Extreme Medieval Arts and Sciences

Inigo · Location: Auckland

We always seem to talk enough about whacking each other so I'm wondering what some of the more extreme medieval arts and sciences people get up to around here. Most of us do things like sew medieval costumes, make armour, trebuchets and all that stuff. What are some of the more unusual projects people have undertaken in the name of their hobbies? Breading bunnies for their fur? Smelting iron? Getting ribs removed so that corset can go just a bit tighter?

NigelT · Site Admin Location: Wellington

You mean quite aside from people going out and buying land so that they can build life-size trebuchets or a forge so that their nearest neighbours are miles away, or perhaps remodelling their house so that they can physically store all the encampment equipment they own, or basing their car-buying choice more on whether or not they can get a quarterstaff in it rather than trivia like comfort or fuel efficiency... or spending vast amounts of money on buying silks and linens that have been died using natural processes and look just right...

... you mean aside from all that? ...actually I can't think of anything at the moment Laughing

...no wait I can - last year (or was it earlier this year, I forget), we did go through a process of getting raw wool straight off the sheep / alpaca, hand spinning it, hand dying it with natural pigments harvested from garden plants, and then built several different looms to weave it.

Nigel

Chevalier · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:31 pm

Nathan · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:46 pm

Nigel,

Both my last car and current were bought on the following terms
1) Can it fit my weapons?, namely 2x 7foot spears
2) Will it fit the rest of my gear?
3) Can it get me there (where ever that is)?

If all above are positive then the other question is
4) can i fit anyone else in to ease the cost of petrol?

As to date I own a 1 to 2 seater station wagon Mr. Green

mmy · Location: wellington

NigelT · Site Admin Location: Wellington

Maggie, were you successful with the Gute wool? Was there enough of a difference that you could spin <1mm threads and have them stay together while weaving?

Kotek · Location: Christchurch, NZ

I made around 200 little pies because I wanted an event to be a little fancier... Very Happy

mmy · Location: wellington

White Knight · Location: Orcland

I guess I must be a medieval obsessive too.
I bought my car a 4wd thinking that it would be good to put all my gear in and it had a roof rack which would be good for carrying weapons on and timber for making stuff used for my hobby.

I bought both my last place and my present place because one had a shed and the other had a garage and a shed which I could turn into a workshop. Both of them had enough space to make things for my hobby outside.
I could never live in an apartment because they don't have any space, no backyard. I would go NUTS!!!

Some people think that I am nuts for what I do but I think that they are nuts because all they do is sit around watching TV. Boring!!!
Most people think that my hobby is interesting and I have had many interesting conversations.

griff · Location: Auckland

Quote "Gute is one of those fleeces that have wool and kemp"

what is kemp?

Carl · Location: Just beyond the firelight

Ah guys i really think maggie wins here, she imported wool into a country that has over 45 million sheep, simply because she wanted to make a tunic out of the same wool that the Vikings used.

Maggie you are a Goddess and I bow to you.

Ryu_Soma · Location: Gore

i would have to agree with carl
/me bows......
ooops there shows my gaming nature Razz

Chevalier · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:56 pm

Effigy · Location: Warkworth

Well,
Chevalier I hope you appreciate this Wink

I've just finished tieing off a steer's head in my creek. Collected it from the local home-kill butcher, special order on account of it's very fine horns. A head without a body is a very accusing thing. I brought it home in the back of the car, and arranged with a friend to help get it down to the most eel infested part of the creek. Yay for 4wheel drive! It is now secured inside a 44 gall drum so eels can clean it and diving dogs can't hold their breath long enough to steal it. 6 weeks and it will be ready. I have a possible use for the top of the skull, but if there's anyone wants the jaws or anything thats left.....?
Living history, its a lovely hobby Twisted Evil

Victorius · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:39 pm

Conversely, there's times when re-enactment/living archaeology/WMA comes in handy: we've just stripped all the wallpaper in our lounge and found that the plastering over the gib joins may not have had tape put in place first. This tape is to stop the plaster cracking in event of slight movement, which you get in wooden-framed houses. That's not a problem if you're just wallpapering over it, but we're planning on painting. Our normal options (if we were normal people that is) would be to (a) take a chance, leave it and paint and hope for the best, but then run the risk of vertical lines cracking all the way down the walls in 6- different places, requiring a repair job (see (b)) and a total repaint. Or (b) sand back all the plaster and tape the gib joins, then re-plaster over the top, and then paint.
But what we're going to do instead is leave it and paint and hope for the best. However, if vertical lines do indeed crack all the way down the walls in 6-8 different places, we'll simply sand back all the plaster and tape the gib joins, then re-plaster over the top. But instead of having to do a total repant, we'll paint false pillars, doorways and windows to outdoor Italian rural scenes over the cracks. Just like the Pompeiin wall-paintings.