I hear bells ringing at a flea market.

Did I already mention, that I love flea markets and secondhand shops? Well, I do. I try not to buy too many things, like feast gear and the like, but sometimes there are things that scream your name so loud, that you can't leave them there.

Like those 12 rolls of linen sewing thread I bought some time ago. Or today's treasure:

They are bells. They make quite pretty and clear sound. They were not cheap, but not too expensive either. They are about 3cm across. And - There are 25 of them! Can someone say "a Belt"? Anyone? Medieval blingbling.

Silver Guard Token

I embroidered a Silver Guard token, because those are so hard to get and Meisterinne Katheryn Hebenstreitz suggested that the tokens could be embroidered.

It became quite big (9x150cm), because I thought that it should be long enough to be tied on top of one's armor. I'll make them smaller, if I'll do any more of them.

Linen embroidered with black (split stitch for durability) and pale yellow (running stitch) cotton and fake silver (couching). The yellow is underneath the silver, in case the silver wears off. The ink that I used to transfer the picture on the fabrik bled a little and is visible specially around the ears. The grey spot on the bigger picture is not on the token, my camera just does that, old thing.

I'm satisfied that the dragon came out this pretty. Let's make it a little smaller next time though.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol VIII

This one I made a while ago, but I forgot to post about it. Here is Drei Eichen. Again it is embroidered on linen with cotton using split stitch and laid work:

I'll send all my patches to the Embroidery Guild's Mistress. If there is need for more patches, I can make them fast if asked, but othervice I'm doing something else now.

Drachenwald Kingdom Wall Hanging Vol VII

I did some more of these patches. I took them with me on my holiday trip, which was a very good idea, since I would othervice have had it quite boring in the hotel when the kids were having their naps. Fortunately there was National Geographic channel and embroidery.

Here is the Shire of Turmstadt. My home shire at the moment. There is wrong information about this device in the internet. This is the design that is at the moment going through the last stages of SCA registration process. Cotton on linen, split stitch and laid work (surprize...).

And here is the Shire of Isengau. I was planning on doing it on herring bone stitch, but I ended up experimenting with my needle and the result is a net-like surface. It looks cool, but I don't know how medieval it is. Cotton on linen, stem stitch and "netting".

I'm continuing again on this project to fill in for Germany. I'll do Drei Eichen next.

Miniature thingies 1

I have to share this with you all. I'm so childishly proud of these!

Yes, they are boxes. Small ones. I found an old wooden box that will become a miniature room box containing three rooms. I decided to make a storage house in it. Every room will show one part of our present home, mainly the storage spaces. It'll be a memory of what a cluttered place this is! It will take a lot of time to finish, because I have to learn all the skills needed as I go, so don't hold your breath.

These boxes are miniature replicas of the ones we have at our attic. 1:24 (half inch) scale. (Most used dollhouse scale is 1:12, but 1:24 is also in use. Play scale would be 1:6)

More practising on miniatures.

I'm trying more miniatures. Here is one and a half socks. Embroidery needles with polymer clay handles did not work very well, so I ended up buying the finest knitting needles I could easily find (size 1,5). The knitting went quite well, but I still need finer needles. I'll use these untill I can find better ones.

The miniature needles are made of polymer clay in a hurry. They need sharper points. Now they just look like spaghetti. Actually spaghetti might be good for this, if it can be sharpened. Polymer clay does not break as easily though.

The unfinished sock is fixed with glue, so that the needles won't slip away. The fifth needle can be removed. The yard ball is fixed as well.

Now I need to get more colours. The yarn is ment to be used for fixing well worn old knitware. It was the only one I could find that's thin enough and still looks like knitting yarn. Unfortunately there is not much colour choises available.

Dollshouse miniature embroideries

I wanted to try making miniature textiles. This is my first try. I made three small embroideries and made them look like they would still be on emboidery hoops.

A heart

A flower
And a duck

I tried cross stitch first, as it is easy. Any suggestions what to try next? I have an idea about miniature knitting, but I have to make the knitting needles first. I'll use a pair of bigger embroidery needles and make handles for them out of polymer clay. I'll put the embroideries on E-bay to see if anyone is willing to pay for them and how much that would be. Then I just might start doing more of these.