Pinky Out! - Rings in Period

Jewelry is a wonderful accessory for any re-enactor. It comes in many shapes and forms, and elevates any kit. I've had a small fascination with rings recently. Specifically the ones worn in the middle of the finger, commonly referred to as "first knuckle rings".

Portrait of a Lady - Filippo Lippi - 1440

I've seen quite a few examples of rings being worn this way, and admire the quirkiness and subtlety of them. It's also a current trend in mundane society. Most jewelry was used to show a sign of status and wealth. Even if it might not fit my persona exactly, I always need to up my court garb game... right? This is what I keep telling myself so I have an excuse to obtain one.

Portrait of Madalena - Raphael - 1504

A dear friend of mine is a jeweler and when I was discussing the rings with him, he perked right up and told me we could make one that very day. I didn't want anything too elaborate, but I certainly wanted something that would easily be period, and would "enhance my aesthetic".

It was a very simple process. Undoubtedly more simple than it would be for a jeweler in period to complete. I would like to do more research on how jewelry was crafted in period, later down the road. At the time, though I was just excited to have the opportunity, regardless of creative process.

My finished product!

Not to mention, the emeralds were harder to come by and a lab created option wasn't exactly available then. Nevertheless I persisted. After just a few short hours, and helpful guidance of my jeweler friend, I had a first knuckle ring of my own.

The process to make the ring itself might not have been very period, but the outcome I feel is quite apropos. It ended up being a lab created emerald in sterling silver.

I'm not particularly fond of gold, not to mention it's considerably more expensive. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, though. I would like to try a ring with a square stone next, as I'm seeing those shapes as well. Round stones seem to be fairly less common from what I've seen. Perhaps I'll dabble in some granulation to help make my next ring stand out more. I'm hoping to get more time at the jewelers bench this year. I'm still mostly focused on food, but a little bling never hurt anyone.

My first Italian gown...

   So the East Kingdom hosts a large event every year known as Birka, named for the Viking trading town from the middle ages. The event hosts a huge merchant area filled with the most wonderful fineries, a bear pit and fencing tournament where heavy list fighters and fencers test their mettle (and metal). After court is held there is also a ball, and a hafla. Not to mention there is an Arts and Sciences exhibit, and classes for people to take part in. The event has a little something for everyone.

   Our household, House Strangewayes strives to dress our best at this event every year. We pick a household theme, and each of us create attire based in our chosen time period.Our household's chosen time period run the gamut from early period Viking, to late period Italian. We have a little bit of everything. Below, is a wonderful family photo taken by our household member, and my friend Heather. Her SCA name is Bianca Angoussola.

Photo Credit: Heather Fitzpatrick

From left (Back Row): Lady Syele von Heidelberg, Lady Simona bat Leon, Lord Thothreker Ogaefa, Erdene Qadajin, Lord Fearghas MacGreggoure, Lord Hermankyn, Master Ekk, and Hongo Ryotaro Mitsuyoshi
Front Row, from left: Lady Cecily Windham, Lady Bianca Angoussola, Maestra Julia Agriccola, Lady Fortune St. Keyne, Lady Elvira Violante Ballesteros, and Lady Lysken die Waeyer.
Front (with the awesome hat): Jacquemine Van Bel

   What you're looking at is a late period Italian gown with detachable sleeves. A white linen chemise underneath. Accessories are a black snood with pearls and gold beading, a circlet adorned with a bee. Earrings and necklace both made by me. The earrings are a pearl drop earring with a gold cap on them. The closures aren't quite period, but I was working with what I had. The necklace was a redesign of a previous blog post I had done. I changed the sizing of the pearls, and I adjusted the spacers. The belt was a chain belt made from long bronze clearance necklaces at Charming Charlie, and a bee pendant I found last minute at Michaels.

   If you look closely you can see a cross hanging from my belt as well. This was semi common during this time in Spain and Italy. My persona is more attuned to the religious side of things so I felt it appropriate.

A great side view of the dress. Photo credit to Jason Taylor.

   Here you get a little glimpse of the cording I had made for the side lacing. This was done via finger loop braiding and serves the same basic purpose as lucet cord. I have to redo this part, and add more rings but I was quite pleased with this. At each end of the cord is an aiglet sewn onto it. They're gold colored aiglets, and add a little shimmer (and who doesn't love that?).

   I certainly have quite a ways to go in getting that perfect dress but believe me when I say I've come a long way, baby. Hopefully next Birka will be even fancier!

   Thanks again for reading!

Adventures in Jewelry

When creating garb, some often think of accessories as well and want to complete their looks with different time appropriate fineries. I'm no different in that sentiment. I've only just recently started to dabble in the fancier garb of late period Spain and Italy. I wouldn't say it's something I want to wear all the time, but having something beautiful for court is important. To complete the look I'm going for, I decided to make some matching jewelry that represents my household. So here's a little background...

House Strangewayes has a household heraldry of a bee on an oak leaf, in black and gold. This is our household badge, a way to identify ourselves at events. We have silk banners we use, and have many items in our encampment decorated with bees. This year our Birka theme just so happens to be household heraldry. Wearing black and gold of course is a given, but incorporating the bees is something I also wanted to do; so I did a little perusing on the internet for examples of Italian renaissance jewelry.

These are the three examples I went with. From the right, Francesco Pietro Bissolo - Portrait of a Young Woman, circa 1500. Ambrogio de Predis - Portrait of a Woman, circa 1490, and Andrea Solario - Salome with the head of John the Baptist, circa 1506-7.

In all of these, you can see pearls. Lucky for me I had a ton of them sitting in my jewelry making kit, just waiting to be put to use. In the first painting, Portrait of a Young Woman you see small pearls, and another alternating small gem. I liked this detail of the necklace and kept that in mind.

In the second painting,   Portrait of a Woman the use of larger pearls caught my eye. As I'm not too fond of the simple pearl strand (as elegant and timeless as it may be), I moved on for a little more inspiration.

I then found Salome with the head of John the Baptist. The alternating bead size, and the pendant in the center are what really caught my eye. Looking closely, the black beads are oddly shaped but from afar it looks like small black beads between larger pearls. As I didn't have any beads shaped like the ones shown on Salome, I let the creative part of creative anachronism do the rest.

With what I had available, and using the design aspects I observed in the paintings, I came up with the following piece:

This was my attempt, and my reasoning behind designing it this way was due to a few different design aspects I had discovered in my, albeit limited research. The shape and length of the necklace was easy. Most of the paintings I had seen all had a close fitted pearl strand as the necklace, so that wasn't difficult to decide on.

The alternating colored gems in Portrait of a Young Woman inspired me to do the same with some red, imitation beads I also had available.

The alternating pearl size wasn't something I could easily document, but in Salome with the head of John the Baptist the pearls are larger, and the pearl above the pendant is larger than the other pearls. I just reinterpreted that in my own way, and thus the necklace you see if what I came up with.

Instead of making a pendant, I used a gold enamel bee I had bought at the craft store, to officially tie in the household heraldry. I showed it to my household and they all seem to like it too. So with a little anachronism, and a little creativity I present to you, my Italian Renaissance jewelry.

Thanks for reading!