An Unusual Early Medieval German Plying Tool

Mack in May 2023, Micky Schoeltzke, a French textile dyer and weaver I follow, wrote about a Merovingian gathering she attended in Marle. As usual, there were loots of gorgeous pictures of her work, but one that particularly caught my eye was an odd bowl with multiple spouts. It was made for her by la […]

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Plying threads

This blog post with documentation on plying is really interesting. Now I “need” to make matching spindles so I can spin similar amounts and try plying them using this technique. https://www.pallia.net/en/blog/2020/05/28/a-rare-plying-picture/ Bibliothèque Nationale de la France, Manuscript Latin 7330, liber astrologiae Georgii Zapari Zothori Fenduli, c 1301-1400. Fol. 30r, if I’ve interpreted things correctly. Permalink […]

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How to naalbind in five easy steps

Part of the Parks Canada programming at l’Anse aux Meadows this year was a series of courses offered by members of the Dark Ages Recreation Company (DARC) team. In addition to lectures on the Oseburg Find and norse fashion, demonstrations of bead making and coin minting, there were hands-on classes to learn tablet weaving and […]

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Bowstring and fishing line

I was asked to make a replacement bowstring. I know nothing about medieval archery, so after some consultation with the archers here and Russ, an archer in Peterborough Ontario, I decoded to make it of hemp, using slyng (whicpcording). I did a four-string cord. For the top end, I started the slyng part-way down the threads, so […]

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Berserker Viking Farmwife

Work has been incredibly busy for the past few weeks, but I now have just over three weeks to get ready for the big trip to Newfoundland. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind! It was time to buckle down and face some of my fears. 1) Finish the shoes – I had messed […]

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