| Craft |
Description |
Villager |
General
knowledge of village life, including what the different crafts are,
and simple background to your own character. |
Spinning |
Producing yarn from raw
materials - usually fleece although one or two Society members have
produced yarn from nettles and flax. |
| Dyeing |
Producing different colours of yarn using
the natural dyes which were available at the time. |
Weaving |
Making yarn into cloth
using a variety of loom designs. |
Tablet Weaving |
Using tablets (cards with
holes for the threads) to produce patterned bands for decorating
clothes etc. The tablets are turned to change the position of the
threads which can provide a wide range of designs. |
| Cord
Weaving |
Cords are passed over a
slotted disk alternately which produces a twisted patterned cord
through a hole in the centre of the disk. (somewhat similar to
french knitting) |
Embroidery |
Much as it is today, with
knowledge of the stitches used at that time and the style of designs
used. |
Clothes Construction |
This is the ability to make
clothes which are correct in style and colour and have hand
finishing. (Machined seams are allowed as long as the stitches are
not visible when the garment is worn) Cloth used in the manufacture
of clothes should be (or appear to be) made from yarn of the period. |
| Chain
Mailing |
Looks trickier than it is!
The first five links are the worst apparently! The other tricky part
is getting the seams in the right place. Hmm! Sounds familiar! |
| Fletching |
Making arrows. Not always
easy without using some modern equipment - authentic glue is
difficult to come by! |
| Bowyer |
Companion to fletching -
this is the art of making bows. Allied with this is the process of
making bowstrings. |
| Bone
Carving |
Many useful and lovely
things can be carved from bone. This craft also covers how to treat
bones to produce stronger, longer lasting artifacts. |
| Wood
Carving |
Anything from spoons to
tent frames or even bed frames. |
| Wood
Turning |
Spoons, bowls etc. are made
using a traditional pole lathe. |
Cookery |
Cooking using authentic
foods (more varied than you would think) and period utensils. |
| Leather-
working |
This covers both making
leather goods and/or decorating them. |
Acting |
Well - acting I suppose!
What more can I say? Except that it is only on a fairly small scale
- although of a high standard - no huge productions with a cast of
thousands! The acting is used to set the scene for the combat
displays, explaining why this Viking chief is attacking that Saxon
king etc. |
Casting |
Producing metal items such
as jewellery, arrow and spear heads, and belt fittings etc. |
