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A chain find

Nov1

Sometimes when I have a bit of spare time and nothing special to do I make searches in the Bildindex and just go through pictures of all sorts. And the sometimes on strange searches you hit the jack pot and find a really interesting picture!
A while back I found this picture of a chain:

Kette der Armbrustschützen.

And it looks remarkably much like the chains in for instance a lot of Cranach paintings, like theese two by Lucas Cranach the Elder:

The chain is from the Rathaus (City hall) in Schmalkalden, a small city in the region called Thüringen. The closest bigger cities would be Erfurt and Kassel.
I have had many discussions with people on what theese chains were made of. Were they metal? Gilded leather?
A close up of the chain also found in the bildindex led me to believe it could be a metal chain.

Close up of the chain.

However, the information provided in the bildindex did not say anything about the materials and I have tried to contact the Rathaus in Schmalkalden with no result this far. But I will not give up since I find this chain very interesting!
And I hope this will help some fellow artisans interested in German 16:th century clothing and jewelry.

How to make a Stuchlein – a looooong post!

Apr3

NOTE: This is a 4 page post due to editing problems in WordPress…

First of all: this is my version of how to make the German 16:th century hat called stuchlein.
There are no extant examples – the only thing we can do is guess how it was made and this is my take on how to recreate this headwear to make it look as in the woodcuts and paintings.

There are many varieties of this hat – different regions had different fashions and the decorations varried depending on how wealthy the womans family was and if the stuchlein was ment for every day use or for special occasions.
The stuchlein was the headwear of married women. And it also stated that the woman was no longer a virgin. If a woman lost her virginity – the norm was that sje has to cover her hair. This way the stuchlein and the schleier (veil) could become a stigma if the woman had lost her virginity ouside of marrige. ( The article ”Haubendämmerung” by Jutta Zander-Seidel, 2010).

The stuchlein was made of at least 3 parts – sometimes even 4.
First you wore a linnen cap. This way you protected the wulsthaube – the second part of this headwear – from getting dirty from your hairs oils and dirt. The wulsthaube was a cap with a stuffed roll attatched to it to get the volume at the vack of the head that is typical for the stuchlein. The stuffed roll was either sewn to a cap or laced to it – there are different takes on this and it is quite possible that both ways of construction existed.
After that you wore a cover that could either be just a schleier (veil) or a decorated or richely decorated cap. The veil often had a long tail that was either wrapped under the chin and then fastened at the side of the headwear with a pin, or the long tail could be wrapped around the wearers arm.
The decorated caps could be decorated with different trims making up a pattern of stripes and they could also be embellished with jewels. If the ouer cap was decorated with jewels and expensive embroideries – the women often wore a very thin veil on top of it so that the decorations could be seen through the light fabric but at the same time the valuable decoratoons were protected.

Here are some pictures that shows some stuchleins that have inspired me to this project.

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Instant pater noster

Mar30

For a while I have collected some beads to eventually make a pater noster to go with my renaissnace dresses.
This morning I finally got to making it since I really needed to DO something and not just sit around with my arm in a sling.
I have studied some pictures, read a bit about materials used, an today with the help from friends I read up some more on a pater noster website.

After that I simply got my materials and made a rosary that I think is pretty. Now I know I might hav the incorrect number of beads and other things – this time I just went with easthetics and what I think is pretty – but at the same time use the correct overall look for the item.
I used coral beads that were a leftover from site tokens for the event Aarnimetsä Academy that I was autocrating, silk thread of embroidery weight, carved bone beads in the shape of skulls and some metal beads and fresh water pearls for marker beads.
And 20 minutes later I had this:

 

Pater Noster made from coral beads, bone beads, fresh water pearls, metal beadds and silk thread.

Pouch all done!

Jan30

I am finally done with my contribution to the Estrella giftbasket!
I used metal beads for all the tassles and for the closing cords I used carved bone beads that I think are pretty neat.
The cords are made with basic fingerloop braiding with DMC cotton.
Now it only needs to join the rest of the giftbasket to travel across the pond!

The little alms pouch I made for the Estrella giftbasket.

Progress on gift item

Jan25

Today I attatched the ensignia embroidery on the wool the pouch will be made of.
First I cut off exessive fabric around the embroidery, then I attatched the embroidery to the fabric with regular hem stitches. I had to undo it once and reattatch it since it became obviously tilted.

After it was all fastened to the background fabric I took a piece of the DMC yarn and couched it down around the edges of the patch to cover any of the white linnen showing around the edges.

The embroidery all fastened on the pouch outer fabric.

Estrella giftbasket project

Jan23

Since one of my eminent minions (Viscountess Whilja) is the King and Queens chamberlain she is in charge of getting the giftbasket for Estrella War together – and hence I feel it my obligation to suport her work. :D
The King and Queen will hand the giftbasket over to Their Majesties of Calontir so I decided to make something with their ensignia on. And due to the far travelling that we Drachenwalders have to do to attend events across the big pond, we can’t make to big or to heavy items.

After finding out what other people in the Barony where I live are planing to do, I finally decided to make an alms/reliquary pouch.
On the pouch I will aplique an embroidered patch with the Calontir ensignia.
After three days of cursing and hating the embroidery – it is finally done! The reason for the cursing was basically the fact that I made the crosstitch embroidery on a regular linnen fabric which is woven of uneaven threads and which is quite tightly woven.
I used the charter made for the Atlantian embroiderers guild which has brilliant charters for all Kingdom badges! The yarn used is regular DMC yarn since I happened to have the right colours at home – however they are not the ones recomended on the charter.

The embroidery measures about 5,4 x 5,4 cm (about 2 incehs) and this is how it turned out:

The embroidery I made for the alms pouch that will be part of the Estrella giftbasket from Drachenwald.

Bag done

Dec12

So this is how the bag turned out in the end!
I hope Mistress Helena von Eltz (aka Elina from Neulakko) will find it useful!

The bag in all its glory! I am really happy with how it turned out and I will make one for myself – but I am a bit hesitant about apliqueing a pelican… ;)

The bag a bit closer. All the edges were stitched down with a woolen yarn the same shade as the fabric.

The aplique close up. It was made with a white wool fabric stitched down by couching a naturally dyed yellow wool yarn with a thinner yellow wool yarn. The bag is lined with a green silk.

New Stüchlein – teaser!

Sep30

I have been very busy lately, but to show you a bit of what is to come I will post a picture of my new stüchlein that I finished this morning!
In a week or so I will be able to post something longer about this project with my theories and research material.
For now I can tell you that the outer part of the headwear is made out of a nice thin linen, the black stripes are a vintage silk trim and the golden one is a vintage metal thread vestment trim.
More on the contruction to come and more pictures from all angles too!

My new German 16:th century headwear!

Bling my medallion

Sep27

When I was elevated to the Order of the Pelican within the SCA, two of my dear friends took me medallion shoping at Pennsic. The medallion used for my ceremony was awesome in the sense of lineage – but was not something to be used on a regular basis.
They ended up getting 2 medallions for me – one heavy made out of bronze and onw from Raymonds Quiet Press.
The latter I have never used, but for some reason I knew it was important.
Today I know why.
After studying the Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern 1552-1555 I knew why I had wanted that medallion!
Now – what is to come is NOT a very historically correct process – but sometimes I allow myself to use modern techniques to achieve a correct look for German 16:th century accessories.
With some glass pearls, some brass pins, jewelry making components and superglue (GAH!) I blinged my medallion!
The chain still needs to be shortened and I will need to put a clasp on.
But this is the result of just one hours work!

My newely blinged Pelican medallion.