.

This project was actually born out of the recent horrid weather we experienced at Baron Wars (Ft. Meigs, Perrysburg, OH). It was so cold and wet and windy, we were miserable! I figured then that a nice cap, and eventually some nalbound mittens (or maybe just some simple ones sewn out of the same grey wool) would really help to take the chill out of the evenings and at events like Baron Wars.

I'm tablet weaving a quick little trim with the intent to put it on the hat, but that may or may not happen, depending on how I like the colors on it. This is just a 10 card, threaded in pattern, all forward turns. This is 100% wool yarn in the colors orange (sort of burnt) and a sort of "natural" (might have been called linen, can't remember). I very much like the band, but I'm not sure how I'll feel about it on the hat. I think it's likely too thick, at 1 inch wide.

I am going to hand stitch the cap, as it's such a small piece, and I'd like to have some visible stitching, and also be able to tack down the seams on the inside nicely. While I'm not going for any kind of reproduction with this cap, hopefully the finished product will be passable and look vaguely "viking."

I should have the finished product photo up sometime tomorrow or Sunday. Then it'll be on to my embroidery project for the neckline of my gown. While my husband is going Viking, I'm going early Irish from the time period around the founding of Dublin. There is soooo little known about clothing and textiles from that culture and time that most of my garments are based on artwork and primarily the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow. I've already been chewed out by people who believe that I should just pick another time and place that we actually know something about...but that wouldn't be doing justice to my family history. So, screw them and their naysaying! I have sketched a spiral/circle design to embroider. It's very Irish and is based mostly on a dress fastener I found in a book (Treasures of Irish Art 1500 BC to 1500 AD.) I'll give the specifics on that all later, when I actually put something of that project up here.

I have a natural coloured linen gown that I will be putting the design on, and I had HOPED to work it in wool but not being able to find any at local crafting stores, AND finding that Michaels had moved all of their DMC linen floss to Clarence, I decided instead to scoop that up. As to the historical accuracy of that, I find it likely doubtful? But I don't really know. I know that DMC claims with recent innovations to have created the FIRST EVER linen embroidery floss, which wouldn't lend itself to a long history. However, linen thread does have historic presences so I don't see a reason why someone wouldn't have done some sort of embroidery in linen. Besides, I LOVE the muted natural colors of this thread, and it was on sale. What's not to love, right? RIGHT?

Back me up on this one!

Tablet Woven belt (teal, maze and natural crochet thread)

My current foe is a tablet woven belt done in size 3 crochet thread (cotton). The colors are teal, "maze" (a pale yellow) and "natural". It's not visible in the pictures (and hardly visible in person) but the light colored parts consist of 3 sections, the outer two are maze and the inner is natural. The pattern I'm using comes from Guntram's Tabletweaving Thingy at http://www.guntram.co.za/tabletweaving/. This particular pattern is called "Shadow Weave" and my husband and I worked out color changes and a few tweaks to the pattern, but the design is not ours. Oh, this is a threaded in pattern.

The turning sequence is not difficult -

1-8 F, 9-10 B, 11-20 F, 21-22 B, 23-24 F. picks 1 and 2
1-6 F, 7-12 B, 13-18 F, 19-22 B, 23-24 F. picks 3 and 4
1-4 F, 5-14 B, 15-16 F, 17-22 B, 23-24 F. picks 5 and 6
1-6 F, 7-12 B, 13-18 F, 19-22 B, 23-24 F. picks 7 and 8

then the whole thing just repeats..again, and again, and in my case, again for what seems like eternity. Unfortunately there are some mistakes in the band, as you can see below, I lost my place and so there are too many "weaves" in this portion. There are also occasional long floats that aren't SUPPOSED to be there. I just missed a thread.

The back of the work is really just a mismash of colors and not all that pretty. I guess it looks kinda cool though. Definatly not something worth showing off, however. This is not a doubleface pattern, that's for sure!

(Sorry the pictures are so dark, the flash was whiting out the design on the weaving, and without a flash they were a bit too dark.)

This is definitely not a perfect piece, but hopefully it will look decent as a belt and suffice for the time being until I can move onto more accurate materials such as wool and silk.

I learned to tablet weave from the Internet with a little clarification from a kind woman at the Dublin, OH Irish Festival who was there with a historic recreation group. While I understood the general gist of how it worked I had some gaping holes in my understanding that she helped me work out.

It was her, ( I wish I knew her name) who gave me the ideas to get my materials started. I'm the kind of person who wants to go whole (hedge) hog wild off the go and get all historically accurate components. This really isn't economical or practical however. While I wanted to go get bone and wood weaving supplies and start working in wool right away, she rightfully pointed out that I could begin weaving much cheaper and also get in some practice with cheap tools all while making sure I actually could do the art and would enjoy it! (Smart woman she is!)

So, for those who either didn't think of it or need a little push - here is my original "kit" A deck of playing cards (which actually IS historically accurate...just not for the Viking time period) a wooden chopstick (beater) and those annoying fake credit cards I get sent in the mail constantly (also old gift cards, reward cards, etc.) cut to make a quiet sturdy shuttle. Total Cost - $0

The cotton crochet thread is easily available in a variety of colors and reasonably priced. If you work in size 3 (like I did as I began) it's quite easy to see mistakes, make lots of visible progress and finish pieces rather quickly. (Yay!) so I defiantly suggest this tactic for anybody wanting to get tablet weaving. You can get tablet weaving for less than $6, for two - three colors of crochet thread.

Recently added to my kit is a wooden loom...thing...that my husband built for me. It's not the prettiest girl at the dance, but she'll do. It's just helpful to keep things all taught and in place so that I can easily set a project aside without worrying about it getting tangled and all. I believe the cost for this was somewhere around $15 and maybe an hour of work. My husband would remember better. It works quite well for what we need it for, however it has since come to my knowledge that I could have had something that worked similar in an easier design. The bar on the weavers end spins and holds it's tight place with a series of pegs, so that the finished work can be rolled up to keep it out of the way. There are 4 other bars that can be used in various manners to wrap the warp around to keep it taught.

All in all I've decided that I do like tablet weaving and SOMEDAY I will replace my sad playing cards with some pretty wood tablets, I believe. My next project is another belt, also in crochet cotton (for cost effectiveness) for my husband. I intend to put words on it, viking ships and knotwork designs. This next project will be my first venture into double face tablet weaving, which shouldn't be that difficult as I already have the patterns worked out. However, I am going to be making a wool 6 piece Viking cap for my husband quite soon, and I would like to weave some trim for that in a rather fine wool. I'm thinking simple bordered chevrons. Maybe THAT will be my NEXT tablet weaving project. Hmmm....

Back to work!