CLASS/TUTORIAL
Iron Age Norwegian Bucket-Shaped Pottery
This class looks at a distinctive type of pottery produced in western Norway from c.350 to c.550 CE. Unlike other contemporary pottery traditions that were coil-built or wheel-thrown, these bucket-shaped pots were slab-built using a cylindrical wooden mold. Many examples are beautifully decorated with stamped and combed designs. Anyone with the tools and dexterity to roll out a pie crust can make one with little or no prior ceramics experience. This two-part video series gives a brief history of this pottery type, shows examples of different decorating styles, and then demonstrates the process involved to make and decorate one using common household objects.
TUTORIAL
Anglian/Saxon Pottery Stamp Starter Kit
This blog post provides a basic overview of how to make a group of six of the most common and easy-to-make stamp dies that appear on insular Anglian and Saxon pottery from about 450 to 650 CE, and includes visual references from museum collections. The guide assumes you have access to a few basic tools, including a drill, hacksaw, and some files.
TUTORIAL
Intro to Early Medieval Leather Tooling
An introduction to the tools, techniques, and motifs used in decoration of leather knife and seax sheathes from from Anglo-Scandinavian York, Dublin, and London in the 8th-11th centuries CE and how to execute these designs using simple tools – or even common household objects.
PATTERNS
One-Piece Shoes, Late Roman/Iron Age
Patterns and basic instructions to make two different types of one-piece shoes associated with Germanic-speaking groups in the Late Roman period. For additional background information, click here. For more detailed instructions on how to adapt a pattern to your foot, see the associated tutorial, ‘Out of the Bog’ below.
CLASS
Out of the Bog: Patterning
Transcript and slides for a class I taught that explains the basics of how to draft a pattern for a late Iron Age/Migration Period shoe made from a single piece of leather. Starting with a well-preserved historical example, it covers the steps involved to adapt the pattern to an individual’s foot and discuss various tips and tricks to ensure a good fit and historically accurate appearance, as well as “care and feeding” of this type of shoe.
For a list of good introductory resources to learn about early Medieval leatherworking, click here.
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