National Museum

Well I cannot say that I am very proud of me as a reenactor and never before visited to Finland’s National Museum at Helsinki. I have only had bad excuses.. like always when I am at Helsinki I have so much other things to do.. or do I? But last weekend I FINALLY had a chance to go there. It was a kind of short visit, but now I know what is in there and I will definitely go there again as soon as possible. The Iron Age section is pretty good there. Oh how tiny are those bronze spiral decorations in those aprons! And I saw the kind of edge decoration that I have made for my apron. 

But then I have to say something awesome happened. At the beginning of my re-enactment hobby I got a poster from my friend. It was a picture of wall hanging which was embroidered by sisters of St Birgit at 15th century at Naantali. That wall hanging has been my first inspiration for embroidery and I have spent a lot time of staring and admiring it. I have been wondering where the actual wall hanging is these days. And yes it was there at the National Museum.. And yes it is as pretty or prettier than the picture in my poster.

Argh.. and now I have more photos that I have to edit and put in the picasa. This is an endless swamp.

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En voi kehua olevani aina kovin ylpeä itsestäni historianelävöittäjänä. En esimerkiksi ollut ennen viime viikonloppua koskaan käynyt Helsingissä kansallismuseossa. Aina on ollut jotain muuta tekemistä Helsingissä..muka. No vihdoin viime viikonloppuna pääsin käymään siellä, tosin melko pikaisesti tällä kertaa. Mutta aina voi mennä uudestaan ja nyt se on sinällään helppoa, kun tietää mitä siellä on. Kansallismuseon rautakauden osasto on kiva. Ihastelimme Emen kanssa pikkuruisia pronssispiraalikoristeita. Näinpä siellä myös samanlaisen kulmakoristeen kuin mitä minulla on omassa essussani. 

Mutta sitten rautakauden osastolta edetessä seuraavaan osastoon jotain mahdottoman upeaa tapahtui. Joskus harrastuksen alkuvaiheessa sain kaverilta lahjaksi julisteen, jossa on kuvattu birgittalaisnunnien tekemä kirjottu seinävaate 1400-luvulta. Tuo seinävaate on ollut yksi ensimmäisistä inspiraationi lähteistä kirjontaharrastuksen alkuvaiheessa. Olen viettänyt monta tovia tuijottaessani ja ihaillessani seinävaatekuvaa. Olen myös miettinyt, että missähän sitä mahdetaan fyysisesti säilyttää näinä päivinä. Ja niin, siellähän se sitten oli kansallismuseossa! Voi vitsi!

Nonnin ja taas minulla on lisää kuvia, mitä täytyisi editoida ja laittaa picasaan.. Kuvia vaan kertyy koko-ajan lisää.. argh!

Projects

I have quite many new projects in progress. Some of those are going to be surprises and I will publish them later. But I have been bitten by German brick stitch bug that has been very effective lately, as can be seen in other re-enactors blogs. Some time ago I started to make brick stitch using wool on linen. I went to Medieval Arts and Crafts blog and picked one of her patterns and started to make the embroidery.

But.. alas as a beginner I found all of my linen fabrics not good enough and I felt that wool was too hard material for me to use for this project and the pattern was too complicated. I finally find linen evenweave fabric that was little bit starched, which means that the fabric is stiffer and easier to use. I decided to use normal DMC cotton thread and I picked another easier pattern for my first project. When I have finished this one, I will buy silk which is more authentic for German brick stitch than cotton.

Here is also a picture of my madder knee high socks in progress.

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Minulla on tällä hetkellä muutamia erilaisia käsityöprojekteja työn alla. Osa niistä on vielä yllätyksiä, joten niistä myöhemmin :). Myös minua on purrut saksalaisen lasketun kirjonnan kärpänen, joka on lennellyt keskiajan elävöittäjien blogista toiseen jo useamman vuoden ajan. Löysin Medieval Arts and Crafts blogista kivan mallin ja aloitin kirjonnan villalla pellavakankaalle.

Mutta valitettavasti ensikertalaisena huomasin, ettei yksikään kaapissani ollut pellavakangas soveltunut kirjontaan, mikään ei ollut riittävän tasaista tai jäykkää. Villa jota käytin kirjontaan ei soveltunut työhön tai oli minulle ensikertalaisena liian vaikeaa käyttää ja malli liian vaikea. Lopulta löysin kangaskaupasta tasaista pellavakangasta, joka oli hieman tärkättyä, mikä tekee kankaasta jäykemmän ja helpomman kirjoa. Päätin kokeilla normaalia DMC puuvillakirjontalankaa tähän ensimmäiseen työhöni. Lisäksi valitsin vielä helpomman mallin. Seuraavalla kerralla voin tehdä sitten vaikka silkistä, joka on paljon autenttisempi materiaali tähän kirjontaan.

Tuossa ylhäällä on myös kuva mataran värisistä polvisukista, jotka ovat myös hieman edistyneet.

8.2.2010

I haven’t forgot this blog, but life is still extremely hectic. Last three weekends I have been at home and tried to go things for the wedding and also some SCA-things. I have done some dyeing for my wedding dress, headdress is done (only veil is half done.. I still have lots of embroidery to do to the veil). Also I have practised smocking and it looks like I am ready to start making my first smocked shirt. Btw I hate making dots for the smocking... I hate dots!

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En ole unohtanut tätä blogia, vaan elämä on ollut edelleen erittäin hektistä. Viimeiset kolme viikonloppua olen ollut kotona ja yrittänyt tehdä hää- ja SCA- asioita. Olen värjäillyt vähän juttuja hääpukuani varten, päähine on valmis (ainoastaan huntu on puoliksi valmis... vielä on jonkin verran kirjottava huntua). Lisäksi olen harjoitellut smokkausta ja näyttää siltä, että olen valmis aloittamaan ihka ensimmäisen smokatun paidan tekemisen. Smokkaaminen on ihan kivaa, mutta niiden pisteiden tekeminen on tosi syvältä..

Another sneak peak

This is the small Assisi embroidery project for the wedding. The swans are outlined and the background needs to be filled with cross stitch. I used red silk thread to linen. The pattern is slightly modified and I found it here http://www.stitchstitch.info/

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Tässäpä muutama kuva pienestä Assisi kirjontatyöstä, jota olen tehnyt häitä varten. Joutsenien ääriviivat ovat valmiit, vielä pitäisi täyttää tausta ristipistoilla. Tähän työhön käytän pellavakangasta ja punaista silkkikirjontalankaa. Käyttämääni kuviota olen hieman muokannut, löysin kuvion yllä olevilta nettisivuilta.

Backside/ Takaa

Towel

This weekend the flu won and we didn’t go to Lahti handicraft Fair. It was very disappointing but sometimes life is like that and it is not possible to get everything and go everywhere. Being in flu and also being at work almost all the week and not resting at home after work (because there were more important (?) things to do) was too much for me.

So we both rested and watched dvds (one of the movies was Coraline and it was very good.. I think maybe better than The Nightmare before Christmas). I made some digging in our wardrobe and I found one UFO (unfinished object) which I had started to make about nine years ago. Back then I had made a tablecloth to us and decorated it with cross stitch using red cotton thread. At that point I was studying and I had not enough money to buy silk threads. After finishing the tablecloth I started to make another tablecloth using the same pattern but blue cotton thread. The pattern was supposed to run around the cloth. I don’t remember what happen, maybe there was something better to do, but I stop making it. I didn’t throw it away because I had made a very big job with it already. At those days I wasn’t very fast embroiderer so it was a very big thing for me to have one of the four borders done. And I had started little bit to make the second border also and machine sewed the edges. The pattern I used is not Medieval more like traditional but it doesn’t look too modern I think.

Well I found it and thought again that I should not throw the thing away but rethink about is it use for something other purpose. So I thought that with a little modification it could be very usable towel for events. So I rip up the machine sewed seams and hand sewed with linen thread all the seams and unstitch little bit the embroidery. The pattern wasn’t finished so I made the missing rows (I had made one row) between the “snow flakes”, luckily I still have that cotton tread in my thread box. Tadaa.. I have a towel :).

Wonderful news!

Lady Eilgri Beccan our regional (SCA) embroidery guild head has opened a blog for Aarnimetsä's embroiders! The blog is in Finnish and can be found here: http://kirjontakori.blogspot.com/

Crazy Weekend

If I want to do things with friends I have to travel. We don’t have any SCA-members or other re-enactors living near to us. So it is time to time a little bit boring to do things all alone. This time we travelled to Lahti to do things with Sahra and Knut and boys. Boys played roleplaying games and Sahra and I did… erm.. lots of other things

But before going to Lahti Ulf and I went to Hämeenlinna to visit Seppo (the Cobbler). He is going to make shoes such as this for us for our wedding: http://www.curiousfrau.com/Images/Kat_23.jpg . The shoes are called “Cow mouth shoes”.

During the last weekend I started to make a basic hood, new socks, and a Viking Finn underdress (Eura style) for me (and we cut the dresses for Sahra and Kira as well). We also made lots of balls of wool yarn for out tablet weaving project. (I just heard that Sahra’s first band for this project is done).

A small dog can be also very entertaining and helpful with wool yarns. This is Eikka, Sahra’s lovely little furry nose.

I also have started to practise German renaissance embroidery (brick stitch) not with silk that it should be done, but with wool. It is very addictive. I have done very little embroidery with wool ever.

At Saturday we went to Mia’s shop and I bought some glass beads and coins for my Viking necklace. That reminds me that I have to sort how many beads and things I already have for the necklace. Also at Saturday we spend most of the time cooking (or it felt like that). We tried four recipes from the book of Sent Sovi (from Catalan around middle of the fourteenth century). The food was delicious! As soon as I have time I will write the recipes and put pictures to my web pages. And other things also..

So lots of cutting fabrics, making balls of wool yarn, drawing patterns and little bit blackwork practise for Sahra. I now have wool now for Vilhelm’s naalbinded hat.

When we came back to home my blue silk embroidery threads for the Assisi style tablecloth had arrived. But I haven’t got the fabric samples for the wedding dresses yet… still waiting.

Hardanger 1.0

I think that I am sometimes brave (if I want to). Yesterday I went to the first hardanger embroidery class (at local folk high school). I had two goals: firstly to get to know another style of embroidery and secondly to get to know local people. I was afraid that there will be only elderly people who doesn’t want me there (that they would give me “the evil eye look” when I walk to the class room). Ok almost everyone was much older than me… except a girl who I knew but who didn’t now me. We have lived here in this small town almost four years now and we only know the people from our working circles. Yes, because I have internet and all handicrafts and too little time after work I have forgotten to get to know people. But anyway I didn’t get any evil eye from anybody and hardager was fun.

So I don’t know much about history of hardanger embroidery, there are so little information available. Or does somebody know where to find information about history of hardanger embroidery? Anyway the embroidery (table cloth) that we are making is very modern. But I think that it will still be very useful experience to me not to mention that I can get to know some people during that class….

Tomorrow we are leaving to Midwinter Feast event. I need to pack and fix the socks. Jon’s hat is almost done :) .

8.12.

Last weekend we went to Lahti as was planned to help Sahra and Knut. Sahra made her sideless surcote which turned out something astonishing beautiful! And I helped her with the embroidery for the wedding purse. I hope that I would have time to write more about the weekend… but I am extremely busy this week (I am going to bake things for St Thomas day party which is weekend after this, and my gown is not finished and I have very hectic time at my mundane job as well). 

Felix wanted to help us with decide the pattern, silk threads and glass beads for the purse....

And here is the embroidery I made last weekend... Sahra is going to fill the leaves and other things.. :D

Assisi tablecloth project

Here are some pictures about my Assisi tablecloth at the beginning of the project. I don’t have any special deadline for this project. I thought that I can carry this with me to the SCA events and do it there also. It might be also that I can’t resist doing it at home because it is too much fun. I really have other more important projects to do right now (like my new renaissance outfit that I have dreamed about for long time).

   

Start

Ok, so this is it then. I don’t know what I am doing. I am not sure that I have time for writing a blog. But you never know. Maybe I will have enough time for this. Anyway starting a blog is something I have thought long time. I have thought that it is too hard. Ok, I admit that writing in English is hard for me because English is not my mother tongue. But if it get’s too hard then I will write in Finnish. Writing in English is good practice since I have lots of friends who don’t speak Finnish.

Finding out the name for the blog was also hard. And it was one reason why I haven’t started this earlier. And that’s why I thought that simple name is better than anything too inventive.

I have currently two bigger projects going on. One is to make 16th century Italian chemise (with little blackwork to its neckline) and an Assisi style tablecloth. I found couple of days ago an interesting link about Assisi embroidery http://www.stitchstitch.info/ . It is not easy to find information about Assisi and I was very happy when I found this link. There are other interesting things like something about blackwork at that site also.