Three Norns Drinking Horn

In Norse mythology, the three Norns are the spinners of one's destiny.  See Wiki's definition

I posted an image of the horn on my Facebook page and one of my friends queried, "Three Norns?" and so I chose that as the name. In actual fact, the three faces are inspired by embroidery on the Mammen cloak as this hairy necked gentleman is displaying. The serpents are inspired by the rune stones of the Viking Period.

Although the carving stands out pretty well against the blackness of the horn I wanted to add some colour, so I painted in yellow to keep the contrast.

Oseberg Blowing Horn

This is a commissioned piece by a fellow in Chicago who really liked my first horn of the same name. So I went about making another but it took a long time as I had so many projects on the go.

I started with a blowing horn I had already sanded and finished with beeswax polish. But I could never get a good sound out of it and needed to carve out the mouthpiece for better embouchure.

Next, carve the design...

Ink in the background to to bring out the design...

 Add strap.

And then I changed my mind on the strap because I didn't like it, also carved runes, so here it is now...

Coyote Pouch

I managed to acquire tanned coyote and red fox faces for my crafts. With one of the faces and some leather I made a pouch with the face glued and sewn on.

Pouch sewn and face glued

Originally, it was to be a belt pouch but I decided to make it a shoulder bag.

Finished and stuffed to give it form.

It sold at Imaginarius. I plan to make similar one but with a red fox face and different leather.

Brass Rimmed Drinking Horn

This one sold at Imaginarius.

Beautiful in its simplicity, shape. The rim is hammered design - no art but nice look to it. Beeswax lined.

Pardon the blurry pic.

STEAMPUNK SMARTPHONE CASE

Hey, this has nothing to do with viking art!

Yup, I know but I wanted to show it off. I made it specifically for Imaginarius Fantasticus III event November 16, 17, in which, I was a vendor. The theme was Steampunk so there ya go.

I tooled a multi-plate riveted look, spray-painted it copper, added gears and studs and...

It sold on the second day to someone who really, really wanted it but it was a wee bit small for their cellphone (it fit but was tight). She flipped a coin to decide to buy it. Sold!

I plan to make more cases but with norse art.

Drinking Horns for Carving, etc.

My latest batch of drinking horns are in. I'm showing a sampling of each size and type so one can get an idea.

I've been getting requests for bigger horns as well as the usual ones I sell. These horns all are polished on the outside with a food-grade varnish (same as for salad bowls). Inside, I scrub with a bottle brush and warm, soapy water, rinse and then disinfect with denture cleaning tablets. The larger horns get an initial scrubbing inside with sand from the creek (sloshing it back and forth).

Once dry, I coat them inside with melted beeswax unless someone wants it for hot liquids, in which case I coat with the varnish or leave uncoated, according to customer wishes.

Then, I can carve runes, symbols, norse art, etc. At least one of the big ones will get a rim treatment. I'll also make stands, straps and belt holsters for them.

So, here are the sample pix before they get any art or accessories (click on them to make them big);

Starting with the small ones (6-8")...


viking 'shot' glasses

We move to the medium (13-15") drinking horns. The tan coloured one is actually translucent and would make a good lantern.

 

Now for the big ones (30-35")...thirsty?



 And I have some with brass finial and rim.



Viking Banner and my personal emblem

Finished with tassle fringe.

This project started with the support stick. I harvested it from my yard when clearing some trees and branches. It has a perfect side branch growing at a right angle from the trunk. I knew I had to use it for just such a purpose as a viking banner, inspired by the wind vanes from some of the viking ships. But I hadn't come up with a design to go on it. Until now...

The design is my own, inspired by the Oseberg Art style.

The canvas was some leftover scrap from my tent, I added some leather straps and horn toggles and painted the design on both sides. It is all hand-sewn.

To add more colour, I hand-knotted the tassle fringes which you can see in the first picture.

To give it height, I fashioned a straight stick that I can drive into the ground and, to which, I can attach the banner. The dowel pegs help to align and strengthen the joint while the rope holds it all together.

You can see the season change in the foliage in the background, indicating it took awhile to get done - mainly deciding to add the fringe. I'm happy with how it turned out and can use it for my banner for my campsite at demos and also as my unofficial 'Coat of Arms' at SCA events. I'm not a member of the SCA but was awarded their Award of Arms (meaning I'm officially a Lord in their game).

My Blue and Leather Shield

My latest shield creation is so I can have a tougher shield for shield wall demos. So this one is made of plywood like all the other recreationists in our group use. In summary, I glued a burlap facing on it and painted it blue (my colour). Then I added carved leather ornamentation. The boss is made from an iron bowl that I modified.

Here are the pictures of the steps;

I started with the boss - an iron bowl that I cut and trimmed so it would be about 6" diameter with tabs for rivetting. I used steel wool and lots of elbow grease to remove the rust and polish it a bit. Then coated it with vegetable shortening and heated it all over with a propane torch to season the metal so it wouldn't rust so bad.

The blank (which already had a handle attached), laid horizontally on a table, was coated on the facing side with white glue. Then the burlap stretched over it and smoothed and tacked to hold in place. More white glue, watered down so it would soak in better, was brushed on an the whole face saturated with the water/glue mix. Then it was left to dry.

Burlap added to shield blank. Two more shield blanks behind it.
 

 Next were the leather ornamentation and boss surround pieces. I cut them out of thick leather (the same stuff I use for the soles of my turnshoes).

Basic shape cut out

The design is the same one I used for one of my tent frames. It is my original artwork inspired by extant remains of dragon head tent frames and I wanted to reuse it, especially since the tent frame will likely be used for some furniture items I'm thinking of making. I have two tent frames - I only need one.

Details carved but unstained/unfinished

I made four of these and six of the shield surrounds. Then laid them out along with the boss and trimmed to fit. 

All pieces laid out, trimmed to fit

Next, the facing is painted with a solid blue (Wedgewood Blue) waterproofing stain. Once the first coat was on I added a second, watered down coat as some parts of the wood was not receiving the stain. After all is said and done there are still bits of unstained wood but it is not so noticeable and would be authentic anyway, I think. Note to self: don't use burlap again.



The blue added. Note the outline of the centre boss.

While waiting for the shield to dry it was time to stain and polish the leather pieces.

Stained and polished

I added some leather edging along the inside hole where the boss will go and leather wrapped the handle. The boss and surrounds were rivetted in place (not true rivets but square rosehead nails from Lee Valley) and the dragon head ornaments glued and tacked into place. The last bit to go on was a strip of leather around the rim, stained oxblood red. I'm pleased with the results.


Finished