Last summer I put together the first of my Ugly Skirts for Bronze and Iron Age wear.  It's not actually "ugly", though it kinda is, by design.  Let me put it mildly that the Huldremose Skirt is NOT a flattering thing by modern standards if made to historic specs.  

Ugly or not, I love it.  And it lead to another, and another.  All in effort to experiment with some very early clothing ideas that I have.  (Eventually, I will post about the Ugly Skirts to date.)

I also have a fascination with Fugly Beads, because seriously, there was some bizarre stuff in early finds!  

I also realized that I want to have a space online where people can discuss and share early continental Celtic finds.  I have learned that too many people think of "Celtic" as being synonymous for Irish and Scottish (and they also tend to some how think all of the latter is 17th century and beyond, lol) and that most discussion groups revolve around the isles (and periodocity of kilts, ugh).

Ugly Skirts and Fugly Beads (name is likely to change at some point), caters to those interested in Central and Northern Europe from the Bronze Age till approximately year 1 BCEish.  The jewelry finds from these periods are AMAZING, and we have textiles here!  Lots of them compared to some places!  Gaul is welcome too, as well as the Eastern Hallstatt region, but the idea is to focus on the early Celtic, Germanic and Nordic cultures that get little air time in the SCA.  If these things are your geek, please come join us!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1619238801586051

Last summer I made an a skirt suitable for someone in Northern, and possibly, Central Europe that could possibly have been worn from 200ish BCE to 200ishCE.  There are a lot of ifs and ishes in that because it was purely an experimental item, based on multiple finds, for me to just test the waters to see if I wanted to go that far backwards in time.

By the time I finished the skirt, I had decided I was more interested in Central Europe than Northern (despite the time I took to look at some books about the Jastorf Culture) and realized I wanted to take a fresh look at early Celtic material culture.  I started to research early Celtic beads (admittedly with no attention being paid to regions, but some attention paid to time period) and I crafted a necklace of glass beads that appealed to me.  I make no assertion that this necklace is appropriate for a single specific time and place, but I am very fond of it now and am happy that I made it.

The beads in the cover photo are all ones I made last summer for my Ugly Skirt kit.  I am VERY pleased with how they turned out and am working on improving my skills in recreating very early glass beads.

The yellow bead with the double row of blue and white eye beads is one that caught the eye of a friend who centers her focus on Carthage and Punic history.  She asked me to make some for her and that started me researching additional beads for her kit. 

And then I realized that they are the very same beads I need for mine, including fan favorites like derpy rams and big fugly beads like the aqua ones in the photo below that I was playing with last week.  

At least it will be easy to make sure all of these experiments find homes!