Fuedalism Alive and Well in Britain

A young friend of mine, named Jon is now being cut off from moving around on the estate where his father works. Their house is surrounded by the estate, so he is now really confined to walking on the roads and their own lawn. He is very much into outdoor life and crafts and is very responsibly behaving towards the environment. If he or anyone else in his family trespasses his father risk loosing his job.

I try to avoid posting things with political content, but I find this really appaling. I consider it the right of every human to be able to move around in their surroundings.

Viking Era Shoes

I've been to the Viking Museum Lofotr for over one month now. There I have been making quite a few items which I'll post over the next weeks. PS! A warning for the purists: These things are not made with stone tools only.

The shoes were made on an evening course run by viking era shoe maker Fanny Larsson (she makes shoes on order for those who are interested). Though they are a little too big for using without woolen socks they are very comfortable. The pattern is taken from Hedeby, currently in Germany, but formerly in Denmark.














I've used these types of shoes and my bare feet only now for almost 5 weeks straight and the 2 times I've tried on my modern shoes it has been an awful experience.

Birch Bark

I gathered a lot of birch bark for personal projects and courses while I was at home. Some is spirally cut and will be used for a rucksacks or shoes. This is a photo of some of it. All was gathered with stone tools.














This cup was made due to the need of a container to keep my worms in when fishing. This type of cup is readily made and discarded and can be used for drinking from too, but due to the simple fold it does not hold water perfectly.

Going away for a bit

I'll be gone for about 2 months. I'll first go home preparing for some courses this winter, later I'll go work as a craftsman in a museum up north. It is this museum, if you by any chance are there within that timeframe chances are you'll see me making something in the longhouse.

Have a nice summer.

PS! For all I know, Robert may still post from time to time...

Arrowsizer

Here is the arrowsizer I started making before Christmas. It is carved as an eagle flapping it's wings. More detail may be added when I feel my skill is up for it. I think it looks acceptable regardlessly though.

Aspen Bark Container Part 2

The container is sewn after it is dried. I drilled the holes with a flint tip. The rim was willow bark and so was the lashing. There are many possibilities of how to do this. If you use a good type of bark, which doesn't curl that much, you can butt the sides against eachother, but with aspen you pretty much have to overlap. This basket type is very sturdy and well worth the effort in making.

Wikkiup

My kids and I took off an afternoon to work on a wikkiup in a place that we have thought would be good to do it. We picked a spot right on a creek where there is a natural spring and we've been to the spot enough to know it doesn't flood at any time of the year.

Right near this spot are old broken cottonwoods which tend to break off in large splinters that leave huge slabs of material to use as shingles. There are also some green alders that were washed away at the bank and were blocking the creek somewhat. Alder, no matter if it's green or dry is very brittle and pretty large trunks can be broken off.

The point of this exercise is to show my kids that good dwellings can be made with what is available. When it's done is should be fairly rain proof and tall enough to have a fire inside. Right now it's drying a bit as it is very heavy from being green and the large slabs are still wet with the rain we've been having.





In the above picture you can see how we used the natural forks of the trees to make an interlocking center. You can make the center interlock very tightly by laying everything down on the ground first and interlocking it while it's on the ground. Then you raise it up in the middle and keep pushing it up. The increasing angle will really help bind the forks together.





The above shows the large slabs of cottonwood that will overlap as shingles.





This last pic shows the approximate size of the shelter. I can easily stand up and have room to reach up still in the center. It should sleep 4 pretty comfortably.