[Bryn-gwlad] Leatherworking

[Stefan li Rous]

On Feb 1, 2007, at 12:03 AM, Holly Bjorum wrote:

> Does anyone have areas of expertise they'd be willing to share on a
> regular and/or occasional basis? I'd like to start learning some
> period techniques for working with leather to construct objects - garb
> pieces, armor, utilitarian items like bags/scabbards/skeins, artistic
> items like masks/crypto-taxidermy preps, etc.

I have only done a little leatherwork and you may be far ahead of me.  
However, here are some files that can be found in the CRAFTS section  
of the Florilegium which might be of interest to you:
leather-bib       (18K) 11/ 1/94    Bibliography on leather and  
leather goods.
leather2-bib       (9K)  6/11/99    Leather bibliography by Vilyehm  
the Merchant
leather-msg       (86K)  7/25/04    Working with leather. tanning.
leather-dyeing-msg(40K) 11/ 9/01    Dyeing and painting leather.
lea-bladders-msg  (15K)  8/ 3/98    Tanning, cleaning, dressing  
animal bladders.
lea-tanning-msg   (58K)  7/22/04    How to tan leather. Types of  
tanning.
lea-tooling-msg   (55K)  6/26/05    Leather tooling. decorating leather.
merch-leather-msg (18K) 10/10/96    Leather merchants and sources.

This is in the FOOD-UTENSILS section:
lea-cook-uten-msg (14K) 11/24/06    Leather cooking vessels and  
utensils.

And these two are in the BEVERAGES section:
lea-bottles-bib   (20K)  1/19/03    Leather bottle bibliography
                                        by Master Magnus Malleus, OL.
lea-bottles-msg   (38K)  2/ 2/00    Leather bottles and jacks. Making  
them.

> I have experience in taxidermy through my mundane education and prior
> work, but am unfamiliar with period methods (Written accounts of
> preserved specimens date back to Aristotle and the Musaion - now
> referred to as the Library at Alexandria, and "Cabinets of Curiosity"
> were popular beginning in the 1500's, some included natural history
> specimens and crypto-taxidermy preps - perhaps the most famous was the
> Kunstkamer of Peter the Great of the early 1700's, but others were
> known before then, like Ole Worm's personal collection c.1620 and the
> Tradescant collection of the Ashmolean Museum - c.1600).  I am
> interested in learning, and would be willing to research and possibly
> teach a class in period taxidermy techniques at a later date (at the
> very earliest we'd have to wait for hunting season to start up again
> so we have materials to work with).

Wow. This is more than I've ever heard on period taxidermy in the  
SCA. I'm interested in learning more about this. I'd be interested in  
attending such a class. Or, especially since this is a pretty much  
unknown subject in the SCA, I'd be interested in an article on this  
for the Florilegium. My standard policy is that the copyright remains  
with the author and then can publish it elsewhere, such as TI. I also  
accept updates or removal requests :-( at any time. So you can write  
up what you know now and improve upon the article as you learn more.  
I just like to get good information out where SCA folks can use it.

Thanks,
     Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****