hand-made pendant bails

Reproduction coin with hand-made riveted bail

So this might not seem like much, but I was really happy that I was able to add a hand-made bail to one of my coin pendants. This is another of my ‘stretch’ goals in working on my Hameenlinna (inspired) necklace now that I have (most of) the right reproduction coins.

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I used coloured copper sheet metal (24 gauge) from Michael’s, along with a selection of small rivets from Michael’s too. I THINK I can make my own rivets from wire, but I haven’t tried that yet.. maybe next…

I’m expecting a small order of sheet silver, which will be the more period material, and I really need to use some nylon-head pliers to avoid marking the metal – but I’m happy that I was able to figure this out to get one stretch closer to my stretch goal of improving my necklace.

Viking bead reproductions

Sep4

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop. Most of the beads in this lot are “Melon Beads”.

In the Iceland National Museum in Reykjavik I looked in the gift shop for a few little things to bring back – possibly for my ongoing Viking Age garb. One of the things they had (in addition to a few others I picked up!) was reproduction beads based on Viking Age finds. Since I had seen authentic beads both in the Iceland National Museum and at the Settlement Museum, I selected ones that seemed more similar to the ones I had seen in the museum, rather than ones that were just plain pretty. I did however… take photos!

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop. (Mostly “Melon beads” in this bin.

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop. (Lots of beads styled after the finds at Ribe in this lot)

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop.

The prices were 150 Kr (about $1.50 Canadian) for one small bead, 200 Kr for a medium bead, and 295 Kr for large beads.

A number of the beads look very similar to beads available through Asgard Crafts, who hand craft their glass beads at their workshop on the Isle of Skye. For instance, their Bumble Bee bead, (a solid red or blue glass cylindrical bead with a yellow swirl from end to end), their triple bead (which looks like three round beads joined together in blue, red, green, or yellow), their blue, red, and white glass trail bead (a barrel bead with drawn stripes of colour) and others all look similar. It’s possible that Asgard Crafts is the supplier, or perhaps both suppliers are just inspired by the same authentic bead finds.
Likewise, some of the beads are similar to the beautiful beads on Tillerman. The only difference is the price, with the Tillerman beads (as beautiful as they are) starting at about $6.00 Canadian… (with the exception of the Annular beads)

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop.

Annular beads reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop.

Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop.

National Museum of Iceland
www.nationalmuseum.is
Suðurgata 41, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
+354 530 2200

The Saga Museum (also in Reykjavik) had a number of Viking Age reproduction beads available as well (at different prices). I photographed these as well.

Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop fffx

Several of these beads were the same as at the National Museum.

Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop

I did find the way the Saga Museum displayed the beads easier to look through though.

Vikingaperlur = Viking Beads

Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop

The pricing of the beads was similar, 100 Kr (instead of 150) for small beads, 200 Kr (instead of 250) for medium ones, and 300 Kr (instead of 295) for the large ones. Their display also included leather cord for people to string up their beads. There were also a number of beads that I didn’t think looked like reproductions of Viking Age beads – I didn’t photograph these.

Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop

The Saga Museum also had a festoon and brooches for sale in their gift shop – though it was far too expensive for me to consider 😦

Reproduction festoon and brooches from the Saga Museum gift shop

Sagamuseum – The Saga Museum
www.sagamuseum.is/
Grandagarður, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
+354 511 1517

Viking costume reproductions

Aug12

Reproduction dress with center front two-part gores, two-part side seam gores, and rectangular sewn-on sleeves, rounded neckline with slit front.

Since there haven’t been very many textile fragments found in Iceland of Viking Age clothing, I am including some of the re-creations from the “hands on” room at the Iceland National Museum in Reykjavik. This was kind of a cool room, obviously geared largely towards children. They included Viking Age clothing, Medieval Iceland clothing, and then examples of the Iceland historic national dress as well to dress up in and take photos. They also had games, a saddle, and other things.

I took photos of a few items of clothing that appeared to be Viking Age reproductions – however none of it was tagged to indicate what kind of examples inspired the garments…

Purple under gown

The first is this purple dress as shown above. It has a center front two-piece gore (with a seam down the center) which is repeated on the back as well. It also has a two-piece gore on each side seam, adding extra flare to the hem. The neckline is rounded with a slit, and the neckline is faced with a narrow band of self-fabric. The sleeves are rectangular, and sewn on with a straight seam. The neckline is top-stitched with a hand-sewn running stitch.

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