Leather One Piece Shoes

One of the most important things I'm going to need for shows are a good pair of socks and shoes. Now, I don't think I've quite got a handle on Naalbinding (I don't even have the wool for it, let alone a needle), but leatherwork I can do. And rightfully so, since this is going to be my new craft in the Living History group I joined.

I started by using a shoe I borrowed as a template, since it fit me so well.  After drawing out out on a piece of thick leather I then cut it out using a Stanley knife.

Time to check that that it fit my foot well enough - it did. Although one problem I was finding was with how to put the back of the shoe together. One, it was a complex shape, and two, it was a good 5 cm off from the end of my heel. Clearly something wasn't quite right, and I'm guessing it's the thickness of the leather. I remember the shoes I borrowed being a much thinner, suppler leather than the one I am using.

With my shoe cut out, it was time to get punching. This was a bit of a stumbling block - I'd never used punching pliers before. I've tooled and cut leather, but it took a lot of puzzling to figure out how to get the thing to actually punch, and my hand feels bruised after all those holes!

I think it was worth it though. After a bit of cutting down and refining to make it a better fit for my foot, and some leather thonging, this is what I was left with. My first shoe!

It might not be the most pro thing in the world, but it's a good start. I'm looking forward to getting better, and seeing just what I'm capable of making. I think I can improve them by sorting out that last strip on the right, but other than that, they are so comfortable!

First Combat Session

Today was a day I've been both looking forward to all my life, and dreading for the last few weeks. Today I did my first combat training.

In all honesty, now it's over, I have no idea why I was so worried. I guess I was worried that they'd put me straight into the thick of it, and I'd have to muddle through, being constantly killed, with a wounded pride. Luckily, it was nothing like that. After all of the members who were experienced had done their fighting, which took up most of the session, and then the leader got all of the new members to go and borrow kit from the old. To be honest, it hadn't occurred to me in those paranoid weeks where I would get my combat kit from, so I feel pretty silly looking back on myself. How could I have fought with them without so much as a spoon to my name?

The thing that surprised me most was how light the shield was. Not to say that it was light-light, but being solid wood, and with a large metal boss, I had expected my shield to drop to the floor after a minute of trying to hold it up. Maybe I'm just stronger than I thought, but the shield was easy to carry, even up over myself, and fast to maneuver. The seax was surprisingly easy to fight with too, and nicely close range. I think this suits me best, really. The only bit of kit that really bothered me was the helmet - so itchy!

What we were going was going through 'The Eights', which are basically the 16 moves which can be used in combat. Not that we can use all 16 - head shots are not allowed, but we are taught to use them so that we can get good and blocking headshots that less well trained groups might try, or accidental blows from misses. This is obviously the most important block to get perfect.

You might be wondering - why call them The Eights, if there are 16/15 moves? Well, the exercise is made up of 8 movements, with one person attacking or defending. That means that each of the eight areas can be targeted or defended, hence 'The Eights'. Right now, I apparently have a good defense, but my attack isn't what it could be, but I wonder if that's because half o my brain is focusing on where to hit next, and in what order. When I am defending, I kind of let go of that more linguistic brain, look into my opponents eyes, and let my body take over with defending. I really need to remember to pull back into my guard position every time I make a blow though, but other than that, I think it has all gone so well.

I can't wait for next week.

Anglo Saxon Beaded Necklace in Blue and White

A second design for an Anglo Saxon necklace for modern wear. I think it needs a bit of a tweek though. As before, all the beads shown are available at Heart of Oak Crafts on Etsy.

My First Leatherworking Tools

So, I finally decided that I was going to pursue leatherwork. It's a big gap in the craft that the group does, so it'll be a good thing for me to get into. Not to mention I'll get to make myself some really good shoes. There's one thing that I've heard more than anything else - reenactors want to invest in their socks and shoes!

But anyway, I got a few pieces of very basic kit to get me started - an iron leatherwork needle, an iron, antler handled awl, and a pair of iron snips. Although if you look closely you'll see my acidic fingers have already marked them as mine! I hope they don't turn to rust powder before I get to go to my first show.

I'm excited about the antler handle though - working it to make it a bit fancier is definitely a great project to start me off on my bone working. I can't really ruin it, and even if I did, it was only £5, so it'd be no great loss. I'm thinking of doing a nice line and dot pattern, inspired by the combs and dice I've been finding. A few simple shapes is not only pretty authentic for a tool, but looks really effective. I love this design from a bone needle found on the Historiska site, with a row of bands.

Once I've gotten a taste for the bone working with the awl, I think I'll most likely make myself a  nalblnding needle, and an antler needle case to match my awl.

Another thing I was looking at was the possibility of making myself a lucet, which shouldn't be too hard, as apparently the most common method of making the tool was to use a cow nosebone.

Well, I guess it's time to go to the butchers to ask for a cow skull. As my mother pointed out when she was here last 'A pale, socially awkward figure all in black buying strange animal parts...that'll go down well with your new neighbors.'

Anglo Saxon Beaded Necklace Design

Getting ready to order up some beads from Heart of Oak Crafts. What do you think?

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Today I took my first trip to Birmingham Museum. To be honest, that’s pretty surprising considering I love so close to it, and I’m not exactly afraid to travel alone, but nevertheless I had neglected it for 21 years. Until Today.

I visited it with my new friend H, which was both a ‘getting to know you’ trip, and also to help me feel less awkward about joining my new - and first - Living History  group the day after. No doubt there will be a post all about that tomorrow: I'm very excited.

But anyway, I got off the train safe and sound, and after getting lunch we headed out to the museum. Ever eager to expand my ‘Visual Library’ for my job, the first thing we did was ask at the front desk if photography is allowed, and it was, with the exclusion of the hoard, and an exhibition of portraits of Native Americans. That suited me fine, although I would have loved to have gotten some photos of the horde for my own reference beyond the ones on the website (for  those who don’t follow me, I’ve been doing a lot of historical illustrations recently, including a copy of the helmet cheek plate that is so recognizable in this collection).

The majority of the exhibitions seem to be art based, which to be honest isn’t my cup of tea, after studying art of so long. You really start to get sick of art galleries, especially modern art, but luckily, my friend felt the same, and we really breezed through the more 'out there' installation pieces which didn't impress half as much as the much more technically accomplished works, which were arranged in seperate rooms by time period, which I thought was a nice touch. There were a lot of pieces that I not only enjoyed, but ended up pretty much memorizing, one of my favorites being this:

 

I'm sorry to say that all the images I could find of it online don't do it justice - the painting has such an alluring feel to it, with its superior technical expertise, especially on the fur around her waist, not to mention the subject matter itself. I looked around the prints in the giftshop for a copy, but alas, I came up empty.

That said, there are a lot of interesting historical finds on display in the Birmingham museum, namely the famous Staffordshire Hoard. For those who don’t know, the hoard is a huge find of Anglo Saxon gold from Hammerwich, near Lichfield that at 35,000 pieces is so large that it’s not only the largest find ever, but it’s larger than all of the other finds put together. Pretty impressive, no?

The exhibition is in a pretty small room right now considering it’s historical importance, but apparently the collection is going to be moved to a much larger room thanks to a 700,000 pound grant from the National Lottery fund, so I’m really looking forward to that. For the moment though, I can’t really fault it either. There are a lot of plaques telling the story of the hoard, both in terms of its discovery and historical context, as well as various interactive elements, including a sword and seax which can be hefted by the public to get a better idea of the weight of the weapons which the artifacts were taken from.  There is also a TV playing the 2 part National Geographic documentaries in the corner on a loop, and a very dedicated and informative guide on duty (although I can’t guarantee he’ll be there when you go of course, you might get someone useless).

Further into the museum there is a lot of stuff on the founding and development of Birmingham, which will appeal to those of you interested in more modern historical facts, but for those of you who, like me, are more interested in older civilizations, they have an impressive collection of Grecian, Roman and Egyptian artifacts. The most impressive of those being their Egyptian room.

Usually a museum which has a collection of Egyptian artefacts will play to the crowds - a mummy here, something treasure-like there, and everyone leaves happy. But this museum went into more detail and breadth than that, which I really appreciate. There was a lot of artifacts which I honestly had never seen before in the flesh, such as glass eyeliner jars, and large carvings from wall reliefs and tablets.

All in all, I really enjoyed the museum. I even picked up this gem from the giftshop - a silver reproduction of one of the memorable pieces from the hoard, the sea horse. Snazzy.

 

The Uses of Bone and Antler

As I’ve begun to research more seriously into the various items and crafts common to the Scandinavian people between 800CE to 1000CE, I’ve found myself drawn to nearly every craft I’ve come across, from lamp working to weaving: I want to try my hand at them all. The one which seem the most interesting, cheap and rewarding right now though, is bone carving. I already have the tools at home as part of my DIY toolkit, so all I’ve had to do to get started is ask my butcher friend for a rear beef shank.
            So, with (hopefully prophetic) visions of fantastic bone combs, of a quality to rival the greatest Scandinavian craftsman, I’ve started to research into the ways in which bone was used day to day, and the things I found surprised me. 

Probably as a product of my own modern world being nearly devoid of bone products, I imagined that bone would be the material used only for select tasks, and perhaps even the material of the poor, but it was soon apparent that this wasn’t so. Clearly, bone played a huge part in the manufacture of every day objects, including the items below:

• 
Combs
• Sword mounts
• Bracelets, pendants and beads
• Pottery stamps
• Cloak Pins
• Needles and needle cases
• Toggles
• Dice and gaming pieces
• Spoons
• Whistles and musical pipes
• Knife handles
• Buckles and strap ends 
• Molds for casting

Clearly my original impression that bone was used mainly for combs, needles and budget clothes fastenings needed to change.

Antler and Ivory

Another one of the first things which I realized as I began to read was that a lot of the ‘bone’ items I was seeing were actually made from antler. These were predominantly taken from the Eurasian Elk, but could also be taken from red deer, and reindeer to the north. These antlers would also most likely be found shed in the spring, as the antlers cut from hunted deer will still bleed and contain non-bone matter in the core.*
            Antler was a pretty common and attainable source of material for most of the Scandinavians, but the main reason why it was preferred over bone for a lot of tasks is that it is much harder and less brittle than bone, making it perfect for items which would be used repeatedly such as comb teeth and needles.
            There were other, rare materials which could be used for tasks like these though - whale teeth scavenged from beaches, and ivory from walruses and elephants that were sometimes available to the Scandinavians through trade routes have also been used for items such as combs, but thanks to their rarity and the higher quality material, these items would certainly have been luxuries.

Bone

The bone was used at the time usually came from agricultural animals such as horses, cattle, sheep and pigs, and unlike antlers or ivory, bone needs to be thoroughly cleaned, both inside and out. To do this, the bones would be buried or left for insects like ants to clean out the marrow and fat left on the surface after the flesh was stripped.


    
After learning about the differences between antler, I began to look into the items which could be made from my cattle shank. Clearly my hopes for a cow-bone needle or comb were dashed, but this brought up a whole new unknown - what should I make for my first project? 

For the moment I am back to the drawing-board. But, with my new, deeper understanding of the plethora of items made from bone, and the difference between the properties of antler and bone, no doubt I’ll soon find a item which I can lovingly carve.



* At this news I rejoiced, being a vegetarian I was feeling a little hypocritical over getting my saw-blade into a hunk of ex-living thing to make money selling my replicas.

A Somewhat Dry Introduction

Ever since I was born (and, if it counts, for all of the nine moths before then as well) I've have a love affair with history. I don't know if it is something gentic or learnt, but it's something my parents share too - my mother can tell you not only the entire line of kings and queens behind the British Throne, but exactly what happened to each and every one of them. My father on the other hand, loves historical and archeological documentaries and I went through many a stone age tomb holding his hand as a child. Consequently, I found myself spending my childhood hanging out of ruined castles, and exploring the treasure-filled halls of countless museums.  I have always been in love with history.

As I got older, the interest my parents instilled in me only grew. I consumed every documentary I could get my hands on, no matter what the subject. I visited museum after museum, and I even traveled to Germany to visit a site mentioned in a saga. But for all of this time, my passion had been purely as a consumer of information - I wanted to be a part of it, be it as an archeologist, a historian or even a museum curator. Before long though, I  discovered that there were no courses offered at universities in the UK which focused on pre-1300CE Britain, and I ended up pursuing concept design for video games and film.. Which, in a nice twist, lead me right back to history when I began researching into 500CE clothing for a historical movie project.

With my interest well and truly rekindled, I have spend the last 3 months researching and compiling my knowledge in order to begin creating historical replicas, and hopefully, join a Living History group.

This blog will be chronicling my new experiences in Living History, along with reviews from historical sites, events and museums. I will also be posting various reviews and tutorials as my collection of replicas expands.