SCA: Shiny New Viking Stuff!

Yes, I was responsible with most of my tax refund this year, but I also treated myself to a couple of new shiny things for the SCA: 

Birka Cup

I think my favorite thing in the world, at the moment, is this little glass cup in the foreground of this photo.  

It's a replica of a glass cup found at Birka (this cup was from grave 750, exc. by Hjalmar Stolpe in 1897), and it just makes my heart glad.  I love glassware, especially period glassware - and this is the first piece of period glassware I've ever owned.   

Key

I also got this lovely little bronze Viking key from Raymond's Quiet Press.  It's a replica of an extant key from Lund in Sweden, and it's a great little addition to my set of "jewelry".  I wove a very thin band to use to hang it from my brooches.  

Yay, shiny Viking stuff!  

What's Next? 

I'm working on a BUNCH of things right now, so there'll be posts a-plenty coming up soon.  This weekend is the spring Bjornsborg event, from which there will be pictures (I hope).  I'm weaving my butt off right now making trim to go on my linen Viking coat, I'm working on a new Hedeby bag, I built a new loom and am trying it out, and I'm working on a Roman outfit for the hot weather this coming season.  Whew!  More soon! 

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.  

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!