Joke of All Trades

My buddy Sam (aka Teutonic Penguin) posted video of our duels from the small Ravensborg event last year! These were some long-anticipated fights after a dreadfully slow season. Check it out!

An Anglo-Saxon folding table? Sort of! The Codex Amiatinus was penned in the 8th century by none other than the Venerable Bede himself, a Northumbrian monk. Bede traveled from Northumbria to a variety of other churches and monasteries throughout Europe before and during his work on the Codex, which survives today as a massive illuminated vellum tome over a foot thick. Bede drew several illuminations that, for his time, would have been very new and revolutionary. This image, for example, is of Ezra-- the first known illumination Ezra of any kind-- after Bede came to some sort of revelation about Ezra's life as a monastic scribe. And yet, as was common during the entirely of illuminations, this image was actually a sort of a copy. Bede, while on tour, actually traced an image from a 6th century manuscript (what exactly he traced is shown in an image below), knowing he would fill in the details later. The original was likely depicting a Roman setting. When he drew this illumination, h...

  The completion of a large trade order has finally shipped! Forgive the wrinkles... some had been in a box for quite a while, as this was a long process. Some time ago, another craftsman and I organized a trade for each other's work that turned into a big order. More than half of last year was spent house hunting, so we agreed to focus on other things-- but now, finally, it is done. The kaftan is fine herringbone 2/2 twill wool, based on the Haithabu pattern. Two tunics, one in fine grey wool and one in green linen, both a tabby weave, are based on the Birka tunic interpretation by Hägg. Previously a red wool tunic was shipped to ensure a good fit. Three pairs of trousers: green linen and blue wool, same as above, and a very heavy fulled wool pair for the cold. These are Haithabu trousers, attested to by art in Sweden. There is debate about the "leg tube" as we don't know what they looked like below the knee! I used a wide variety of different stitches and seam treat...

Fantastic weekend at a private event has come to an end. It was bittersweet to miss Clash of Iron 2022, but instead we got together locally for a low-key crafting weekend and spent some time getting acquainted with our kit again. It has been a while since we had any iron age activity for the group, but I look forward to more! We even brought one of our workshop guardians with us, who was a very good boy and did his best to be historically accurate.