SCA: Updated 9th Century Norse "Viking" Kit (female)

I know I've been posting a LOT of tablet weaving lately - the tunic and the coat and the bag - but I thought I'd show you my full [female] "Viking" kit all decked out with the jewelry and the other tablet weaving I've been doing.  This is my nicest, and my favorite, Viking outfit at the moment: 

The entire outfit is made from linen - the serk, smokkr, and the herringbone weave cloak/shawl.  Yes, wool would be more historically accurate for some of these pieces, but it's HOT here in central Ansteorra, and wool just isn't practical in this heat unless it's the middle of January.  

The dark blue smokkr was a lighter teal color, but I dyed it to a darker indigo shade to make it look nicer and more accurate (ish).  

Tablet weaving on this outfit consists of: 

• The blue and yellow band at the top of the smokkr underneath the blue silk trim fabric
• The ivory/white woven band at the neckline of the serk, which is meant to mimic the look of a woven-on edge, though it's actually just sewn in place
• The blue and white belt
• The thin strap that hangs the metal key from the right brooch (left in the picture)

Here's a better shot of the weaving and the jewelry on the front of the dress: 

The jewelry consists of

• a pair of bronze brooches purchased online
• a silver round brooch to close the serk neckline which I made from a metal button
• three strands of glass beads suspended from the bronze brooches, which I made myself (it turns out I'm awful at making beads, but I managed to get enough made to wear with my kit at least)
• a strand of tiny blue glass beads around the neck
• a strand of amber chips around the neck
• three silver raven pendants which hang from the lowest strand of beads between the brooches - two of them are period replicas, and the third is a modern knotwork design

The only thing missing from these photos is the hair and the shoes, and I'll post more about both of those things later.  

SCA: Glass Beads

 Before the pandemic, I got the awesome opportunity to learn to make glass beads with FIRE.  It's called lampworking or torchworking - it's where you melt glass rods over a very hot flame, and wrap the molten glass around a steel rod called a mandrel to form a glass bead.  It's utterly fascinating, and SO much fun - and it's historically accurate! Not only did the Vikings make beads in this way, but many other ancient cultures did as well.  

I was immediately hooked, and set about slowly amassing the supplies to set up a glass-working shop in my own garage.  In February of this year, I was afforded another opportunity to make glass beads in the same friend's workshop; and I finished collecting the supplies I needed to make beads at home.  Although it was simple enough at first, the learning curve was huge, and I'm in the process of making a LOT of beginner mistakes at the moment. 

That said, I'm coming along pretty well, I think.  I'm working on making my beads and smooth and round as possible, and beginning to work on creating enough beads to thoroughly re-work my Viking "festoon"bead strands.  I'm not nearly there yet, but I'm having a LOT of fun doing it.  

Here's a sampling of some of the beads I've made.  Most are tiny, some are messed up, but all of them have been a really awesome learning experience:  

Yet Another Jewelry Re-Do

I know, I know, I just re-did my Viking necklaces two weeks ago.  I had a "new" string of cobalt blue 8mm glass rounds that I bought like four months ago that I wanted to work in.  I wasn't totally happy with it, though.  The blue - and the reds - were too intense, and washed out all the pale fluorite and other assorted rocks that were in the mix:

  

However, I just recently purchased a package of assorted lampwork beads in blue shades, some amber colored glass rounds, and a few gold-colored bar ends to use as distributors on the ends of the necklaces, instead of the brass rings I had there before.  I had enough beads to completely remake the necklaces from top to bottom.

I also treated myself to a Bead Buddy, which I've always wanted:

I don't know what I ever did without this thing.  It was SO easy to lay everything out, move things around, and compose the necklace and see it before it was put together. No more making jewelry on my ironing board or on a piece of cloth on the dining room table where beads could roll around and get lost!

This is the new necklace set.  I like this arrangement much better than before - it feels more purposeful to me, like a curated collection instead of a bunch of random leftover beads (which is exactly what it was before).    I kept the gold colored spacers and one or two of the red beads.  I really like the little "pewter" bar ends instead of the bronze rings, it looks much nicer, more professional, I think.

This time, instead of using clear fishing line to string the necklaces (it shows at the ends and looks really plasticky), I used cotton embroidery floss.  This was my first time using floss to string a necklace, and my first time using beading needles.

I still plan to create some of my own beads when I go back to our lampworking class, as soon as it starts up again (I have some pretty blue glass rods to work with that I'm just itching to get into), and one day I'd really like to have some genuine amber beads.  I'll get there.  For now, I really like how this necklace turned out - this is my favorite iteration yet.  

Procrastination (Viking Jewelry)

About three months ago - four? - I purchased a small string of round, cobalt blue glass beads at a craft store.  It took me a while to get to it, but I finally worked them into my Viking necklace.  I even had enough beads this time to make a third string to add on:

In case you're curious, here's what they looked like before, as of last November:

I'm really wishing I had an SCA event to go to, you guys.  It's been way too long - since Candlemas.  I missed a couple of events after that, and then everything was shut down and events got canceled - even Gulf Wars, and now I hear Pennsic has been canceled, too.  I miss my friends, and I miss dressing up and going camping.   I know we all do.  Hang in there, buddies, this will be over before you know it.

At least now I have a "new" necklace to show off when I get back in the game.  And I'll have new shoes, too!  I ordered a pair of Viking shoes from Bohemond this week, and I can't wait to see them in person.  (Don't you just love ordering things online?  It's like getting presents in the mail).

See you all soon!

Playing With Fire

Guess what I did last night?  I attended our local Flameworks Guild and learned how to make lampwork glass beads!  It was a lot more challenging than I expected it to be, and a little bit scary, having fire and molten glass so close to my face;  but I'm definitely hooked, and I can't wait til next time.  Here are the beads I made last night:

Aren't they ridiculous?  I guess they're not too terrible, for a first try.  I may actually add the two burgundy/purple ones to my Viking necklaces.  I actually don't like orange much, but the glass was free, and it was my first time - these are just first tries, they don't have to be fancy and wonderful (my skills so far don't remotely support fancy and wonderful anyway).  Next time - in January - I'll bring a few supplies of my own, including some blue glass, so that I can work on something that will go with my existing necklaces and my wardrobe.

Yay!  I can't wait to do this again!