A Wandering Elf
  • A Wandering Elf
  • Blog: My Journey
  • Iron Age Celtic Studies
  • A Wandering Elf in the Woods
  • Classes
  • Resources: Sheep & Wool
  • Resources: Costume and Textiles
  • Resources: Migration Era
  • Resources: Historic Glass Beads

Method to my Madness and the Migration Project

3/12/2018

2 Comments

 

I mentioned in my previous library post that I am starting to look into textiles and costume before the Viking Age.  I quite excited about this project, not just because it is "new" but because I also love to see how textiles and textile production changes over time.  I learned a lot (and made a great deal of mistakes, mostly in terms of organization) with Viking Age research, so I am hoping to apply the methods that worked better for me this time around (and spend less time reverse-documenting).

My first step in this adventure was to sort through my sources.  While collecting material for Viking costume research, I also was pulling articles and books for earlier periods because they were of interest even then.  Some of the items, such as Lise Bender Jørgensen's Prehistoric Scandinavian Textiles, I have already read, but some were just stuffed in random folders on my many drives waiting to be explored.

I decided I want my first costume to represent approximately 500CE Norway. The focus of my reading will be 0-600CE and center around Scandinavia and northern Germany, with other areas (and slightly earlier and later dates), serving as peripheral finds.

After gathering items in, more or less, on place, I needed to sift through what appeared to be most important and decide where to start.  For this, I opted for the Jørgensen volume mentioned above, as well as her book Northern European Textiles.  I have read both volumes several times, so it was a matter of refreshing my memory on the details of the earlier material.

It also gives me a quick overview of the textiles available during that time.  I opted to make some charts (similar to those I have in this blog for the Viking Age) based on the data available in these books.
​
Picture
Picture
I pulled out several books that I have in hard copy to decide what I need to read or re-read, and have selected Iconic Costumes, Textiles and Textile Production in Europe: From Prehistory to AD 400, Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials (and am keeping a copy of the new dating for some of the items with that one), the Cambridge History of Western Textiles and The Högom Find and Other Migration Period Textiles and Costume in Scandinavia.  I am also in the process of pulling out the most relevant articles from sources such as ATN and NESAT (an example being "Hammerum: the Find of the Century" from NESAT 11).

Over the next month I will be reading each of these items (and others) and taking notes as I go.  In an attempt to make myself less crazy later, I am adding them as I finish them to my master bibliography (which is annotated and allows me to place each work in a variety of sources).  For those that I have digitally, I am uploading them to my Mendeley account and highlighting and annotating them within the system.

Further, I keep an excel sheet of data points that I find interesting (this is how I managed all of my entries for my article on Viking Age plaids and stripes, as well as my notes on things like colored linen, or fine open weave wools that serve as head coverings).  You can see below an example of a book opened in Mendely and where I am adding a note, as well as how I tend to categorize things within a spreadsheet (so far this sheet has tabs for stitches, colored textiles, and interesting notes, and there will be more added as I find points of interest that I want to track).
​
Picture
I also often keep a project planning powerpoint, where I can drop images that directly related to the item I want to make (in this case a costume).  In this case there is a slide with the timeframe and location, the textile information/charts I craft, and slides that cover relevant visual items, such as screenshots of the Hammerum girl's dress.

It might seem like much, but the repetition is what helps to sort the material out in my brain, and allows me to remember it.  (And, in the event I cannot, I can now also just run searches on Mendeley or my spreadsheet to find something.)

For this project I have taken one additional step, and that is to create a Migration Era study group on Facebook where others interested can join in on the research and exploration.  I hope that the group grows and that everyone enjoys delving in.

​If you want to follow along here, I will be using the Migration Era/Iron Age category for my posts!

2 Comments

    About Me

    I am mother to a billion cats and am on journey to recreate the past via costume, textiles, culture and food.

    A Wandering Elf participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. 
    ​

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    March 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    12th Night
    14th Century
    AEthelmearc
    Aprondress
    Awards
    Bog Dress
    Bronze Age
    Dance
    Dance Name
    Distaff
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    Fiber Arts
    Flax Growing
    Food
    Glass
    Haberci
    Headcoverings
    Inspirations
    In The News
    Library
    List Of Links
    Machine Embroidery
    Metal Clay
    Mid Month Inspiration
    Migration Era/Iron Age
    My Documents
    Ottoman
    Ottoman Fabrics
    Pennsic
    Publications
    Research
    Rigid Heddle
    Sca
    SCA Camping
    SCA Forestry
    Sca Name
    Sca Newcomer
    Sewing
    Sheep
    Spinning
    Textile Charts
    Tips
    Totally Not SCA
    Viking
    Viking Bead Research
    Viking Costume: Beyond The Myth
    Viking Swatch Book
    Viking Textiles Looking Deeper
    Weaving
    Wool


      Email Updates

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Blogroll of SCA & Costume Bloggers

    Below is a collection of some of my favorite places online to look for SCA and historic costuming information.

    More Amie Sparrow - 16th Century German Costuming


    Gianetta Veronese - SCA and Costuming Blog

    Grazia Morgano - 16th Century A&S

    Mistress Sahra -Dress From Medieval Turku 

    Hibernaatiopesäke

    Loose Threads: Cathy's Costume Blog

    Mistress Mathilde Bourrette - By My Measure: 14th and 15th Century Costuming

    More than Cod: Exploring Medieval Norway

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly