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...

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).

Tyri's Horns

Tyri (that's her norse name but I'm not sure if the spelling is correct), a Reik Felag member who is also a prominent member of the SCA, had these two drinking horns that needed some TLC. The rims coming off was the biggest problem. They were very nice matched horns as you can see from the pix so when she asked if I could do something with them, including adding some ornamentation, (also, she has given me lots of gifts in the past) I couldn't turn it down. There was no rush.

So they sat in my workshop for a few years.

Finally, I got tired of seeing them and was determined to scratch them and a bunch of other long-overdue projects, off my to-do list.

First, give them a light sanding and polish. Clean the glue residue that held the brass rim in place and reglue the brass rims. Give them a polish along the the finial tips. Normally, I would use a metal polish paste to bring out the shine but as the rim was to come into contact with someone's mouth I opted to polish with dried horsetail and it worked beautifully. Was that what the norsemen used to polish with?

So, now with the rims back on and everything shiny it was time to add the ornamentation artwork. Originally, I was going to carve the designs in but that would have taken much more time than I was prepared to give them, especially since I wanted to make a stand for displaying them. Tyri's symbol is the double swan motif she told me so the design I used is reminiscent of such I think you'll agree.

It is inked in, not painted. I was concerned the paint might flake off as I only have water-based paints to use and it would have required oil-based paint (or lots of sanding). Then I clear coated them with food grade varnish (the same stuff used for salad bowls). I didn't use the beeswax polish I normally use as that requires reapplying from time to time.

Next, I made the stand. The base is oak and the upright is a wood that I'm not sure what species it is but it has a peppery smell. Some have said they thought it was oak as well but I'm rather dubious about that. The grain isn't right for oak and it carves very nicely - unlike oak. OK, oak carves well also but just 'feels' different under the knife.

I went with a his and hers theme for the stand and, therefor, you see one side has a man with a beard while the other a woman with the turtle shell brooches and string of beads implied in the design.

To hold the horns onto the stand, leather loops were made with spot studs to accent the piece.

The bottom of the stand is covered with fabric and I made little feet out of leather. You don't see these details but they will help to keep the stand from scratching furniture.

I brought the whole thing to the midsummer festival to present it to her but she was unable to attend so I had someone make sure she got it.

I hope she likes them.

Dark Ages Art Exhibit

This is an art exhibit that Tyra and I are co-curating. It is all about the 'applied art' concept, where everyday objects were ornamented to enhance their look or desirablity, but the function remains unchanged. For example, a comb is still a comb, with or without the art. It does not need the art to make it a comb. The exhibit is to showcase local artists whose art and craft is reproducing, or inspired by, actual historical examples from the Dark Ages. We could have made it encompass only the Viking Age but wanted to be more inclusive to some of the good art and craftsmanship out there, so we expanded the scope of the project.
Media includes bone, horn, metal, wood, soapstone, embroidery, card-weaving, manuscript illuminations and others. Our first exhibit date and venue was June 4th at the MSA museum in Abbotsford. A Call to Artists went out to RF members, SCA people and others who do exquisite work in that genre but by time we had our ducks in a row, so to speak, we ended up only giving a month's notice which, admittedly, is not much time.
The exhibit was happening at the same time as an event put on by the Optimist's Society of Abbotsford where RF was invited to put on a viking village demo. I'm not sure how many saw the exhibit but I got some feedback that it was good.
The day after, we had a venue at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre which I was unable to attend due to a confict in my schedule. Anyway, Tyra told me she had it all under control.
Anyway, we are working towards more venues and dates in the fall and winter.

Pre-2011

So, what have I been up to prior to creating this blog site?
Let's go back in time, at least for the last few years;

2010
Rebuilt cedar shed but with a Norse theme (it was Rurik's idea) so we can hold Sons of the North meetings in it. Had considerable help from Rurik, Murchad, Olfuss, and Aslak (BTW I will only be using the Norse names of my friends for security reasons).

Door hinges shaped as dragon heads

Inside

Outside

Commemoration board for all who helped. Ravens on each end, Odin in the middle, and left to right, Olfuss, Aslak, Ulf, Rurik, Murchad. Carved and inked.

My Odin pole I carved guards the Hytte.

In November-December was a vendor at Scandinavian Centre's Christmas Craft fair. Sold nothing.

2009
Built workshop using a 20' steel shipping container. This was a great improvement as now I can work year-round on some crafts.
Merchanted at an SCA event called, "Odin's Playground"

2008
Merchanted at a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) event called, "12th Night". Was sick as a dog on the Sunday

2007
Blew out my knee which put a huge damper on my creative efforts.