I believe sharing and creating opportunities for dialog about research and practical experiments is an essential part of all academic and artistic pursuits.  This makes the time used on my website and persona blog worthy of one AS 50 entry.

I want to explore locally sourced dyestuffs that my persona might have had available to her.  First sample is a tree lichen called “skjegglav” in Norwegian.

OR “A Study in Repetition.”

I have sewn a pillow cover out of a remnant of hand-woven cloth, left over from my “Skjoldehamn blanket- version I” warp.  I will be posting the details of the choices (fiber, weave, pattern, etc.) for that at a later date, but for now I’ll stick to how the sewing of one ‘simple’ pillow case can end up being a lot of work.

This entry in the challenge is one of new skill attempted.  I have never really done much woodworking beyond 7th grade shop class and some whittling during my stint in the Girl Scouts.  But I do adore wood, and I live in a culture steeped deeply in the use of wood for everything from delicate willow-root baskets to it’s Medieval monumental buildings, the stave churches.

Being (politely put) short and on the stocky side, I have been dreading creating a pattern for hosen.  There have been a couple of attempts that have been anything but satisfactory (read: wearable).

These garters (Norw.- hoseband) are produced using a braiding/weaving technique described by M. Hald in Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials pp. 242-245.  There are several references I need to pursue later, but this is still living tradition in Norway today even if on Husflidslaget’s (Norwegian Handcrafter’s Guild’s) list of ‘endangered’ techniques. 

Reduce, renew, recycle is a fine mantra, especially when it comes to sewing.  This entry to my challenge started a little over a year ago with Mad Pennsic Sewing™.  72 hours after arriving on US soil, I had attacked an uncountable number of yards of linen...

I’m working on a new set of garb from the skin out and it is necessary to deal with the ‘unmentionables’ that create the underpinnings for the rest of the clothing.

Not all of the projects are going to be equally researched, so I allowed myself to have a little fun with this one.  I need a bit of bling to dress up my garb for the opening of the new exhibit this coming weekend, so I decided to make a paternoster to hang from my belt.

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Pennsic XL last summer.  One disadvantage of flying in from Norway is that there is quite a bit of gear that doesn’t pack well, like baskets.  When trolling through Kingdom of Atlantia’s A&S web page looking for ideas, I ran across a source that led to making these two bags.

The original idea comes from Johan Käll of Albrecht’s Bössor, a Swedish living history reenactment group.

My second completed project is a wool lirepipe hood.

This hood is based on one of the Greenland finds (D10600) now in the Museum of Denmark.  Østergård (p. 130) refers to this hood as a Nørlund Type I, having a center front gore, and also being unusual as the whole hood is cut on the bias.

My first completed project is the first phase in the process of making appropriate footwear for my persona.  The goals for this first attempt are to try to get oriented in the litterature/resources available, try out some materials and try sizing.