Joke of All Trades

Here are some shots of my recent works, mostly for the Viking market at Ravensborg in the spring. While most of these items are for sale, they can also be replicated and tweaked for commissions, so they serve as an example of some of the variety available. Special thanks to my amazing partner for her photography setup!

  The test run is complete! This Mammen weave band, on the short side at just under a yard long, will make excellent trim for a tunic, hat, hood, or whatever else one might want to fancy up a bit. There are a few mistakes in it, but then, there were mistakes in the original as well! It will be for sale at Ravensborg this spring. This one was done using modern-dyed worsted wool. Now that I'm familiar with the pattern, I will be weaving a much longer one exclusively utilizing the products of our Viking Age plant-dying sessions. This collaboration has been a long time in the works, and all that's left now is to make the final product!

Tonight's weave is known as the "Mammen Band," found in the Mammen parish of Bjerringhoj, Denmark in 1868. In the 20th century, over a hundred years after its discovery, the construction of the weave was speculated upon and several different theories about it persisted, but the most credible of them based upon inspection of the weave is the realization that this unique band is done with a completely different technique than most others. This is called the "missed hole" technique, utilizing only 3 of the 4 holes of a square weaving tablet. The find is dated to the late 10th century and is an example of extravagant Danish textiles. Other textiles in this burial were found with gold and silver brocades, indicating they belonged to a very high status individual. Recently I partnered with another reenactor to produce a large batch of plant-dyed thread. The collaboration was to work towards the goal of weaving her a belt of the Mammen design with the products of our ...

These are some examples of the spoils of our plant dyeing collaboration these past few weeks. The only dyes we used for these were woad, weld, and madder, replicating the materials used during the viking age. There are some really vibrant colors in there, far more than one might expect from plant dying! Can't wait to weave with this stuff!

  Something for my Germanic kit! This has been a long time in the works and it's finally finished. This started its life as a large file made of 1960s tool steel. Some time ago, I ground the metal to comfortable specs for a reenactment combat reconstruction of a germanic war knife based upon the 2nd century Illerup finds. It was heat treated by a friend and fellow craftsman to be prepared for the rigors of combat. The grip is based largely upon finds from 2nd-3rd century Vimose bogs. It is made of oak, sealed in boiled linseed oil and beeswax, butted and bolstered in copper. The target-shaped pips are a common theme in Germanic decor and indeed on others throughout history. The sheath is based upon those found at Illerup as well. It is made of leather with the unique flat-bottom chape, made of copper. Can't wait to "introduce" it to some Romans at our Germanic event this summer!