Bone-needle Arts and Crafts

Viking Drawing

2012-02-16T22:25:00.003+02:00

This is islamic scroll I made recently. Borders are greatly simplyfied version of 13th cent star-shaped tiles from Kashan, Persia. I should have done the text bit bigger, it's still readable, but it could have been more clearer. Oh well, it looks now more like handwritten than printed.

This one is drawing I made for one calendar. Two of the people in the pic are my friends ;) Drawn on MUJI 0.38 inkpen and Pilot lettering pen

Interesting blogs!

2012-02-09T21:47:00.003+02:00

So...
I created 'promote your partner's craft-blog' at Swap-bot and I think it's my turn to actually promote my partners websites. You should visit these blogs too, you might even get ideas for next projects ;)

craftingwithblue.blogspot.com: She makes lovely cards and scrapbooking. I am bit anti-valentine's girl myself, but one of her valentine cards was actually nice. I love the '2012 albym' she made for the "New Year's Resolutions" Blog Hop. eps. the months Janyary and august looked fine :) I hope to see her future creations.

bpositivebfree.blogspot.com: She writes about life and positivity. Maybe I should take time and read her textx and learn something ;). Anyhow, she make funny and creative knitted peaces. I have never seen such an artform, and I am bit shamed to admit it xD. Remember to check her etsy-store too!

www.createtofeelgreat.blogspot.com: She recently created a knitting needle/knitting supply roll up bag. Nice work! I actually have similar roll for my bruches and I'd say to everyone, that kind of solution is perfect for Knitters and painters like us. She seems to be creating all kind of thing, like sewing, storage-rolls, paintings. Worth to visit.

deidre421.wordpress.com: She makes lovely pottery and other items from clay. Those rings, she blogged about month ago, are fantastic! They really look pretty. And her nanoblock pig is so cute x) It looks so 8-bit ;)

vintageterrace2.blogspot.com : Her papercrafts are very pretty indeed. Lace, vintage images, etc She also blogs about different artforms and at least one of them was new to me too, The Encaustic 'painting'. Check out the video on her site. She has also made few lovely altered bottles etc containers. I have to follow her lead and paint few bottles and make them pretty x)

Tweet me up!

2012-01-26T14:08:00.002+02:00

Yup,

I am at Twitter, under name @geeklaugh .Add me ;)

I'll tweet mostly about geeky things, like history, gaming, odd humor etc. There'll be some historical things too. And I definitely post all the strange questions I hear at work xD

Books and illumination etc

2012-01-23T17:52:00.002+02:00

oi, oi, oi... I just ordered This book. It was not what I believed to be, size A5 booklet with iron-on patterns. This was _A4_ sized book, full of lovely pictures and even borders. I LOVE IT!!! and It was ONLY 0.01£ !!! (I was not planning to make a celtic dress, but now I just have to xD)

I also managed to finish one islamic scroll, but I am not yet posting a pic of it, as it is not yet delivered to the new owner. I'll tell ya more about it, when I post the pics.

Lately I have been crocheting quite a lot. I finished multicolored mittens (for my ma) week ago and now I am finishing up my new viking apron dress. I totally loooove the color, it's something like deep saffron. I also have naturally dyed tabletweave waiting to be added. I just hope the dress won't be too heavy. It's really thick linen and atm it feel like you're wearing an elefant xD I bet the weight is distibuted more evenly when I add straps.

Since I started work, I have been buying craft-supplies like crazy. I just can not stop. I want ti all and I want it now, haha xD I hope I am not the only one 'suffering' from this 'illness'... og well, maybe I actually create something pretty out of them...

lastly, there is really interesting writing (by Textile Time-Travels) about re-enacting etc. I mostly agree with her, but not totally. I have only tiny differences of opinion in 'fine details' but generally that would be my thoughts excatly. (Althou I don't think I'd have courage to blog about it xD)

Am I alive?

2011-12-10T20:41:00.005+02:00

...yes, I think so...

My work has taken much of my energy and to be honest, I have not been crafting that much lately. Whitch is bit sad really.

Here's proof I have been doing (slowly but surely) embroidery for the SCA wallhanging 'We have Dragons' I was planning to make two patches at least, but time is ending and my 1st one is not even finished... so sad...so sad...

That's really only thing I can share with you this time. I am painting a mongol/islamic scroll for Insulae Dragonis, but that's a bit 'in progress' at the moment, so I wish not to share pics yet.

Guess what? As I have bit more money these days, I have been online shopping like mad, haha xD You HAVE to check out The Silk Mill. I adore them!

Yule-holidays are coming soon, so I have at least bit more time to craft, yay! Maybe next time I can even tell you what I have been up at my work. I am so excited already!

naalbinging-hell

2011-11-14T18:14:00.003+02:00

Yeah, lately I have done so much naalbinding that I am nearly sick of it. I had to change to embroidering for a moment. I made naalbinded hat and pair of mittens within 2 weeks. Thankfully my work is bit slow at wintermonths, so I managed to finish everything in time. But I naalbinded so much, that I am sick of it. I managed to have 3 days free of naalbinding before I made present for my friend.

About that present. I don't have pics, but I made handwarmers for my friend using Dalarna-stitch. 1st one was silver gray "Seitsemän Veljestä' with dark green stripe from "Seitsemän Veljestä' and the 2nd one was dark green (don't remember the yarn's name/maker) with silver grey 'Seitsemän Veljestä' stripe. So, basically they were Slytherin handwarmers ;-)

Last weekend I was slav...erm, cooking at 'Camp of Historical Dances' with my friends and it was fun! I even managed to dance a bit. Chaotic Petit Riens, Turkish Brandle in Unikankare's way etc. Brandle Dificile looked so great, that I want to learn it and maybe create my own version of it, hehe

My next scroll-project will be Far Eastern and I am trying to find inspiration for it. I have seen few arabic scrolls, but I am trying to find perfect one to copy... let's see how it goes...

interesting page

2011-10-23T20:00:00.002+03:00

Hey!

I just wanted to say, that I found 'new' site. It's really fab, I think :)

Two nerdy history girls

So far I have spent 3h browsing the site and enjoying history-geekiness ;)

Ugh... um... do you remember me?

2011-10-10T18:20:00.005+03:00

Hi there! Long time , no see/sea ;) I have (lame) reason for being silent.
Firstly, I GOT DREAM-JOB!! I'll last only few months, but who cares. I'll enjoy the (almoust) every second of it. I can do lots of crafts there, esp. medieval. later in this post I'll show some pics of my crafts and the workplace.

Secontly, I just orgaized, with my friend Birgitta, a big(ish) medieval feast last weekend. Eventually there were totally 47 people celebrating in Byzantine feast and such. It' was like SCA event, but more strict about authenticity and men were fighting with real swords, not with rattan (like in SCA). I had massive migrane, jointpains at hip anf knees and 'that time of the month', so I was not as nice and friendly as I could have been (because of the pain) but I think I did not offend anyone and things went pretty smoothly.

This is one embroidery I made for my friend. The desing is vikingage with eastern/byzantinian influence. I'll post another pic as soon as I get it out of my phone x)

That's my new Byzantinian dress, nearly done. I have already finished it thou. This pic was taken at my work. I'll post better pic as soon as I fix the dress. As it was handsewn, It broke last weekend, when I was using it 1st time. Thank Gods and goddesses, I still have few peaces of that red/blackish silk.

Another pic of the dress and my work ;) Envy me :P

Now I have only 3 urgent naalbinding to do. I'll post pics of them, when I finish. Mittens should be ready in less than a month, hat soon (as it's a payment from my new war-axe) and socks. Luckily the socks have plenty of time to 'materialize' :)

Summerfun!

2011-08-13T15:49:00.003+03:00

I think it's time to update again. First I have to tell you happy news, I have camera now! My dear friend gave me his old cam and I have been using it like mad.

I won't we talking about RopeCon in this blog, because I did not had any thime to do crafts there. I had plenty to do with the Fashion-show (I made douple-entry) and cloackroom-duties.

At 3rd of August I started my epic roadtrip to Poland, Wolin with lovely bunch of creatures from Harmaasudet. We spend more or less 55h in car. I had fun at the trip and Wolin's viking event was an experinece. First time I saw over 30 people in battle (there were something like 300 fighters) and I loved the sound. On Sat battle I was even playing watergirl. Weather then was pretty hot, so the brave fighters really needed the water. I have only few pics of myself from the trip and in most of them I am naalbinding...uups xD

Vikings plotting their next pillage-trip. (Some of the Vikings really pillaged neighbour village xD)

So...what else I have done lately. Some of you know that I take private singing lessons and I also sing in choir. Anyways, I pay part of the lessons by making naalbinded mittens. I finished the 1st one at Wolin and I am quite satisfied. I still need to practise a lot, I tend to make unmatching pairs with wonky details. I really want to leart to make even pairs (of socks and mittens). I'll post pic when I finish the other mitten. I hope they'll look the same x) I totally loved the Polish meat, Mead and tiny craft and jewelry-shops as the site. Too bad I had only 120e budjet, so I could not by anything for myself (as I had to buy few things to pay my loans to friends)

I have started to look for name for the 2nd naalbindin technique I learned month ago. It might be Dalarna-stich or similar. And I really wish to lear Oman-stich. I wonder who could teach it to me... I have totally fell in love with that 'Dalarna' stich (or what ever it is really). Now I am planning to make new sock for me.

As I have good camera now, I might dokument my next project properly. I have to make basic Byzantine dress for the event I organize (early October). The even is going to be Elävä Keskiaika's Tulijuhla and I will be hosting it with my friend Birgitta. This is 1st time I am outside of the kitchen, yikes xD Anyways, The dress will be quite simple and I have bought red linen for it. I'll do some embroiderings or application from silk or brocade. I have not yet found decent fabric for the decoration, but I might even cut my blue/gold dress for this. The Blue dress is silk and already nearly ruined, so why not use the good pieces some way.

I am also coming to Aarnimetsä's Investiture, IF I manage to get place as kitchenslave. The even fee for jobless is pretty bad, that's why I volunteered to be kitchenslave if I get some discount. I am going to paint at least 1, or even 2, scrolls for the event and I'd really wish to see the recipients' faces when they get them. Esp, because the one will have plenty of inside-jokes painted/written on it xD

I am back...kind of xD

2011-07-28T18:42:00.007+03:00

Soooo, I finally have little bit time to update. My summer have been too busy. I wonder was I mad or insane or out of my mind to take some many projects. Oh well, At least I got paid... once... few euros from one project xD

Aaaanyhow, I don't have so much pics, But I'll tell you by words of my finished art and craft items.

Project 1 aka Garments for man:
I handsew trousers and 2 tunics for my friend from Historical dances group. Me and other people liked them a lot. Trousers were slightly reddish brown linen, Tunics light blue and greenish grey. I'll be doing elaborate embroidery for the grey tunic later. ATM I don't have pics of the clothes.

Project 2 aka FAIL:
I was handsewing basic underdress for me, until I realized it was too small. I am/was too lazy/busy to fix the problem. I don't even have enough scraps to add some gores. So, I sold it xD My much fitter friend wants it.

Project 3 aka Birthday present for Mama:

This card is handpainted, and then mounded to 'mundane' vellum cardstock. I am pretty satisfied and all my relatives did not believe it was really painted :)

Project 4 aka Updating my Victorian/steampunk hat:

I updated this one for Finncon 2011's masquerade ball. I was planning to make real Steampunk decoration, but I gorgot where I'd put all my opened clocks and gogs and gears. I am too old :P

Project 5 aka Scroll 1:

Panache for Elzbeth MEclenburgilainen. I was experimenting and in hurry, so This might not be as good as it could have been.

Project 6 aka Scroll2:

Sorry, the scan is wonky, not the scroll ;) MAde for my friend Queniva. This was also made in hurry really. I suck at starting orders in time.

Project 7 aka painting from year 2000:

Painting I made for my mam 11 years ago. I finally remembered to scan it xD

Medieval week!

2011-06-29T22:02:00.002+03:00

Wohoo! Turku's Medieval Market starts tomorrow! I can't wait! I'll be dancing there and promoting SCA there.

I have plenty of pictures to show what I have done lately, but I don't have time to blog now. Too much to do, Me need more hours! MAybe withi a week I manage to put some pics online.

so far I need to blog about: one handpainted card I made - medieval trousers and 2 tunics for my male dance-partner - plenty of SCA scrolls - embroidery for SCA 'We have Dragons' wallhanging - naalbinded mittens for my singing teacher - my naaldinded socks - basic underdress I am sewing 100% by hand for me (if it fits, as I fear atm that it's too small)

Some scrolls...

2011-05-25T14:31:00.003+03:00

Hey!

Finally I have little time to update this blog.

This is one blank scroll I painted. I started it 2 years ago, but forgot to finish it xD I like this style a lot, but I hate painting/drawing it, hehe

Two blanks I made. I kinda fell in love with the font I used on bottom one.

And I have been mostly doing/cursing this German Brick Stitch patches. Some pint this will be small pounch for my friend (who is my sock-slave these days ;) ) I may scan the 1st attempt to do this technique, it looks so wrong and amusing, hehe. Anyhow, as these came relatively well, I might have courage to try harder patterns.

Things to do this summer:

- my 1st (and maybe only) patch for the 'Dragons' wallhanging. deciding the colors is the most difficult task xD
- 2 tunicks and trousers for my friend, partly handsewn, so It takes time
- 3 scrolls
- at least ONE one needleroll for MYSELF

yeah... doing something just for yourself is bloody hard. It seems all I do is something for friends or for SCA.

so, what have YOU been up to? Tell me!

Uups!

2011-05-18T11:14:00.000+03:00

I am alive, believe me or not. I have just been superbusy. Plus I have had some personal problems.
I will update more next week, after I have done few 'comissions'. I am already panicking, since they have to be finished this afternoon and I still have much to do xD

oh well, till next week, my dear readers!

Finished!

2011-04-15T20:05:00.003+03:00

That's my new dresses. The brown viking appron-dress is mostly handsewn and I even made tablet-weave for it. Yay! And the grayish underdress is 100% handsewn. It took 'only' 2 years to make it, but well, I only progressed it about 1h a week and I made few mistakes too. Correcting them took some time xD Hmm... what else to tell you about these specimen? oh, yeah, both are linen, I used gray cottonthread for the underdress and slithly redded-brown cotton or linen for the appron-dress. To be honest, I am not sure if the reddish-brown is cotton or linen. I bought it from fleamarket xD

My really basic underdress is nearly finished too. I just need to trim the neckline.

And here is my new projects, tadaa!

- My 1st patch for 'we have dragons' wallhanging (for SCAs use) I am making pretty Viking-styled dragon
- Coif for my friend Sanna
- One surprise-embroidery for my other friend
- Naalbinding Legwarmers from Puro-yarn (my FAVORITE) (My dear man brought 3 balls of this yarn from Estonia. Me love, me love!)

and I am still progressing:
- German brick stitch (or 'tits' as my friends call it xD ) embroidery for my friend. It's going to be my payment from very neat socks
- Naalbinded sock. The y are already usable, but I want them longer
- Finishing touches for few scrolls

Quick post: one Scroll

2011-04-10T23:52:00.002+03:00

I made this scroll while ago for SCA Petronilla of London. I hope she likes it :) I tried new style of calligraphy and I am more pleased of it than the picture. I can do much better, but somehow this is not my best works. At least I tried my best...

Progress report, ATCs and Conventus

2011-03-28T18:50:00.009+03:00

Hello again!

This time my update will be short one and full with pictures, tehee!

Firstly I should report about Conventus Sturionum, an Elävä Keskiaika/Living Middle Age semi-period academic weekend. We had many different lectures this time. And naturally I was again working in kitchen. I also had illumination-lessons in 2 nights. And on Sat I teached cooking for 2 brave students while we made much for others. We had some problems with the oven, but eventually everything was edible, even the peppery lentil-soup ;) Also few of my friends got interested of scroll-painting. I had brought all my illumination books with me and even I found inspiration from them. Maybe I should start yet another new scroll...*buahaha*

Last week I have been panic-embroidering. This time I was making a engagement-present for my dear friends Minna and Nina. I had less than week to do it and unfortunately you can see it :( But the mainthing is that my friends liked it a lot.

About 10cm, silk on cotton. C and E connected with golden ring.

I have also been doing tabletweawing lately. This dark gray and green piece is now sewed to my viking appron-dress. I totally suck on tablet weaving and I was planning to try out brokade. I saw Sahra's tutorial and I instantly got interested! I know few late 1500's lace-patterns that I could/will use for it. I'll post progress report soon!

I am glad you can not see the multiply mistakes from this picture ;)

And here is some ATC cards I've done lately...

Theme: Renaissance

Theme: Renaissance Fashion

Theme: Sindarin language

What have you been up to lately?

AAAARGH!!!

2011-03-06T16:15:00.004+02:00

I officially HATE German Brick Stitch!! I started to embroider bag for my friend, using German brick stitch and this pattern. In 5h I managed to do 5cm x5cm area 3 times! I mean I literally made it 3 times, undoing it between the tries. And each time the result was wonky and uneven. Gaaah! I decided to try this pattern instead. I really hope it's easier to make. I know this techique is slower than 'normal' embroidery, but it's so freaking frustrating too.

Here is some pictures of my much better embroideries. It took relatively short time to make these, maybe 2 days per image.

I made this one for my sister

This one is for my Mama

This one is for Cousin

And this one is for my friend Sanna. Those beads are Jade, btw

inspiration-attack

2011-02-14T17:18:00.005+02:00

Yup, I have had sneaky attack by inspiration. I have started to do 4 scrolls for SCA, I have finished ½ of my last year's presents and I have been at events. And my armwarmers are finished :) Unfoirtunately I don't have picture of them yet to offer you. I really DONT like to live without proper camera :/ I have done one scroll too, but the picture is still inside my friend's camera. Maybe she remembers to send it soon...

I also got 3 wonderful books, thanks Ma for paying them <3 Do you know any good costuming books? Let me know :)

Oh well, I did not had any time outside kitchen at Midwinter's Feast, as I was again slaving in kitchen 2 days. But we had fun there :D And this event I even sang publicly, yikes! The performance went pretty fine, althou I was douplenervous because of the show and being in charge of luch and breakfast. This picture tells pretty fine how fun we had between stove and dirty dishes, haha :D Thanks to our bread-slave Mikki ;)

I end this post for quote from Eluvietie *singing aloud*

Aia mape coime, adrete!
In blatugabagli uorete,
cante snon celiIui in cete!

Little progress

2011-01-17T16:18:00.003+02:00

I am now , again, unemployed. so I have finally time to do some crafts. Yay for creativiness! Boo for the poorness!

Anyhow, Here's a small list of things I have/need done.

I had a luck with my yule-presents. Those mittens, done by my cousin's friend, are excatly the same yarn as my halfdone naalbinded armwarmers (at the middle) . Yay! Soon I have matching set :)

- My handsewn undergarment is nearly ready. I just need to sew 2 seams and do the trims. Heh, I've been doing it over 1½ years now. I have to admit that I am not very active.

- I NEED to continue my LAST years' Yulepresents. Maybe my friends and relatives will get their Yule-presents 6months late this year.

- I have just taken up 2 'comissions' for SCA scrolls. These ones have to turn up really pretty, as they are Panache-scrolls. And no, these are not for anyone who reads this blog :P So don't be 'scared', heheh.

- I need to finish also one viking apron-dress and one undergarment. These will be partly handsewn. When I have finished them, there will no be any machine-sewing visible. This saves lotsa time and energy and these will look like i'd sewn them 100% by hand.

- I will make small pounch for my friend using German Brick Stitch. This is new to me, so it might take some time to learn. In return my friend will do several pairs of pretty, pretty woolsocks :D

- I finally found a nice person who can make custom made veilpins for me. They will be silver and I'll customate them myself. I have already got real pearls and malachite-beads for it. If they end up looking good, I might be doing few pairs for Etsy/eBay. Anyone interested to buy veil-pins?

so, tell me about your new projects? Are you going to learn something new this year?

After Aarinmetsä-Academy

2010-11-29T21:30:00.004+02:00

Just short message. I am too sick to write long :(

Anyways, Aarnimetsä Academy went quite ok, althou I forgot to take my medieval clothes with me. Yes, I forgot to take my dresses with my. How embarrasing.

I was working at kitchen whole event. Food was delicious ;)

And I (finally) got my AoA, so now you can call me Sayyida/Lady Amal. I was SO surprised to be called before the court 4 times in one night. I have been before the court only once within my 14 years of SCA. In a way my AoA wasn't that big news. One of the court herald's presented me as Lady Amal at the 1st time I was called forward to get thanks to volunteering to Wall-hanging project. I kinda started to wonder if I get another call for the court and it came few moments after that.

I managed to do the 'comissioned' scroll, just in time. I put last gold-pieces minute before leaving to the event.Here it is. Note to self: DO NOT try to use new kind of gallicraphy-font if you are in hurry. The writing looked SO bad. oh well, at least Tuomas Tharo got his AoA-scroll in time (I am still waiting mine to arrive)

Here again

2010-11-18T21:51:00.003+02:00

It's been a while, since I updated last time. I have good reason. My new work takes so much time and energy, that I simply don't want to update. My body is finally getting used to VERY physical work and I have even lost 10kg within a month, WHII!

Anyways, due my work, I have not had time to do any crafts lately :( My 'saldo' from 1½ months have been 2 halloween cards, 2 rows of naalbinding armwarmer and 2 ATC cards.

oh, I forgot one thing. I am making a AoA scroll for Aarnimetsä academy . And I just informed that i'll be slaving at the kitchen whole event. If you come to Academy, come to say hi to me. I'll be at the kitchen, or doing naalbibding :D

Here's some pics of some cards I've made this fall.

erm... Apparently that's the only one I have a picture...

And here...yours truly... Trying out my friend's veil

Win craft supplies!

2010-10-06T09:23:00.003+03:00

Yes, I am giving a away some craft supplies! The lucky winner will get this lot --->

2 skeins of cotton embroidery floss, one small ball of fuzzy thin yarn and 5 skeins of silk in different colors.

AND HERE ARE THE RULES:

1. Comment this post , telling me what would you like to do with these yarns
2. IF you have a blog, tell your friends about this competition and my blog ;)

I'll keep this open till end of the November. Good luck to you all!

I have managed to do something, wohoo

2010-09-29T12:52:00.001+03:00

I am sorry to be so late, again. I have ment to update days ago, but I seem to find other 'more important' things to do. But I have done something.

My sister's friend liked thesemittens I made her. They look a bit wonky, as these were only my 2nd pair of naalbinding mittens I've done. Below is another picrute of them.

I have also finished my 3rd patch for the SCA Wallhanging. I'll do at least one more patch, but later. Here's picture of CoA of Miehonlinna, my former 'home'. I still need to trim the gatearea. for some odd reason I made it longer than needed o.O

I just want to give you a small warning. I'll have my first give-away/competition in few days. Someone of you, my dear readers, might win small but useful and fancy price ;-)

Oh, I also have biiiiig problem. What on earth I'll do next? I have several halfdone projects, but I don't know witch one to continue first :D And I also should start to do xmas-presents. Too much to do, too little time... ( I also have no idea witch audiobook to listen next; Sookie stackhouse 3, Harry Potter 3, Two towers, Gadfael 1, Oliver Twist or Agatha Christie)

Ps. I have started to collect stamps, does anyone know a cheap please to buy/get used stamps? I already save every stamp my pelpals send me.

New embroideries

2010-09-08T10:50:00.004+03:00

so, I finally finished my second wallhanging patch- Nea Nikopolis. Here's the picture :) I only have one patch to do and I am already panicking :D It's less than month to go before I have to send my works.

I also made birthday present for my friend Lena. Her bithday was yesterday and she got embroidered, medieval Y (her persona's name is Ylva). Embroidery is 8cm x 8cm and made from cotton on cotton. I hope she likes it :) I am pretty satisfied for the work, I have to say.

Later this week I'll post pictures of naalbinded mittens and some cards I've made lately.

ps. I love embroidering while listening audiobooks! I'm gonna hunt some new books today from library. Wish me luck ;)

Pictures... finally!

2010-08-16T20:54:00.004+03:00

Here is my 1st patch for the SCA wallhanging

yeah... It's really artistic picture ;) Deal with it :P Anyways, My boyfriend's mother has 2 of these things ( I have nooooo idea about the english word) and she let me use them. I spent whole midday unwrapping the skeins. I totally love it! Oh, the wool has been colored with indigo.

5 little balls of wool... 5 little delicious balls of wool <3. I still have 10 unwrapped skeins to do. Most of them are naturally colored with plants.

I have a small Poll for you readers, Please, answer 2 basic and easy questions

1. Do you like Giveways? Would you like me to give away something made by me? (I just may have something to donate ;) )

2. Do you wish to see my papercrafts, like ATC cards and such?

Best wishes,
Amal

I DID IT! (wallhanging part 1)

2010-08-15T21:16:00.003+03:00

Wohoo! I did it, I DID IT! My first patch, Harpelestane, for the Drachenwald's Coat-of-arms wallhanging project. I am soooo releived. And I only have like 10cm of the red and yellow floss left xD That means I need to buy more blue and white for the remaining 2 patches I have promised to do. Pictures fill follow as soon as I find my USB- cord for the phone (I still have to use phone's crappy cam)

Busy Summer

2010-07-19T20:30:00.002+03:00

It's been a while since I posted last time. I had no idea my summer could be so buzy. I've hardly had any time to do crafts at home. And weekends I have spent 100% with my new boyfriend. No time for crafts, you see ;)

I really enjoyed Turku's Medieval week. It has always been my no.1 event at summerstime since 1998. This year I was mostly hanging around with my darling, doing crafts with other re-enactors or dancing. SCA Unikankare had small dance-show at the market-area and I was one of the dancers. It was great to do that kind of activity after a break. And the market-area was total heaven. I spent nearly 50e for woolyarns *uuuups* Now I have enough yarn to start my tabletweave... I even bought the tablets, haha (I am like 13 years late)

I started a new project. I know... I have not even finished my older ones. Anyways, I started to crochet hammocks to my pets. They love them, and you can not never had enough. And it's nice way to use small random skeins of modern yarn. I'm sure Omppu and Häiriö will love them too :)

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures this time. I still don't have real camera and my phone's cam does not work well. I'd love to take picture of my yarn collection. It's getting bigger and bigger every moment ;) If anyone has pictures from Turku's market, I'd love to get copies. Esp. If I am presented at the pictures :)

I finally finished my sister's friend's naalbinding mittens. I'll post a pic soon. I am glad this work is over now and I can continue with my other projects.

New Layout

2010-06-16T09:22:00.001+03:00

I decided to change the Layout. I'll keep this one until I have time to make my own backround.

Old maps = <3

First Ancient Market this year

2010-06-08T14:45:00.001+03:00

Las weekend I was pretending to be a Viking. Me and my friends Nana (from Kierteleväkettu) and Päiwi spent lovely weekend at Kokkila's Ancient Market. We srayed at my mother's place near market area and Ladies were very pleased of my mother's hospitality. I knew my mam likes to see my medieval friends, but her hospitality was even more than I expected. I <3 my mam :) It felt like staying in 5 star hotel :D And Mam was so surprised to hear singing (in tune :D) in the house, ha ha :D

I was planning just to hang around at the market, but I ended up helping Nana at her stall, giving craft-shows from naalbinding and lucet braids, singing and dancing front of mundane visitors. I had such a blast there :) I even managed to learn something new (lucet braid) and managed to do 1/3 of Johanna's 2nd naalbinding mitten. It seems I can managed to finish them before winter ;)

Things I bought from the market:

- 2 skeins of woolyarn from Rikissa (?) ( I love the colors)
- Horn naalbinding needle and wooden lucet fork from Nana
- copper Thor's Hammer ( I lost my tin version year ago)

New game: Looking for the lost fishing hook

Old (and baaad) C-cassette got better use as Lucet braid

Päiwi , me and Nana

And we played and sang a lot

Posing

Me as shop-assistant

Happy Towel-day to everyone!

2010-05-25T15:26:00.001+03:00

Happy Towel-day to everyone!

And DON'T PANIC!

ATC creativity and update from other projects

2010-04-30T23:31:00.001+03:00

First of all, I'd like to thank and say Hi to all my new followers o/ I hope my crafty things keep you inspired in the future , ha ha ;)

I'd like to post scans of some ATC cards I've made recently.

Pingu swap @ Swap-Bot

1st Row: Pingu and Celtic
2nd: Steampunk x2
3rd: Viking x2 (the last one says Odin in runes)

Celtic with ogham writing (Left: Noderns, God of dogs, right: Clota, Goddess of river Clyde. I used to live by the river Clyde 4 years, so I just had to write it there :) )

These are ATCs I've got recently. Unfortunately I can not remember/too lazy to check who made these. I'll write down the themes just in case.

1st row: Ancient Greece and Viking (That is real copperplate. I totally LOVE it, as it's 1st metal one I've got)
2nd: Naked Lady and Alice in wonderland
3rd: Alice in Wonderland and Faeries (I love the metal wings)

And the is time for the Project update:

- My undergarment is on the way. I still need to finish the backside gore and then I can put on sleeves and do the sideseams.

- I have started to make my sister's bridemaid's naalbinding mittens, 1st one is halfdone.

- I decided to make totally new patch for the Drachenwald's wallhanging. The Nea Nikosia's embroidery looked to bad and after wondering I decided to start it all over again with different kind of stich.

- Harpelestane's patch is on the way. I still have to do some fixing with the towers, as each of them looks different size at the moment :D

- I have decided to postpone my own naalbinding socks, armwarmer and mittens to autunm. I figured out I should finish my 'comissions', like Bridemaid Johanna's mittens, first.

- I have been starting to plan to do a needleroll. I got inspiration yet again from Racaire's blog. I really need a needleroll, as I ALWAYS loose my needles or they are places they should not be (like my divan's armrest or my toys' heads :D) I was wondering if I could practise German Brick Stitch :)

Help needed!

2010-04-17T17:59:00.000+03:00

I desperately need cogs and gears. Can someone donate for excample their broken clocks to me?

or does anyone know cheap online shops for such parts?

New crafting stuff etc

2010-04-13T11:16:00.000+03:00

Last weekend I attended SCA Drachenwald's Crown Tournament. Most of the time I was beating pie-crust ;-) but I did had time to do some crafts too. There were also merchants at the event. Look what I bought!

Loose skeins are from Dracon's Den (?) and smaller ones are from lovely Lady Sahra. Too bad I had so little money left. I'd loved to buy more yarns from Sahra. All those yarns are hand-dyed with plants.
I also bought one book, Celtic Illuminated LEtters. I am so excited to start my new scrolls!

I also started my effort for the Drachenwald's Coat of Arms Wallhanging. To be honest, Iam not satisfied with the embroidery I did :( I tried Laid and couched work 1st time and I did it a biiiit wrong :D Plus I should have used 3 threads, not 2, as it seems it does not cover the area well. Oh well, I'll finish that Nea Nikosia's badge as I started it and try something else on the next ones.

New Scrolls

2010-03-28T15:53:00.000+03:00

Inpired by Racaire's recent scrolls, I made these:

The 2 last ones are blank. I still need some practise with calligraphy, as you can see. And of course I had lost my smallest pen-nib, so some of the text is not poor quality because of that. I used my 'drawing' nib for the scroll on the middle.

ps. Sorry poor scan-quality. I really need to fix it soon.

~Amal binti Hamid Al-Chania

Tale of misfortune

2010-03-23T19:32:00.000+02:00

Once upon a long,long,long time a ago (last week) Fair and modest virgin (Aka lazy and not-so-virgin me) was sewing her new and fancy dress ( very basic undergarment).

She was master in her dressmaking (yeah right!) and she did everything by the book. All 12 gores she sew with love and perfection. ( there was only 4 gores and frontal one 'accidentally' was sewn wrong way) she finished her fine dancingdress with expensive trim (I covered the mis-sewn frontal gore's seam with cheap braid, because she was too lazy to undo and sew it again perfectly)

There. I'll post pictures when I have fnished the dress. It becase a bit more fancier than I planned, just because I had to cover that bloody gore :D I think I won't use it as kitchen Dress after all.

- I started another project. I decided to do my lil sister's wedding present early. Esp. because I am using a new stitches. I won't give any futher details before end of the May. Just in case. I know sister's bridemaid is checking out this journal.

- I have nearly done my scrolls. I just need to write one blanck and then I can send them to SCA Scribe. I may do some srolls for the Finnish SCA Scribe too... maybe...

One Scroll I made

2010-03-14T15:50:00.000+02:00

I finally managed to finish one scroll I've been doing too long. The scan aint good one, but nor are the paints. Unfortunately the only gouache paint I found here, was not that good. And that was the 1st time I did a calligraphy.

Does anyone know any good Gouashe brand? BAck in UK I used paints made by Winsor something. I can not remember the name :( I only remember that they make more oilpaints.

embroidering and crocheting

2010-03-11T23:06:00.000+02:00

Firstly, here's one ~10cm tall embroidery I made while roleplaying today. I am going to send it to one US girl vie Swap-bot's swap. Made from cotton on linen.

Some of you might be already familiar with Swap-bot. It's great site to find all kind of swaps. I have been member about 2 years now and I have participated several swaps. This swap was actually 1st one I made something like embroidering. Normally I parttake only letter/postcard/ATC swaps. This embroidered D is just extra for one letter-swap. It was so fast to do, so maybe I should surprise my swap-partners with embroideries more often :) and oh, my nick there is Silvermoonsnake

That's one of my crocheting projects I am doing. It's going to be some kind of bag. This yarn was the one I called Restless. There is so many colors is short intervals, so this kind of thing was propably the only one I could make. This is 3 weeks old pic, so I have done about 5cm more of it. As soon it's square, I'll start the lid and bottom.

I also finished my crocheted mittens. Unfortunately I don't have picture of them. They were birthday present for my cousin, made of gray-pink-white wool yarn. Maybe it's better I don't have picture of them. No-one can see how funky and odd they were ;-)

Some ATC cards I have made

2010-03-03T20:16:00.001+02:00

I promised to send here few scans of ATC cards I've done. Here are few...

Themes from right to left: Kawaii, Bunnies, Deagon, Kawaii, Kawaii, Kawaii, Bunnies and Middle Age. Bigger pic here

Themes: Black and white Faerie and Black and white Skull. Bigger pic here

I should seriously remember to edit my pics before saving the scan :D

I know I have at least one more image , but i can not find it :( Maybe next time then.

Armwarmer

2010-02-25T15:35:00.000+02:00

That's my armwarmer. I used naalbinding. This was kinda like practice job for me. The yarn is lovely Novita's Puro, color Frozen Cranberry. The yarn was so soft. I made this one mostly when I was travelling between Kimito and Helsinki, whole trip takes over 2h, so I had plenty of time to kill with naalbinding. You can see, that I've made some mistakes, but I don't really care. I am not going to sell it, so who cares if the patters is a bit uneven ;-) And because the yarn was so soft/loose, I did not need scrissors to cut it. All I need to do is the other armwarmer...

I am going to Start my 1st ever callygraphy. I am painting few scrolls to SCA, and for 2 scrolls I promised to do the writing too. I am scared. I am not a good with calligraphy. Wish me luck!

2010-02-22T15:50:00.000+02:00

Just testing

New name

2010-02-22T12:25:00.002+02:00

I desiced to change this blog's name to a bit more 'professional' Now you can also use my new url,

	http://bone-needle.blogspot.com/

New start

2010-02-17T13:37:00.008+02:00

Hello all!

I decided to start this blog finally. I'll try to report my art and craft projects here and maybe someone of your dear readers have inspiration or suggestions. I also have somewhat limited vocabulary about these subjects, some words I know only in Finnish. Aaanyhow, here we go...

and oh, I forgot to mention that I son't have camera at the moment :/ I'll try to get one soon, but...

Here are some projects I have going on at the moment.

- Handsewn viking age undergarment. It's thin, greenish grey linen. So far I have sewn only one seam. I am using York/Oslo seam to sew different parts together. You can find useful information about the seams here (I'm using the lower left seamtype from the big pic)

- Celtic embroidery, 2 dogs entwined together. I am using cotton fabric and silkfloss (cheap brand from India). I'll try to scan (yup, scan :D ) pic here asap. So far I have made ½ of the 1st dog, using beige and darker 'mustard'yellow

- Naalbinging mittens. I am making naalbinding mittens for myself. I am using mostly dark green 'Huopanen' woolyarn with one light gray stripe (from the same yarn brand) at the middle of the mittens. So far 1st mitten is nearly done.

- Naalbinding socks. I am using dark green woolyarn. I can not remember the brandname, it's not very common anyways.

- Croched handbag. I have one yeally 'restless' woolyarn with so many dofferent colors in it in short interwals, so I could not use it for anything medieval. So I decided to crochet a handbag. Halfdone at the moment.

- 2 Scrolls for SCA. These will be my 1st ones I also write. I am not that good in calligraphy, but I really hope I won't mess up badly.

- Several 'medieval' ATC-cards... more info to follow.

There :) Satisfied? ;) I'll try to blog again with some kind of photos.

Amal binti Hala Al-Chania

2007-06-13T11:12:00.000+03:00

Born sometime at late 7th century Arabian Chania. Daughter, widow, artisan.

If you know me, you know who I really am.