Bog Bodies and Enamel Works

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Archaeology has a deep rooted attraction for me, one that led me to a degree with a specialization in archaeology. I’ve worked as a salvage archaeologist, conservator, cataloger, and site cartographer. The intricacies of an archaeological site fascinates me, but what really gets me excited are material artifacts like beads, dress accessories, and fabric. Usually there is little, or no, remains of fabric. But the “bog bodies” are a notable exception.

One of my students came across a fascinating report. One bog body found in 1867 was on display in Orkney for 83 years before it was studied. In the last decade the hood from that find was recreated using period weaving techniques. The recreated garment is stunning. Oh, it holds a personal interest for me since my husband’s persona is from Orkney! You can see the study by Jacqui Wood’ on the Orkney Hood in PDF format.

My thanks to Eleanor Morgan for the reference.

I had the rare opportunity to meet a long time friend, Sandra Bradshaw, in Sedona, AZ. Sandy is one of a handful of enamelists in the US who is skilled at the technique of plique a jour. The effect is incredible – her art is like miniature stained glass! I’ve made an exception to my rule of only carrying my own work in my shop. Sandy gave me the singular opportunity to carry a small selection of her award-winning enamels. So, I’m excited to tell you that I have a small number if historically inspired sterling silver and plique a jour crosses. http://www.the-treasury.org/EirnyStore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=108 These crosses are individually hand soldered and then enameled.

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Making a Leather Purse With a Brass Frame – Finished!

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My thoughts On This Project

 

I really enjoyed this project and will definitely make more purses. Actually building a purse made me better understand some of the details, like rivet locations and the number of stretcher bars, that I had witnessed in English museums. A truly period version of the purse frame would have relied less on soldering and more on rivets to join pieces. Soldering was a difficult task in period and rarely used on non-precious metals. In terms of the roundel, the variations in color within the red are due to the fact that modern red enamels are slightly unstable and burn easily and the fact that I am a beginning enameller. With practice I should be able to achieve a more even color. This is the largest enamel that I have ever done. I knew that red was a fussy color, but I wanted it any way. I have seen the same sort of color variations in period enamels.

 

Bibliography

 

Almgren, Bertil, “The Viking”, Crescent Books, 1975

 

Campbell, James, “The Anglo-Saxons”, Cornel University Press, 1982

 

Cirker, Blanche, “The Book of Kells: Selected plates in Full Color”, Dover, 1982

 

Egan, Geoff and Pritchard, Frances, “Dress Accessories, c. 1150-1450”, 1991

 

Evans, Angela Care, “The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial”, British Museum Press, 1986

 

Meehan, Bernard, “The Book of Durrow: A Medieval Masterpeice at Trinity College Dublin”, Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1996

 

Stapleton, C.P., Freestone, I.C. and Bowman, S.G.E., “Composition and Origin of Early Medieval Opaque Red Enamel from Britain and Ireland”, Journal of Archaeological Science, Article No. jasc.1999.0399, Academic Press, 1999

Making a Leather Purse With a Brass Frame – pt 5

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I made a pattern for the leather portion of the purse from muslin. I cut out the leather and sewed it to the frame. In period they would probably have used waxed linen thread. I didn’t have any black linen thread, so I chose to use black artificial sinew instead. I used two needles on each cord and double stitched the entire purse. I chose to do this for both strength and appearance sake. Double stitching with linen thread was commonly used in the manufacture of turnshoes.

The purse clasp is made from a toggle and a silk string. Toggles of this type are commonly used on shoes and boots. I have seen them at the Museum of London and the City Museum of York. The toggle was made by rolling up a triangular piece of leather, cutting a slot through the roll with a sharp chisel and threading the end of the triangular piece of leather back through the roll.  Some historical purses use the same sort of pressure fittings commonly used in modern framed coin purses, but it is often impossible to determine how a purse was kept closed from the archaeological remains. The Sutton Hoo purse has an elaborate locking mechanism.[1]

Once the bag was in place I drilled three holes in the edges of the enamel roundel and riveted it to the purse lid. I chose to do a simple clinch rivet because of the danger of cracking the enamel by flexing the copper too much.

= Coming next – My thoughts on this project, and a bibliography

[1] Evans, p. 85