Bhakail Yule A&S Competition

Yesterday, I entered my 2nd A&S Competition. The theme which was devotion really pushed me to not only think differently about the Irish medieval bead project I've been working on, but also pushed me into thinking about what and how I would display the project. I created an necklace, brass pin, glass topped pins and a collection of beads that would have been found in Ireland. Lissa was a wonderful help both prior to and the day of giving me input and feedback!

During the judges review, I received complements on my beads and on my display itself. Using complementary colored wool fabric helped to give the display a more period and cohesive look. I received some helpful and thought provoking questions and feedback from the judges. Though I don't recall the exact question, the question essentially was if I took liberties with anything. My first thought was that the pins I made were not the same material and construction of the pins from the research. However, I then realized the better answer was my use of modern tools to recreate these period beads. This then led to questions and an explanation of how Lissa and I have been doing experiments creating period furnaces, and in fact, at the Great Northeastern War we were able to successfully make beads not covered in ash. The judges encouraged me to include that information into my documentation and to display the beads that I've made in the period furnaces.

I was also able to talk to Lord Muin maqq Minnain about how the pins would have been made. He very kindly took the time to explain to me how it was done using cold working a piece of bronze with a hammer and a chisel and intermittent annealing of the metal. He also recommended a book, The Complete Metalworker that would help to get me started making my own more period pins. Needless to say, I've already added it to my Amazon wishlist.