Crafts!
Chainmail, woodworking, and more!
The way I see it, I have only one hobby: I collect hobbies. I'm not even going to try to list all of mine. There are two crafts that I have more experience with and they relate to my learning about medieval times, and are useful even in this day and time. These two crafts are "knitting" chain-mail and woodworking.
Chain-mail
is a fabric made of interlinked rings of metal. This was the armor of the
upper-class fighters who could not afford full plate armor. I have made
two shirts using a 4-in-1 pattern, and use that pattern to make key-chains
and other jewelry type objects. There are also 6-in-1 and other patterns
for linking rings of metal together to make armor.
One of the best sites for chain mail reference is Sara's
Chainmail Connection. Beginners to experts will find useful
information here.
These are three types of chain linking that I know well. The one on
the left I learned as King's Braid, the middle one is a 4-in-1 close-up of
a key-chain, and the one on the right is a regular chain using 2 links
instead of just one link. As you can guess, I'm working with relatively
small links, ranging from 1/8th inch interior diameter to 1/4 inch
interior diameter. In addition to changing I.D. for the rings, there are
also different wire gauges (sizes of wire) that I use. Let me say, though,
that the shirts I made were 12 gauge wire with 1/2 inch interior diameter
rings! (Can you say I like seeing things work up fast?)
There are some interesting things that one can make with chain-mail.
As an example, see the cube pictured here. This is what I call a "2nd
step" cube. The "1st step" cube has less than half the
number of rings, and is about 25% smaller in size. I call them
"steps" because the size of a cube depends on the size of the
first face of the cube. This one was made with 3/64" diameter wire
wound at 3/16". I've made some "2nd step" cubes using
larger wire wound at 1/4" and they were about 33% bigger.
I have a friend who has managed to make a double helix (like DNA) out of
chain links!
Woodworking
is another hobby of mine, one which has until recently been somewhat
stalled. I now have a space for a decent workshop in the garage, and
because I have more tools now, I can do some fancier work. I have
also started woodturning and have made some pen sets and am practicing to
make bowls and small goblets. I
have made a 3-legged chair from a pattern and pieces that I found in the
garage, and plan to make more. I am also planning on making items for sale
at SCA events.
As I have said,
I have turned a pen-set with my lathe working.
Here is a picture of the set I made for a friend.
The pieces are (left
to right): Twist style pen, Click pencil, and a Fountain pen. All three kits were made with a wood called Wenge, which
has a brown tannish color with lines of black in it.
I have made an internal frame for my period tent, and made a frame for a merchant tent. My tent is a Panther 12x12 Regent and I created the joints for the peak and four corners (using poles between all joints) in order to eliminate the center pole which had divided up the center of the tent in a way I didn’t appreciate when not camping alone. I have a photo of the frame and the tent on my photos page.
The merchant tent frame is not pyramidal, but with a peak and 2 gabled ends. It was designed to be 18’x13’, but the frame can be assembled with fewer sections to make a shorter (less than 18 feet) tent, but it will still be 13’ wide. Photos will be posted of the frame soon (I hope).
I have also made some functional items for use in my SCA camping experience. Please e-mail me (see above) and request the PDF “How-To” filess to make these items. (The free host I have does not allow downloads). I have made 2-Board Chairs for sitting on around the campfire, and I have made 6-Board Chests for holding items within a tent.