Two September demo/teaching events

A Day at the Solar -
This was a very nice small A&S event where the focus was not on classes, but on creating opportunities for people to try different arts that were being displayed and demonstrated over the course of the day. This is actually the way I do most of my teaching, so it worked out well. I had one particularly enthusiastic person stop by, and because we were not very busy with people, she had the chance to make 4 beads that day. I'm glad I could let her play so much with the torch!

Beads made at this event by someone I taught.

Wrightstown Renaissance Faire -
Since this event was a demo, there was not an opportunity to teach, but people from the faire stopped by to watch Aibhilin and I make beads during the day. One day I'd love to bring a more period fire source to an event like this!

A view of our booth in the SCA area of the faire.

Silver Rapier Glass Bead Award Medalion

My first attempt at a glass bead Silver Rapier  award medallion was quite a mess. I tried to imitate the swept hilt of the rapier, and I just could not get all that detail into a bead of the size I wanted to make (note: I shaped the bead with my lentil press). My second attempt, while not great, at least helped me to realize that a simplified design (where I just drew the knuckle-bow of the sword) would work better.

attempt 1

attempt 2

By the third attempt I had a working design, which I turned into a medallion and traded to a friend. The main issue I had with this version of the bead was that the sword did not have a point!

After one more only so-so attempt at this bead I finally managed to get one that I like. In the design I emphasized the pommel and end of the quillons by adding a small dot to the end of the crossed lines I drew on the bead. I made the sword point by heating up the tip of the line and quickly pulling it into a point while removing a bit of glass. Finally, I only melted the design part way into the bead so that the design would stay crisp. Glass will sometimes distort and expand as it melts into glass, and white is a very soft color. Over time, I might be able to make this better by making the design with a thinner stringer of glass.

Video from a real Anglo-Saxon Cemetary Excavation

I've started watching a few documentaries on the Anglo-Saxon to give me a bit more background knowledge of the period, as most of the bead work I have done has centered on that time/place. In my searches of You Tube I came across an British TV series called Time Team. Its kind of like a cross between a reality show & a documentary about archeological excavations. They had an episode about excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in season 8 of their show.

Time Team Season 8 Episode 1: Anglo Saxon Cemetery

This was awesome to watch, because much of my research has focused on the reports generated form these excavations, so I got to see the reality of how these excavations are carried out. I think I will recommend this as a fun resource the next time I teach my class about making beads using archeological reports.

Sadly, I have not yet found a complete report written up about this excavation. This Link is the closest I have come. I was hoping i would find a more complete write up and analysis of this excavation, as they seem to have found a male grave with some monochrome and amber beads!


Note: A few days later I found several other episodes of this TV show where they excavate an Anglo-Saxon cemetary

• Season 18, Episode 2 
• Season 11, Episode 4  -several beads were found, including a Traffic Light beads with twisted trails, and a white bead, with red dots and blue overlapping trails (41:30). http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/files/52568_South_Carlton.pdf