Circlet making supplies are arriving! Quite a few years ago I bought some very pretty but very expensive gold plated flowers which I used to make a circlet for myself, but they were far too expensive to get more and then the Etsy shop stopped stocking them. Well, I've found somewhere that sells them. At cost price.
I ordered one packet in case they were cheap rip offs, but when they arrived, they were identical, so I ordered a heap more with the idea of making some circlets to sell. I've found a source of garnets which is also cost price and the same for nice freshwater pearls, so I'm all set!
I will be having an epic crafting day soon over the Xmas break and will sell them next year before the festival or at the big festival.
Finally the replica arrived in the mail and I could put them side by side for a proper comparison. No matter how great objects look in photographs, sometimes the dimensions aren't quite right.
The replica made by Keystone Forge next to my original from The Gilbert Collection. The results are in. It's a perfect match! Even when I sit one on top of the other, it's spot on. Outstanding work, gentlemen.
Due to the overwhelming amount of comments on my Rosalie's Medieval Woman fb page, the guys also made a video on how to wear them, which was just great too!
Since it's Spooky Season, I thought I'd share a little copper alloy strap end from my collection which looks like a little tombstone with a decorated top. I've got a number of these, but this is my favourite. These is decorative wrigglework but you need to look very carefully to see it, as it's really feint.
Today I sewed some of the pink, ham-coloured wool buttons and I thought it might be a nice idea to photograph a button sitting on top of the cut circle to demonstrate what size circle I start with and what size button I end up with. A fantastic idea, I thought as it's quite a thin wool, so the buttons are quite small.
Anyway, I sat for fully ten minutes looking at the photos and considering whether there was enough time in my life to deal with the hilarious fall out of putting this on social media tomorrow.
I think there is.
Ironic, isn't it, how the n!pple on the cover of my book was censored and this looks more realistic from a casual glance than the artwork ever did. Even though it absolutely is not.
Having some fun tonight updating the tutorials page on my website. I did a share to Faceblergh earlier today and new followers are really enjoying the sewing How To links. I love it when people other than me get excited about medieval clothes.
I'm loving the new banner, which is much like the old one but the photo has been replaced.
While I'm thinking about a few things, I'm sewing again on the pink, wool kirtle which I don't have a real need for at the moment (maybe December?) and although I haven't really decided on the final style, I will need some buttons, so I've cut some to sew in between other things and at lunch time at work.
The buttoned sleeves are a given. Fewer buttons and a couple for the neck means it's early 14th century and I can wear my pie hat and barbette which I'm in love with at the moment, BUT a buttoned front to the navel means I can button all the way up to the elbows and make it a fitted kirtle instead of a looser gowne.
I am completely torn, but I don't have more fabric to make one of each, so it's to be one or the other. I have enough fabric to make a TON of buttons, so I can see that might be where I go. and I don't have a hot weather kirtle in wool and I do have a hot weather gowne in wool in the woad blue.
I have to admit that anything in autumn colours makes me happy. Browns more so than oranges, but the wool I used for this is more of a madder brown than a real orange. Getting fabric to photograph properly is the bane of my life some days.
Anyway, I really love the extra long cowl part, and the fact that it's light enough unlined to be not too hot, but simultaneously long and warm enough to stop chills around my shoulders and neck. I'm taking it to an event very shortly, so will test it out properly then.
Whilst I was doing the big clean and tidy on the weekend, I found a few more unfinished projects and stashed them into a container together so that as I feel enthused, I can work on them and they'll all be together in the mean time.
I did find a wool hood made from 95% wool and 5% cashmire which was not really that far from being finished, so I pulled that out and thought it might make a nice lunchtime project- just something to chip away at until it's done. I did a little yesterday, and a bit more today and now the inside seams are sewn down and the face hemmed, I only have the bottom of the cowl to go. And it's so snuggly and soft and a really pretty shade of brown.
Now I'm very keen to get it completely finished so I can wear it to a medieval event in a few weeks time. I have just recently seen photos of the site and there's a gorgeous little medieval dock at the dam which would make for great photos, and the hood would be perfect for the outfit I was going to wear!
The pink, wool kirtle isn't anywhere near finished, so it can wait a little longer.
Here we see the culmination of three of the projects I have been working on for the Opening Ceremony of the Abbey Medieval Festival 2022: The Shield of Valour, the Mantle or Temperance and the Crown of Chivalry.
All in all, I'm really pleased with how it looks on him, and I'm super pleased with this photo by Adamare Creations who captured me bestowing the crown on our lovely Sir Richard Sheffield.
The entire Opening Ceremony went really well, with laughter where it should have been, seriousness where it should have been, lots of colour and a great Lord Herald narrating. It was a huge amount of work to organise, but on reasonably short notice, I'm pleased at the feedback. The CEO and Director of the Museum were both delighted, so that's what matters.
Further posts and photos of the event to follow... lots happened and much was extremely successful.
Having discovered that the proposed circlet for the Lady Valour for the Festival Opening Ceremony didn't really match her new surcote (see previous posts), I've needed to make another little one using the exact materials I used for the trim.
Luckily, I had some cotton tape in cream which more or less matched the fabric, and was able to stitch the gold braid to it and sew the "red coral" and "pearl" beads on in alternating colours.
Again, this isn't a re-enactment piece, so correct materials aren't necessary.
I've been charged with sorting the Opening Ceremony for a medieval festival and in the mix are three allegorical Ladies- that is, three personifications of virtuous traits. Lady Valour needed some clothing and since it's not re-enactment garb, I was able to have a little fun with it and take a few short cuts to make a fancy dress outfit which would be easily seen against a dark grey castle wall, and be blingy.
I've used a cotton brocade with a pattern similar to some 15th century artworks, but it's not a reproduction. I've added some gold braided trim around the hem and applied "red coral" and "pearl" beading, both not actual gemstones in this case.
The cream "pearls" sort of disappeared into the trim, but the red popped quite nicely. Sadly, it needed to be hand beaded and that took quite a bit of time. The end result was well worth it, though, I feel.
Finally, I added some large, gold-coloured disc buttons which are sometimes seen on effigies.
Since the outfit was not for re-enactment purposes, I didn't worry too much about matching the actual button design from the effigy which for all the world looks like it has tiny, little cats in the centre section. The picture above shows a test placing trialing garnet beads for the centres. In the end, I went with matching "red coral."
Once the entire outfit was finished, I did a fitting with one of the women who will be wearing it and discovered that the proposed circlet didn't really work, so I guess I'll need to make a matching one as well!
This afternoon I had my lovely friend come over to try on some outfits for the upcoming Abbey Medieval Festival. She's still suffering with post-Covid laryngitis, but never-the-less we had fun trying on a few outfits and experimenting with veils and getting different looks. Although she's helping out in the marketplace with me, we tried some working class looks and a couple of slightly more well-to-do options.
This one is my favourite! A few hours well spent with good results!
I give you another one of the props for the Medieval Festival Opening Ceremony- a medieval flower crown, the Crown of Chivalry. This is to be presented to the Knight along with the Shield of Valour and the Mantle of Temperance.
It was made by me along the same lines as the last two- with the additions and decorative features added on pins with flat heads to secure them. here's a close up look at the tiny silver flowers and freshwater pearls in between the large silver roses.
I was particularly excited to source the flowers, and anyone who makes beaded jewellery may notice that they are, actually, bead caps. The brass pins and the pearls make the flower centres.
I was exceptionally lucky to get the silver flowers for a bargain price as the owner of the bead store could find them listed in the inventory and wasn't planning on getting more, so they just made me an offer which was so good that I bought every last one they had in the shop.
The roses themselves look a little large, but they need to be seen from further afield, quite literally, than others. I considered that in some medieval artworks, these might be quite large anyway, so I felt that after the ceremonies are over, I can wear the circlet for myself on other occasions.
I love making things and I wanted to make a little something for a young friend who had recently married. I just couldn't decide what, exactly. Something she didn't already have. Clearly, more bling was the answer, but what kind of bling?
I pondered for exactly 5 seconds before I knew that a circlet was the answer! Something hand made and a little bit special. I had a few bits and pieces already, but could I make something nice? I was going to try!
First I gathered my tools and looked at the base items. I silver circlet, gold-plated roses and freshwater pearls. I already had a plan to attach the roses with pins through the pearls and roses and bend the backs over, which is a reasonably medieval technique. I felt that some colour was in need, and remembering that the young lady has a gorgeous orange silk kirtle, decided a deep orangy red carnelian would make a nice contrast to the silver and gold and match her dress also.
The pins have large, flat heads on them to secure the pearls and carnelians. Here's what the underneath of them look like when they're waiting to be added. I carefully punched evenly-spaced indentations with a hammer and nail then drilled the holes into the circlet itself. Nail-biting stuff as I was anxious about scratching the silver circlet.
Once the holes were drilled, I poked the pins through and bent the backs over which is harder than it sounds, believe me. They need to be really folded down or the roses and carnelians on the front sort of sag sadly.
Once that was achieved, I glued the band to the inside so the back of the pins don't snag on the veil and scratch the young lady's head. I'm really pleased with the results, and have another similar-but-different one in silver to make for myself
Was the young lady excited? As I write she's only seen pictures and won't receive it for another few weeks. I'm hoping she will love it!
I'm extremely excited to finally have these cloak brooches on a cloak which suits them. The brooches were made by Armour and Castings, craftsmen in Ukraine who are doing it tough right now. They're still working when they can and many of our re-enactment family are supporting them with orders and gift certificates.
I've chosen to join them with a silk tablet-woven band made by Mervi Pasanen from Swan River Crafts. I'm not sure whether I will swap it out for one a bit thinner or not. I may just need to find a better way to attach it.
In this photo you can see the roses coronet, which shall be used in the Opening Ceremony of the Abbey Medieval Festival this year along with the cloak I'm wearing. I am pretty excited that I managed to make such a great coronet out of such interesting pieces and for such little cost.
I've been putting together a new (sort of new outfit) for a friend to wear at the next festival. You might recognise the reproduction brooch I had made, but probably not the wool surcote which is years old and has been shunned in favour of other surcotes of more exciting colours. You might not recognise the pearl-edged veil either, because it's been quite a while since that's been out too.
What is completely new is the silk fillet with the flowers made of freshwater pearls and carnelians. I made a bunch of these for the Circlet of Bling and had a couple over which I thought would be perfect for a silk fillet one day. That day was yesterday. The silk is simply folded over a linen base, the flowers spiked through the fabric, the spikes folded over and then the silk folded to cover and stitched down.
Here's a picture of the fillet inside out while I sew the seam down with tiny, little stitches.
I am pretty pleased with how this has come together.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I'm filling in time with a little hood decoration. It's a chain stitch, in a pattern we see in medieval art, particularly in the 14th century