Viking Kit: New Photos

Soooooo. . .  Last semester, all of my classes tried to eat my soul, and then spit it out.  Hence the long gap.  However, I have a lot of new Viking things.  LOTS.  For starters, for Christmas I got a lovely Swedish sewing box, handmade out of Ash.  It is pretty, and now at last I feel like I have a respectable carry-all for my Viking sewing kit!  Huzzah!

Swedish Viking Box!

Swedish Viking Box, Open

I later waxed it with a mix of beeswax and olive oil, and let it sit by the woodstove for an evening.  It turned out looking really nice, a pretty golden color.

Then, last Saturday, I went to the Lincoln Gun show, and got a lot of neat items in the primitives section– a drab wool blanket, a nice pair of scissors, a wooden needle case, and 17 trade beads that are over 250 years old– red white hearts.  They almost glow.

The next day, I picked up a whole box of Czech glass beads, and that evening made a couple of Viking necklaces from the best beads in the box.  The rest of the beads I intend to use with little pewter pendants and what-not to make necklaces for kids at Skjaldborg events.  It should be fun!

So, since I have new necklaces, and have not had any good pictures of my kit taken since I embroidered my dress, I decided that I should put some pictures of my kit up, especially since it has been so long since I last posted.

A Good Picture With My Cloak, Finally!

Sewing

(You can see my new scissors in my box there!  See?!?)

Unfortunately, those pictures do not do my new bling justice at all, so I braved the cold, took off my cloak, and got some other pictures.

New, Improved Viking Dress!

My Viking Jewelry, As of Today

About my jewelry:  My earrings are handmade from sterling silver and antique trade beads, which have been made almost exactly the same for more than a thousand years.  The beads in these earrings are about 200 years old.

The necklace around my neck was made by myself from 250-year-old trade beads.  All beads in that necklace are that old, and they are strung on a leather cord.  The necklace with the little pewter cross pendant was made by Develon, cross and all!  The beads closest to the pendant are made of amber from the Baltic, while the further beads are made of carnelian from Afghanistan.  (Many precious stones were traded from Afghanistan long ago.)

The two necklaces hanging from my brooches are made of Czech glass beads, with the exception of four of the beads in the lower necklace, which are 250-year-old trade beads.  They are strung on waxed linen thread, with little loops at the ends for the pins on the brooches to pass through.

The brooches, so I was told, are pewter replicas of a brooch found in Sweden.  They are a later style, with three horses circling each– a sure-fire sign they are Swedish, as the Swedes loved their horses!

I also have two bracelets, which one cannot see in this picture– one of pewter, one of silver.  Someday there will be pictures and explanations.

Viking Maiden

And of course, once we got back into the dorms, we had to go to a classroom and take some more, not-so-serious, pictures!

Yes, That IS Old Norse On The Board

Remember This!

This is NOT your retirement fund. . .

Beware the Viking TA's!!!

Sometime in the near future I should tell you all about the projects I had in my sewing class last semester.  Also, work is progressing both on the gambeson and my wedding dress.  (There won’t be any work-in-progress pics of the latter, though!)