Too finicky for my own good...
Oct. 17th, 2005 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stellar_muddleSo, having gotten 30-45cm by ~1.8m of nice even weave (linen?) embroidery fabric for 80c, I want to make cushions out of it. Specifically bolster style cushions which can double as pillows on the Viking bed. Long rectangular ones, that can also sit on the chests etc.
So far, so good. Next step, picking a design.
Thud.
So, we have a large Viking A-Frame tent and bed (Oseberg or Gokstad sized -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
basal_surge please correct - I think Oseberg for the bed at least) ie 800 - 850 AD. Z's persona is Anglo-Scandanavia around 900 AD. Hence want a design indicative of that time period/style, capable of turned into the equivalent of a cross-stitch chart for sewing - use computer programs for converting images/photos to charts. Should be relatively straight forward.
Viking art styles are classified into the following:
Ok, Jelling and Borre are most appropriate and you can find images and descriptions of the key stylistic features of these classifications.
Then you cross reference to textile decoration - embroidery etc. Here very thud.
Problem 1: There isn't that much in the way of extant embroidery from the Viking time period. Details of some of the finds are found in these articles:
Finds include
Birka
Mammen
Valsgarde (Grave 12)
You can get some other ideas of the patterns extant in embroideries by looking at some of the tapestries of the time.
Must be others...
Problem 2: These really don't gel well with the woodwork and metalwork "art" styles. Quite different in fact.
Problem 3: "Medieval" vs modern aesthetic. As seen from the difference between the rather cool metalwork interlace designs and the chunckier, fill up with lots of stylized animals and do wierd shapes and colours tapestries. I know which I think looks better and I know which appears more docmentable in a textile context.
Result: Suspect will go with something based more on the tapestry stuff, possibly with the decorated seam stitching like the Mammen cushion needleprayse.webcon.net.au/research/documentation_jane_stockton_scandinavian_laid_couched.pdf
and as mentioned in Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs. This well be cheating since the tapestries are woven, not embroidered, but possibly with will work out better given the fabric base.
Or I could save the fabric for a later period project that definitely requires counted work and make the cushions of wool and embroider from there...
So far, so good. Next step, picking a design.
Thud.
So, we have a large Viking A-Frame tent and bed (Oseberg or Gokstad sized -
basal_surge please correct - I think Oseberg for the bed at least) ie 800 - 850 AD. Z's persona is Anglo-Scandanavia around 900 AD. Hence want a design indicative of that time period/style, capable of turned into the equivalent of a cross-stitch chart for sewing - use computer programs for converting images/photos to charts. Should be relatively straight forward.Viking art styles are classified into the following:
- Oseberg/Broa 750-850 AD
- Borre 825-975 AD
- Jelling 880-990 AD
- Mammen 950-1050 AD
- Ringerike 990-1090 AD
- Urnes 1040-1150 AD
Ok, Jelling and Borre are most appropriate and you can find images and descriptions of the key stylistic features of these classifications.
Then you cross reference to textile decoration - embroidery etc. Here very thud.
Problem 1: There isn't that much in the way of extant embroidery from the Viking time period. Details of some of the finds are found in these articles:
- Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs by Thora Shoarptooth/Carolyn Priest-Dorman.
- Also in an earlier version with no pictures Anglo-Saxon and Viking Works of the Needle
- Also in an earlier version with no pictures Anglo-Saxon and Viking Works of the Needle
- Discussion on WCOB list re cuffs (main info from Maggie)
- Viking answer lady on embroidery
- (more as I find/add them)
Finds include
- Geijer, Agnes. 1983. "The Textile Finds from Birka." Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 80-99. London: Heinemann.
- Some very cool references I don't have but have mentions of in online articles
- In "Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs" (see above)
- [Edit 18.1.06]Embroidery from the Tenth Century Viking Grave at Mammen Denmark by Heather Rose Jones
- [Edit 18.1.06]Have photos of touring reconstruction of the Mammen Cheiftain's outfit from the touring Viking exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney (Dec 2005 - June(?) 2006) - think it is the National Museum of Denmark one. Cloak covers a lot of the details on the tunic underneath.
- http://users.bigpond.net.au/quarfwa/miklagard/Costume/Rus/Trader/Rus_main.htm
Images of the originals and an extrapolation of their use. - http://www.archaeology.su.se/pdf/clindblom.pdf Far more detailed analysis (43 pages), in swedish... Nice pictures though.
You can get some other ideas of the patterns extant in embroideries by looking at some of the tapestries of the time.
- Oseberg http://www.sjolander.com/viking/museum/m/horned.htm for an image of the standard watercolour extrapolation.
- Skog Church, Hälsingland, Sweden ca. 1100 C.E.
- http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/horses.htm contains a bit with horses on part way down...
- http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/horses.htm contains a bit with horses on part way down...
- Ă–verhogdal tapestry
Problem 2: These really don't gel well with the woodwork and metalwork "art" styles. Quite different in fact.
Problem 3: "Medieval" vs modern aesthetic. As seen from the difference between the rather cool metalwork interlace designs and the chunckier, fill up with lots of stylized animals and do wierd shapes and colours tapestries. I know which I think looks better and I know which appears more docmentable in a textile context.
Result: Suspect will go with something based more on the tapestry stuff, possibly with the decorated seam stitching like the Mammen cushion needleprayse.webcon.net.au/research/documentation_jane_stockton_scandinavian_laid_couched.pdf
and as mentioned in Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs. This well be cheating since the tapestries are woven, not embroidered, but possibly with will work out better given the fabric base.
Or I could save the fabric for a later period project that definitely requires counted work and make the cushions of wool and embroider from there...
